For 12-plus seasons, the History program “The Curse of Oak Island” has shared the story behind a Nova Scotia treasure hunt that goes back more than 230 years. As legend has it, in 1795, three teenaged boys noticed a strange depression in the ground while exploring a small island just off the coast. The curious trio began to dig, and about 10 feet down they came across a platform of oak logs. After pulling up the logs and continuing to dig, they came upon more platforms at each 10-foot interval.
They also reportedly unearthed a rectangular stone with a coded message on it, but the tunnel flooded with seawater at about 90 feet and they gave up. In the decades since, the island has attracted interest from dozens of curious entrepreneurs, including a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who backed the Old Gold Salvage and Wrecking Company’s efforts to find the treasure in 1909.
The series began in 2014 and is now one of History’s most popular programs, although some viewers think the show is less than honest. Five members of the “Oak Island” cast have died since the series began, but the current group is soldiering on despite the island’s many dangers. Here are the important people you’ll see on “The Curse of Oak Island.”
Rick Lagina
Michigander Rick Lagina was just 11 years old when he first read about Oak Island in a 1965 issue of Reader’s Digest. He went on to a career with the United States Postal Service in Northern Michigan, but has since retired. His fascination with the mystery stuck with him, though, and in 2006 he joined up with two other Michigan residents to purchase land on the island and begin their own treasure hunt.
On Oak Island today, Lagina serves as the unofficial leader of the operations, managed by Oak Island Tours. He firmly maintains that someone went to great lengths to conceal something valuable on Oak Island. In this role, he functions both as the expedition’s head coach and cheerleader.
Lagina told My North in 2015 that “the mystery is a 1000-piece puzzle with 400 of the pieces missing,” adding that the anxiety viewers see on the show is genuine and well-justified. “Oh no, we’re not actors,” he said. “We aren’t capable of acting even if we wanted to … The island has an aura — something I can’t really articulate. Strange, inexplicable things happen, especially as far as equipment malfunctions and especially on the eastern corner of the swamp.”
Marty Lagina
Rick Lagina’s younger brother Marty has been part of the show since the beginning, although he is the more skeptical of the two siblings. While Rick was working for the Postal Service, Marty earned an undergraduate engineering degree and a law degree. He finished the latter in 1982 with a specialization in energy and environmental law. “People always said I should be a lawyer because I loved to talk with people,” he told the Michigan Law School Quadrangle in 2018. He was more interested in the natural gas deposits he was drilling, however, and established Terra Energy two years after finishing law school.
He later sold the company for $60 million and shifted his focus to renewable energy. “When you’re in oil and gas, you’re branded by many as a villain,” he said, “so I got into wind energy.” Marty still owns that company, Heritage Sustainable Energy, and the money he earned in the energy industry helped with initial real estate purchases on Oak Island. He and his wife Olivia also own and operate Mari Vineyards in Traverse City and named the vineyard after his grandmother, Teresa Mari. Marty and Olivia have two children: their daughter Maggie is a physician and University of Michigan medical school professor, and their son Alex can be seen on “The Curse of Oak Island.”
Alex Lagina
Alex Lagina earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan in 2008 and explained to Michigan Today in 2017 that his background in that field comes in handy on Oak Island. “It’s a really complicated engineering problem,” he said. “The theory is great, but when you try to implement something in the real world, it gets complicated quickly.”
Lagina also has a scuba diving certification and has taken dives in the waters around the island in search of clues. But joining his father and Uncle Rick on Oak Island isn’t Lagina’s only family enterprise. He serves as general manager of Mari Vineyards, working alongside his parents. He also shares his father’s general skepticism regarding their doings on Oak Island, although he told Michigan Today they “wanted to do the search justice and honor the people who came before us in this adventure. We wanted to give them the fullest respect and honor their commitment.”
Craig Tester
It’s no surprise that Craig Tester, who co-founded Terra Energy and Heritage Sustainable Energy with Marty Lagina, also teamed up with him on Oak Island. As an engineer and oil drilling specialist, he contributes his expertise to the show, playing a crucial role in devising projects related to the Money Pit area. Unlike many others, Tester usually stays level-headed and free from treasure fever, providing a soothing balance amidst the island’s frenetic pace.
