The mysterious island of hidden treasures is still on the news
By: Alexandria Addesso
Off the shore of Nova Scotia, Canada in Luxenberg County lays a small strip of land that has peaked the curiosity of many for hundreds of years. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, actor John Wayne and countless explorers have all invested time and efforts to unearth the mysteries of the famed Oak Island, which now has its own History Channel Series, The Curse of Oak Island.
So what is the draw to this small piece of land? The mysterious theories of Oak Island are almost as numerous as those who have explored it. Yet most venture to the island in search of one thing; treasure.
In 1795 a young man named Daniel McGinnis discovered a circular depression while roaming around the island that was already steeped in folklore that it had been the old stomping grounds of pirates, even the infamous Blackbeard himself. With the help of two friends he began to dig what is known as the Money Pit.
Here is where the lines between history and legend become murky. Supposedly the deeper the young men dug the stranger things they found. At about every 10 feet they dug layers of logs kept blocking their way until they gave up and did not return for 8 years, this time with teams and equipment to help them.
Upon their return, about 90 feet deep, a stone tablet was found with markings that correspond to no known written language. Yet, extremely optimistically, some believe the stone inscription translates to “40 feet below, lie two million pounds buried”.
From that small success many problems followed. The pit became flooded with water and even collapsed several times. It is believed that these misgivings were the results of ancient booby traps.
Many skeptics revel in the fact that no actual treasure had ever been found on the island. It is said that a cement vault was once found by the original explorers yet the contents of the alleged vault were never documented. It is said that, a granddaughter of one of the original three excavators did come forward with an artifact that was found in the vault, a stone cross that dated back to the 14th century.
This all gave rise to the theory that the pit was dug by exiled members of the Knights Templar, and contains not only their treasure but possibly the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant as well. Other than its lack of proof, this theory is also flawed in the sense that most Knights were killed upon their persecution by Philip IV of France, not exiled.
As skeptics continue to shake their heads, plenty of explorers still dedicate their time and effort to the intrigue of Oak Island, perhaps driven by greed but most likely by the inept hope for the surreal, the supernatural, and the impossible that lies within the psyche of each human being.
“Oak Island is a tough puzzle though. People have been looking there for 220 years some of them relatively sophisticated, we have more modern devices. It’s a tough nut. We’re getting there though,” said Marty Lagina, one of the stars of The Curse of Oak Island in an interview with FOX411.
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