Rick Lagina’s team finally confirms the existence of a long-hidden Templar vault beneath Oak Island after new scans and a borehole camera reveal medieval chests and an even older mysterious artifact, turning centuries of speculation into explosive proof that leaves historians stunned and the world bracing for a rewritten past.

For the first time in more than two centuries of speculation, excavation, legend-building, and failed expeditions, a key figure in the Oak Island mystery has confirmed what generations of treasure hunters only dared to imagine: a hidden vault of unmistakable Templar origin exists beneath the island’s most notorious excavation zone.

Rick Lagina, co-star of the long-running investigation and a central figure in the modern Oak Island project, confirmed earlier this week that new high-resolution scans combined with borehole camera footage have identified a sealed chamber containing relics, chests, and structural designs consistent with medieval Templar engineering.

The discovery was made in late November 2025 during a targeted exploration of the Garden Shaft area, a point of renewed interest after muon-tomography results suggested geometric anomalies deep in the limestone bedrock.

According to crew members present during the breakthrough, the moment of confirmation was “utterly silent,” as the team watched the borehole camera descend into the newly identified void.

The footage revealed hand-cut stonework resembling Templar vault construction previously documented in 12th- and 13th-century strongholds across the Mediterranean.

Along the chamber walls, faint carvings—some resembling the Templar cross pattée—were visible under layers of silt.

The camera then captured what appeared to be cedar-wood chests, consistent with materials historically sourced by the Templars from Lebanon, alongside smaller metallic containers that produced a distinct, ancient sheen when illuminated by the probe light.

“After everything we’ve studied, everything we’ve been told, and everything we’ve hoped—what we saw down there changes the perspective entirely,” Lagina reportedly said to his team as they replayed the footage.

“This is not folklore.

This is architecture and engineering far ahead of its time for this region.

Someone brought this here deliberately.

” He added that the symbology and chamber layout matched references found in medieval Templar maps and coded documents, including the so-called “Cortez Manuscript,” which some historians long dismissed as an elaborate forgery.

The discovery also suggests that the Knights Templar—or a splinter group connected to their mid-14th-century exodus—may have crossed the Atlantic nearly a century before the era of Columbus.

While fringe researchers have suggested similar theories for decades, mainstream historians remained skeptical due to the lack of physical evidence.

That skepticism may now face its first genuine challenge.

In a surprising twist, the borehole camera captured something that Lagina and his team believe predates the Templars themselves.

Near the rear of the chamber rests a large, smooth object partially buried in sediment—an artifact the team described as “clearly older than anything else in the vault.

” Preliminary analysis of its shape and carving style has sparked intense speculation.

Some experts consulted privately have suggested it may be a relic from an earlier European culture, possibly Roman or even Phoenician, raising the question of whether the Templars were safeguarding treasures they themselves uncovered from older sites.

The breakthrough unfolded at the Money Pit sector, a location long synonymous with failure and collapsed theories.

But the use of muon-tomography—a particle-tracking technology capable of detecting voids through dense material—allowed the team to bypass decades of misleading tunnel networks and natural sinkholes.

Once the data revealed a geometric mass consistent with an intentionally built chamber, the team drilled a narrow exploratory borehole.

What followed was the first confirmed documentation of a vaulted structure at depth.

Local officials in Nova Scotia have not yet issued statements regarding potential archaeological protections, but experts predict that new restrictions could arrive within weeks.

Meanwhile, online forums dedicated to the Oak Island mystery have exploded, with some users claiming this discovery will “rewrite the historical map of pre-Columbian North America.”

The Lagina brothers now face several challenges: stabilizing the chamber, determining whether the chests can be safely extracted, identifying the mysterious pre-Templar artifact, and presenting evidence to the public without risking looting or misinterpretation.

As one crew member remarked, “For years people asked why we kept digging.

This is why.”

If verified by independent archaeologists, the find could become one of the most significant discoveries in North American historical studies—offering tangible proof not only of Templar presence, but of a trans-Atlantic exchange far older and more complex than previously believed.

For now, the chamber remains sealed, the world waits, and Oak Island—long dismissed by skeptics as a myth-ridden money pit—stands on the verge of unveiling a story far stranger and older than anyone expected.