It's time for The Curse of Oak Island Season 7 and -- as Rick Lagina put it -- this may be a year that has more answers than questions. That's been the hope for 224 years now, but there are reasons to believe the 2019-2020 season will have some breakthroughs. Here's a rough idea of what to expect for Marty and Rick Lagina and the Oak Island team in History Channel's new season.
When Does The Curse Of Oak Island Season 7 Premiere?
The Curse of Oak Island is one of the most popular and highly-rated TV shows on cable. It returns with new episodes on Tuesday, November 5 at 9 p.m. ET. on the History Channel. The Season 7 premiere will be two hours -- running from 9 to just after 11 p.m. ET -- and it's called "The Torch is Passed." Here's the synopsis from the network:
Armed with new evidence suggesting a ship is buried in the swamp, Rick, Marty and the team return to the island determined to honor Dan's legacy by solving the centuries-old mystery once and for all.
Right before The Curse of Oak Island Season 7 premiere, History will air The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down's "Finding Answers" episode from 8 to 9 p.m. Matty Blake returns to Oak Island and gets an insider's look at the staggering new operations brothers Rick and Marty Lagina have launched in their efforts to finally solve the 224-year-old Oak Island mystery.
Tributes To Dan Blankenship
Dan Blankenship was "a giant of this Oak Island quest," as the team put it, and he died in March 2019 at age 95. In a sneak peek of the first episode of Season 7, the team is shown trying to process the idea that this is the first year in half a century that Dan Blankenship will not be part of the search. So Season 7 starts with anticipation tempered by sadness. As Rick put it:
It was a privilege to know the man. He was our friend. There will not be a single day where we won't miss him.
The sneak peek shows the team have a moment of silence for Dan, before saying they'll try really hard to get that breakthrough this year for him.
He'll always be there with them in spirit.
Is Another Tragedy Ahead?
In History's summary of the The Curse of Oak Island's mystery so far, excavating the objects found near Oak Island in Nova Scotia, there's an ominous teaser about the legend requiring another victim:
There is an island in the North Atlantic where people have been looking for an incredible treasure for more than 200 years. So far, they have found a stone slab with strange symbols carved into it, mysterious fragments of human bone, and a lead cross whose origin may stretch back to the days of the Knights Templar. To date, six men have died trying to solve the mystery. And, according to legend, one more will have to die before the treasure can be found.
According to "The Curse," seven men will have to die in the search for the treasure before it is found. So the threat of death and promise of answers are hanging over Season 7. Unless Dan's death counts as seven? He seemed to die of natural causes, though.
New Partnership Brings Unprecedented Access
The Curse of Oak Island Season 7 shows Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team fully partnered with fellow land owner Tom Nolan, the son of the late Fred Nolan. So now the team has unprecedented access to areas of the island that they hope will yield answers. Also, even more extensive metal detecting will be used to search on the surface of the island, and exhaustive archaeological digs will be conducted near the historic homestead foundations of Daniel McGinnis and Samuel Ball.
Heading Back To the Swamp
The Curse of Oak Island Season 7 sneak peek sees the team talking about a return to the swamp to investigate the "ship-shaped anomaly" revealed through seismic testing toward the end of last season. Is there a sunken ship buried in the triangle-shaped swamp? According to History, the team will use sonic core drilling, strategic dives, and a historic big dig to find out what could be buried below.
More Time In The Money Pit
Yes, even after all of the explorations, there are still places down there where the fabled treasure shaft could be hiding. This year, when the team heads back into the Money Pit area, they will conduct deep ground penetrating radar to look for the flood tunnel. Using cutting edge survey tech and heavy digging machines, they will excavate early 19th century searcher shafts to help triangulate their way back to the location of the original Money Pit. Since Season 7 seems to be taking a Go Big Or Go Home approach, this will lead to the biggest and most extensive digs that Rick, Marty, Craig Tester, and the team have ever conducted in an attempt to finally locate the fabled "Chappell Vault."
More From The Cofferdam At Smith’s Cove
The Curse of Oak Island Season 7 will expand the cofferdam at Smith’s Cove to allow the team to conduct an even more extensive investigation than last year. Last year, the team uncovered several man-made structures dating more than two decades prior to the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795.
According to History, this year, the Oak Island team will not only find more of the ancient slipway, they'll be searching for the box drains and artifacts -- like the 14th century lead cross found two years ago. They will also be drilling and digging above the beach in search of the so-called convergence point where the box drains are believed to merge into a single flood tunnel leading back to the original Money Pit.
'This Is What We've Been Looking For'
If you're not excited enough yet, check out a fresh promo for The Curse of Oak Island Season 7:
Will this really be the year the Oak Island team gets more answers than questions? Find out when the popular reality TV show returns November 5 on History. Keep up with everything still airing on TV this year with our handy 2019 fall TV premiere schedule.
