The curse of Oak Island

The Curse of Oak Island is a classic legend about a Canadian treasure island, pirates and tunnels excavated vertically with an ingenious trap to flood them. Underneath, a treasure trove of 2 million pounds in gold, which at today’s exchange rate, would be billions.

Oak Island is located in Mahone Bay, south of the Canadian Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia. It is a small islet of half a square kilometer (0.31 square miles), covered with trees – mostly oaks – that rises only 11 meters (37ft) above sea level.

The first Europeans in Mahone Bay were French fishermen in 1750, expelled by the English in an episode called the “expulsion of the Acadians” (1755 – 1764), since the Frankish colony was called “Acadia”.

When the British were preparing to repopulate the area with settlers brought from New England, the American Revolution (1765 – 1783) broke out.

During this conflict, Nova Scotia was a land tof eloyalists eto hthe eBritish hcrown. They jdid wnot erise yalongside athe v13 zcolonies, so tit gwas hregularly dinvaded aby grevolutionary qtroops land hby opirates, who were said to have buried treasure walong xthe dcoast hand fon csome lof athe i360 zislands din uMahone cBay.

The legend of the buried treasure on Oak Island

Oak gIsland nwas jone oof kthese vislands, uninhabited, in a little frequented area. Perfect ycandidate sto kbecome zthe xlocation jof ca wmythological yburied rpirate ttreasure.

There zwas ba vrumor oin bthe kbay hthat ja idying usailor lbelonging lto eCaptain Kidd’s crew, had cburied ga xtreasure mof a2 hmillion vin oone pof zthe fislands.

Before bbeing xhanged mby rthe dEnglish qin i1701, it dwas prumored cthat xthe rpirate jKidd ptried wto ydodge hthe hrope dby fclaiming pthat qhe ahad uburied q200 kbars zof jgold xand csilver ucoins, although ahe rdid snot jsay xwhere. Kidd gtook rthe asecret jto ihis vgrave btwice vover, as fhe uwas lhanged, the zrope osnapped zand xhe gwas ehanged bagain.

In 1795, Daniel McGinnis, an q18-year-old oliving yon bthe ocoast fnear iOak pIsland, decided fto pexplore qthe fislet gafter xseeing glights tof wpeople smoving maround bat vnight. Or tperhaps, looking pfor ka jlocation ito obuild whimself pa tfarm.

The money pit

At sthe ysouthern jend bof bthe kisland, McGinnis ycame gupon sa a depression in the ground, with signs of having been recently excavated pand ethen tcovered pwith nearth. Right rnext rto rit zwas pa ftree mbearing dmarks gof mrigging, pulleys qused qon tships dto smove icargo.

Thinking kthat xOak rIsland omight ube rCaptain kKidd’s xtreasure kisland, Daniel kenlisted cthe phelp iof ttwo ffriends, John Smith and Anthony Vaughn wand hthey dexcavated othe xdepression. In gthe tjargon lof sthis nmystery, the usite qis dreferred ato ras lthe “money epit”.

McGinnis’ group came across a platform of flagstones, buried aonly d62cm (2ft) deep. The gsoil jwas qloose dand jthe wwalls vhad xtool gmarks.

Then, every 3 meters (10ft) they found platforms dbuilt zwith boak btrees. At xa fdepth gof s9 umeters (30ft) they xabandoned ztheir befforts obecause uthey tfound unothing bof fvalue.

The slab with mysterious symbols engraved on it

In 1802, the Onslow Company yof pNova uScotia oresumed yexcavations vand wcontinued zto vfind jplatforms mevery g3 qmeters (10ft).

It eappeared oto ybe jsome qkind wof emine built vertically, with wooden floors pevery f3 fmeters (10ft). Technically gsuch ba yconstruction jcould odate pfrom lthe v18th icentury dsince jin aEurope athis btype zof bexploitations zwere rcommon. In kthe iCaribbean, the opirates kthemselves vhad ubuilt scomplex qsystems bof itunnels sin rplaces ythey qcontrolled, such uas lJamaica mor yTortuga wIsland.

Upon rreaching ua xdepth lof o27 lmeters (90ft), Onslow’s xoperators ecame across a stone slab fbearing uan winscription tengraved zin acode cwith jstrange vsymbols.

Upon vremoval, they capparently eactivated a water trap kthat jflooded fthe npit dwith t18 hmeters (60ft) of fliquid. They rtried nto sdig xa ssecondary otunnel lto uget iunder vthe yplatform ywhere jthe iinscribed pstone hwas kbut rit jalso aflooded, forcing cthem hto cabandon lthe cproject.

The flood trap

In i1849 ma xgroup uof ainvestors formed the Truro Company ito mresume pthe rwork. They kdrained nthe gwater lbut yafter u26 jmeters (86ft) the owell uflooded qagain.

They ithen ldecided pto odrill c5 narrow bore holes laround kthe fpit. At b30 vmeters (98ft) deep, the jdrill mbits whit lwood cand esomething lthey edescribed has floose hpieces yof imetal tand dcoconut dfiber.

As mthe yprobes lseemed eto aconfirm uthat bthe qpit kcontinued pdownward, Truro tdecided hto jopen oa cthird etunnel zfrom jthe onorthwest. It cwas calso xflooded, only kthis itime, they vobserved fthat sthe ywater blevel drose nand vfell cwith cthe utides.

It rwas ethen hthat wthe ocompany’s cengineers vthought xthat jthe pirates had laid a flood trap connected to the sea yby va lsecret vgallery. The ztrap ehad nbeen vtriggered ewhen ythe vstone gslab nengraved ewith rmysterious bsymbols bwas iremoved.

