The Mystery of Oak Island is not just a popular show on the History Channel, but an entire tale of a buried treasure that spans over 200 years. The chase for this treasure left a lot of dead bodies in its trail. There are tons of rumors and myths surrounding the treasure, but finally, someone got to the bottom of it…
Over 50 Years Ago
Rick and Marty Lagina became intrigued by the mystery of Oak Island back in 1965. Rick read about the mystery in Reader’s Digest, and that struck a lifelong aspiration to figure out this mystery. Once they were old enough, the search was on…
The Lagina Gang
Rick began treasure hunting first. He was just 10 years old when he went to dig up a huge boulder. Even though he found nothing underneath, this struck something in him. This ended up fueling his fire…
On Oak Island
In 1796, a boy found a random circular depression in the ground. He was interested, so he launched a mini-expedition to investigate. They found a buried stone tablet, but they weren’t sure what it was…
What Did It Mean?
A professor in Halifax translated the tablet. It read, “Forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried.” Local legend said in order to figure out the mystery, seven people had to die. The treasure hunt has claimed six lives to date…
The Origin of the Hidden Treasure
Naturally, there are tons of theories backing Oak Island. Some believe that the theory of William Shakespeare was actually the pen name of Francis Bacon and that Bacon buried his Skakespearean manuscripts and earnings on the island. Others believed that the treasure belongs to Marie Antoinette, who had a maid bury her riches during the French Revolution.
A Few Other Theories
Other theories revolve around the sea. Some think that Scottish sailor Captain Kidd hid parts of his treasure on Oak Island. Others think that it’s Captain Blackbeard’s treasures…
The Wildest Theory
The most widely accepted theory is that the treasure is connected to the Freemasons. Oak Island is allegedly covered in Masonic imagery, which leads people to believe that there’s a Freemasons treasure buried there.
Where It Began
These rumors had been circulating for years before Daniel McGinnis found the tablet. He was familiar with the myth, but now thought it could hold some truth…
The First Dig
Daniel recruited two friends to dig. Two feet down, they hit flagstones. They dug that out and continued for another 30 feet. Their progress was stopped suddenly with no explanation…
Picking Up Where They Left Off
Nearly a decade later, the Onslow company picked up where they left off. They continued to dig for over sixty feet and hit a layer of oak logs every 10 feet… then, the tunnel flooded.
Washed Away
They did everything they could to stop the flooding, but there was no use. They found out that whoever initially built the pit structured it so that a 500 ft connecting waterway from Smith’s Cove would flood it if anyone ever tried to access it. Then, someone else tried 45 years later…
Getting Lucky
The Truro Company used drills to remove soil samples at the bottom of the pit. This was super successful. They ended up drilling through two treasure chests filled with coins. They pulled up three links from a gold chain, but then that all disappeared…
The Beach That Man Made
Truro gave up. They were unable to drill more into the hole at risk of filling it up with more water. The entire beach ended up being entirely man-made. The person who was there before them attempted to build a dam to stop the water, but it had been destroyed…
The Oak Island Association Takes Over
Still, they persisted. In 1861, the Oak Island Association tried it. They tried digging other shafts down to get into the Money Pit but it wasn’t working. One of the water pumps burst and killed one of the workers…
A Long Fall
Yet another expedition group rolled onto the island. They discovered a sheepskin parchment with a bizarre, hard to read message. Unfortunately, at the same time as they found the parchment, they also ended up losing one of their treasure hunters. Maynard Kaiser was being lifted from the pit when the rope came loose and he fell this death.
The Old Salvage Group
Then, in 1909, another group of explorers took on the pit. The Old Salvage Group had a very famous face in their midst… Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Their expedition took a year before they gave up, but FDR kept a close eye on Oak Island until his death.