Tester’s son Drake appeared on the show in Seasons 2 through 4, but died in 2017 due to complications from a seizure disorder. Craig briefly left the show after his son’s death, but returned the following season. Monsters and Critics quoted Craig as saying, “I wish he could be here helping us, so it’s been a tough year. It’s time for me to head on home and help my wife who’s struggling through this too.” Craig’s stepson from his wife’s previous marriage, Jack Begley, is now also part of the show.
Jack Begley
Jack Begley, Craig Tester’s stepson, is credited as an associate producer on “The Curse of Oak Island” to go along with his frequent on-camera appearances. Begley is unabashedly enthusiastic, and is always willing to grab a shovel or pickaxe and get himself dirty in pursuit of the Oak Island treasure. He has spent countless hours sifting through the dirt and rock spoils unearthed from various excavations, and has been part of many important discoveries.
Although Begley doesn’t have the engineering or drilling background of some other cast members, his sharp eyes detected a piece of centuries-old parchment in a pile of wet rocks a couple of seasons back. Off the island, Begley supports the energy industry with his drone photography business, Remote Energy Solutions. He frequently is seen digging for artifacts with the next cast member on our list.
Gary Drayton
Metal detection expert Gary Drayton was an occasional part of “The Curse of Oak Island” for the first few seasons, but his infectious enthusiasm and ability to track down fascinating finds made him a quick fan favorite. He has appeared on 176 episodes of the show as of this writing, and in Season 5 he made perhaps the most compelling find of the series.
In Episode 10, “The Signs of a Cross,” Drayton and Rick Lagina unearth a lead cross with origins in Medieval Europe. The similarity between the cross and art created by the Knights Templar has fueled seasons of on-air speculation that the ancient religious order may have deposited other valuable artifacts on Oak Island. Meanwhile, Drayton continues to scour the island for more clues, and in Season 12 he was joined on the show by his daughter and metal detection protege, Katya.
Billy Gerhardt
Another fan favorite is Billy Gerhardt, the heavy equipment operator who is known to loyal viewers as “Billy Buckets.” Like Gary Drayton, Gerhardt joined the show in its early seasons, and his exceptional skill with high-capacity digging machines is apparent from his precise work on the show.
Gerhardt owns Gerhardt Property Improvement in the mainland Nova Scotia town of Lunenburg, and provides machinery and trucks to support the show’s many projects. When it’s time to move something heavy or lots of earth, you’re sure to see Gerhardt on the screen. Although he doesn’t have a personal public social media presence, The Billy Gerhardt Fan Club on Facebook boasts more than 500 members.
Laird Niven
“The Curse of Oak Island” has taken a turn towards the scientific in recent seasons, thanks in no small part to archaeologist Laird Niven. Just like the previous two folks on this list, Niven became a regular on the show during its first few seasons. One of his early projects was investigating the Birchtown Black loyalist settlement on mainland Nova Scotia, and his knowledge of local and First Nations history brings some much-appreciated academic rigor to the show. That sometimes gets in the way of other projects, though.
A few seasons ago, work in some areas of the island came to a stop after the team unearthed some pieces of Mi’kmaq pottery. The provincial government stepped in, and the archaeology team was dropped from the show. The scientists have since returned, and much of their work is now focused on what appears to be a building foundation on Lot 5 of the island. Although the purpose of the structure as yet eludes Niven, his team has found centuries-old Venetian trade beads and coins on the site.
Emma Culligan
Laird Niven isn’t the only experienced scientist who is now a star on “The Curse of Oak Island.” Although she only made her first appearance in Season 10, archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan has brought a thorough set of testing protocols to the search. She is often tasked with using a CT scanner and an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to examine metal objects and learn more about their composition and design.
This fascinating information can often help her pin down the geographical origin and approximate age of an artifact, as well as a detailed look at its surface. Her scientific detachment matches Laird Niven’s and contrasts well with the treasure-happy enthusiasm of Jack Begley and Gary Drayton. As of this writing, Culligan has appeared on 46 episodes, and she’s clearly going to be involved more going forward.