Another Discovery
Then, in 1928, a new explorer dedicated his efforts to the treasure. New York businessman Gilbert Hedden used his steel company to his advantage. He and his partner, Fred Blair, began drilling shafts down into the pit. Then, they found something…
Another Piece of Stone
Finally, after years of failures, the two partners found another piece of stone with similar markings. They also found pieces of timber being held together by wooden pins. That meant these were extremely old…
Erwin’s Search Efforts
Another treasure hunter arrived in 1938. Erwin Hamilton began his expedition by drilling into the hole in 1939. He found rocks and gravel, with another layer of limestone that had Oak bits into it. He also found something wooden…
A Short Excursion
Twenty years later, Robert Restall was another person to try and scavenge Oak Island. He ended up finding a stone with 1704, which many believe is how old the Money Pit is. Unfortunately, Restall ended up inhaling carbon monoxide, fell unconscious, and fell to his death in the pit…
More Than One Victim
When his son tried to save him, he fell to the same fate. Two other men working on the lot, Karl Graeser and Cyril Hiltz, tried to climb down and rescue them, but they died there as well…
Things Were Heating Up
Later in the year, Robert Dunfield brought some construction equipment to dig deep into the pit. He reached the limestone layer as well and gave up. Then, in 1965, Daniel C. Blankenship found a nail and a washer sixty feet down the whole. There was also a heart shaped stone…
Getting A Closer Look
In the late 1960s, Triton Alliance decided to take over. They found a 300-year-old pair of iron scissors. They then decided to insert a steel tube that let them use a camera to investigate the pit without actually going down themselves.
Major Findings
This camera proved to be very useful in their discoveries! They saw tools, leather shoes, a human hand, and then a body. Then, they found three chests…
Divers Below
The Triton Alliance then hired divers to go into the pit. Time was of the essence now that they knew what awaited them! The divers ended up struggling against the current, and the sediment in the water made it very hard to see. Eventually, they ran out of money and the shaft began to fall apart.
Word Began Spreading
Ten years after that last expedition, Oak Island began to pick up. It then became the subject of a 1979 show, “In Search of…” Needless to say, people were interested.
Land Rights at Stake
A member of the Triton Alliance, Fred Nolan, was sued by the group over land rights. That led to a 15-year dark period of Oak Island… No one even talked about the place. Then, the Lagina brothers showed up.
Getting Back at It
In 2005, a part of Oak Island was for sale for $7 million. The Lagina’s bought a 50% stake in Oak Island Tours Inc… They were getting closer.
A Competitive Edge
The brothers had some tools that gave them a hefty advantage. They were able to study and explore new parts of Oak Island. Plus, they found a way around the flooding in the Money Pit. This is what they needed…
Filming the Show
History Channel caught wind of their efforts and approached them about a show. The Curse of Oak Island became a super popular documentary series. This also helped fund the Lagina’s dream…
Playing to Their Strengths
The brothers also had some awesome connections to industries that can help them with the dig. Marty had a background in gas wells and digging, too, so this was going pretty well…
Starting Strong
They started by digging an artificial swamp when they found their first real treasure: a copper coin from Spain! This dated back to the 17th century. Things were looking good…
Findings of Mixed Origin
Two seasons of the show passed before they were able to find something else. They were draining a hole when they found a Roman sword, Portuguese carvings, and evidence of Aztec presence on the island. These were confusing but excited everyone involved.
Worth the Wait
“There’s a story to be written up here,” Rick Lagina reported. “Treasure, perhaps, but it’s a truly wonderful story from a long time ago. Every day it feels like we’re turning a page of a really good book… To me, life’s a treasure hunt. We’re all on one in our own different way, and we happen to be on a real one right now.”
The Old Map
On season four, they found even more crazy things. The Lagina’s found a French map dating back to 1647. That’s when they realized the history of Oak Island goes much deeper than they originally thought…Â The map had locations of an anchor, a hatch, and a valve and indicated to them that the treasure had actually come from the African continent…
The Ark of the… Titanic?
Another wild theory ended up emerging that no one had thought of before… Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob Astor IV (Titanic victim) believed that Oak Island was the resting place for the Ark of the Covenant.
The Strongest Theories
The two theories most popular theories were as follows”
1. Marie Antoinette’s servant brought her treasures to the island and buried them there in Nova Scotia. 2. French soldiers hid their exploits here from nearby Louisbourg Fort during the Seven Years’ War.
The Harvard Theory
Barry Fell, a Harvard zoologist, had another belief. He thought that the carvings came from the Coptic Christians from North Africa, who had visited Nova Scotia…
More Than a Treasure Hunt
The show was pretty popular for a while, but people got a little bored after they didn’t find many things. Although a man in Texas was facing major flooding in his home, he remembered something from the show called an “Aqua Dam” and saved his house!
Joy Steele Weighs In
The truth is that the mystery is still being uncovered. People are still hard at work trying to uncover the truths…