Scott Barlow
With so many people involved in simultaneous projects on Oak Island, the search needs a manager who can juggle them all well. Scott Barlow is the operations manager on Oak Island, as well as a project manager for Oak Island Tours and “The Curse of Oak Island.” Although he has appeared on more than 100 episodes of the show, some viewers are confused as to what he does for the team. Barlow coordinates the massive resources that go into the various projects around the island, and is a key factor in the team’s strategizing and reactive decision-making. Much of his work might be off-camera or otherwise invisible, but anyone involved with an enterprise of this scope surely knows the value of a good project manager.
At the age of 12, the Prince Edward Island native read Joan Clark’s novel, “The Hand of Robin Squires,” which centers on the Oak Island treasure mystery. Barlow was instantly fascinated, and was introduced to the Laginas in 2018 through historian Doug Crowell, who also appears on the show. Barlow was offered the project manager’s job later that year, and jumped at the chance. “How often does somebody call you up and say: ‘Hey, you want to be part of a treasure hunt?'” he told the Toronto Chronicle-Herald.
Mike Tedford
The Laginas and their team have done most of their work around the Money Pit area, where they believe the original shaft was dug in 1795, and have commissioned the drilling of hundreds of six-inch boreholes in that area. Some were simply probe operations to look for voids or tunnels, others were to plant pipes so they could explore with cameras or perform water testing, and others still were direct attempts to find the elusive treasure. When the team needs a small borehole drilled, they call on Mike Tedford and Choice Sonic Drilling.
Tedford graduated from Fleming College — which has several campuses around the province of Ontario — in 1994 with a degree in geology. He has more than 25 years experience in sonic drilling and training for the industry, including more than 10 years with his current company, Sound Sonic Solutions. Tedford has appeared in more than 40 episodes to date, and is in charge of the core drilling rig. His dangerous, back-breaking job often leaves him covered in mud and muck, but he is as enthusiastic as any cast member about the mystery they are chasing.
Vanessa Lucido
While Mike Tedford runs the rig that drills small exploratory holes on Oak Island, another outfit altogether is called in to dig bigger holes for further investigation. Those larger holes are a job for Roc Equipment and its owner/CEO, Vanessa Lucido. The Phoenix-based operation makes the trek to Nova Scotia with giant steel caissions (interlocking tubes that are used to create an open space underground).
Carmen Legge
When the team uncovers a particularly puzzling metal artifact, they often pay a visit to blacksmith Carmen Legge in nearby Kentville. Legge formerly worked at the Ross Farm Museum in New Ross, but the Oak Island team usually visits him at his rustic smithing shop. He first appeared on “The Curse of Oak Island” in Season 6, and soon caught the same fever as most of the rest of the show’s cast. He, too, has appeared in more than 40 episodes, and now frequently comes to the island to see artifacts in their natural setting.
His expertise, good-natured charm, and placid manner make him a joy to see on screen, but his thick Nova Scotian accent requires many of his appearances to be subtitled. For that reason, you’ll probably want to turn closed-captioning on when you head to his YouTube channel, “Well Looka Here with Carmen Legge.”
Charles Barkhouse
The history involved with “The Curse of Oak Island” is as complicated as the logistics. Oak Island’s resident researcher and historian is Charles Barkhouse, who has appeared on more than 110 episodes going back to the series pilot. He also shows visitors around the island for Oak Island Tours, for which he receives rave reviews. More than 90% of the tourists who have left feedback on Tripadvisor have given the tour five stars, with many of them praising Barkhouse by name. Sandra C wrote, “I could listen to Charles all day. He has so much knowledge and insight and isn’t afraid to share it.”
Much of that insight comes from the work he’s done in researching the island’s history and his experience as a Freemason. The Freemasons have historical connections with the Knights Templar, and some conspiracy theorists believe that Barkhouse is a Freemason mole placed on Oak Island to make sure the Laginas and their team never uncover Templar treasures buried there.
Executive producer Joe Lessard didn’t do anything to dispel those rumors in a 2017 interview with Monsters and Critics, saying, “Charles Barkhouse … is a Freemason,” adding that Barkhouse had “advanced beyond the highest degree to the level of what they call Knights Templar in the Masonic order.” We’ll leave the debate as to whether Barkhouse is a Templar saboteur or knowledgable tour guide up to the online fan forums.
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2025-03-16 19:37