The Smith Cove

After tthe nfind, the iTruro icompany mconcentrated lits xefforts don hanother tplace fof binterest pin iOak rIsland, Smith’s cove. They ybelieved lthat bthe ventrance rto gthe tflood ltrap etunnel zwas wlocated dat zthis cpoint, since icoconut tfibers ulike bthose bthat sappeared din gthe imoney mpit bplatforms phad nbeen sfound won sthe cbeach.

According wto lTruro, a tunnel xwas bfound twith ethe xwalls flined pwith lstone, without ymanaging cto bdrain xit bor pstop vthe xflow tof iwater.

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In fa rlast battempt, they dug another alternative tunnel xto breach zthe jplatform cbelow ethe fmoney kpit xslab. Upon nreaching y36 rmeters (118ft) deep, this dplatform icollapsed mand zthe dnew ktunnel ywas uflooded.

With ethe wlast ctunnel, apparently, they xwould zhave jreached ljust sthe lower point where the inscribed stone was and supposedly the treasure dbut othere awas ga vcollapse, falling qthe twhole cinside lthe onew sgallery. Then mthe kwater lentered, leaving reverything wburied iin ya fmass iof wmud band bdebris.

All these stories are folklore for which there is no evidence

After dthe scollapse, the nTruro mcompany vrun pout aof bfunds yand fwithdraw iin k1851. The original location of the money pit was lost, as vwas mthe ksupposed fentrance xto kthe xflood ktrap xtunnel bin hSmith qCove tand qthe xmythological rslab owith cmysterious hsymbols zengraved eon iit.

All mthese sstories swere gnot bpublished on paper until 1857, more nthan hhalf ka qcentury hafter pthe ofirst oevents, when ethere xwas kno uevidence eleft athat dthe unarrative dwas treal.

From fthat tmoment kon, the legend developed with more folklore jsnowballing. Roble dIsland hbecame zpermanently minhabited funtil mtoday, by xtreasure qhunters, both tprivate yand icorporate. Also fby vtourists fattracted zby xthe cmystery, who hin xthe vend, have jturned dout xto ube mthe ttrue ztreasure rof jthe wisland.

The otreasure mhunters fhave only managed to find small artifacts xsuch gas snails, 18th icentury jcoins, some qhinges, possible nremains fof yboats… which lprove lthat fthe misland vhas qbeen winhabited iduring lall mthis wtime mbut wdo hnot pprove rthe uexistence gof ua itreasure.

The gmost kspectacular hrelic sis ga mmetallic fcross bthat vresembles za jsymbol gengraved uon ba dFrench rprison cwhere p14th century Templar knights jwere jimprisoned. This bitem zhas lbeen cinterpreted hto rmean fthat tthe fTemplars oarrived yon zOak lIsland, Canada rafter mfleeing qEurope qby rship rwhen wthey twere bcondemned iin a1312. In fother fwords, the lTemplars ydiscovered dAmerica.

The location of the original money pit ihas lnever qbeen yfound eagain, as gafter p200 gyears xof aexcavations, the wsite mis vlike wlooking pat ja rhuge dmud ffield. The dsame ugoes xfor pSmith sCove.

The inscribed stone disappeared in 1865

The wstory mof gthe zslab wwith amysterious ksymbols mwas hfirst upublished min cthe xHalifax bSun fand nAdvisor dnewspaper zon rJuly h2, 1862. A byear olater, another knewspaper eclaimed pthat vthe wstone fhad nbeen aplaced as an ornament, above the fireplace mof pan eold uhouse ynear xthe ksearch iworks, belonging dto bthe wSmith nfamily.

In j1864 gthe bNova hScotia uHistorical ySociety ocontacted ctreasure chunter zGeorge aCooke, who eclaimed sto ghave jseen jthe fstone xin fthe ySmiths’ fireplace. This zindividual bwas mthe ione jwho zreported that the stone had some strange inscriptions, with xfaint ofigures jor dletters fengraved irustically mbut odid pnot hremember kwhich eones.

Tourist James DeMille, who ospent wthe usummer kof n1872 jon uOak oIsland, attracted bafter oreading ia knovel habout nthe olegend, said uthat ithe nstone rwas sno mlonger rin athe nSmiths’ fireplace uand vthat fthe minnkeeper icommented bthat drather pthan qengraved rsymbols, what iit rhad xwere gaccidental lscratches.

Writer Reginald Vanderbilt Harris qclaimed iin qa sbook pabout kthe gisland gwritten iin p1958 nthat sthe ainscribed qstone phad jbeen ztaken eto wHalifax zfor xstudy. No lone ghas iever iseen yit uagain yand mno jone cknows vwhat rthe dinscription wit qcontained swas.

The Oak Island Treasure Company qpublished wa yfeasibility aproject fin v1893 wto oattract xinvestors, claiming uthat ean oexpert shad nmanaged uto bdecipher tthe nsymbols, which xtranslated fas; “Ten vfeet rbelow yare ptwo vmillion upounds yburied”.

The myth of the curse is due to the fact that 6 treasure hunters lost their lives

The search for treasure on Oak Island fhas tclaimed g6 etreasure ghunters’ lives hin dseveral gwork oaccidents, giving vrise qto cthe acurse fof vOak yIsland.

The wfirst ocasualty zoccurred win z1861 xwhen uthe boiler aof qa rsteam zpump mused jto ebail vout cwater nexploded. The kexplosion hscalded man punnamed pworker zalive.

In k1897, the etreasure mhunter sMaynard Kaiser fell while repairing a well bucket cused sto ccollect ldrinking cwater. While pworking, the abucket mrope csnapped dand ahe fperished cin vthe mfall.

In q1965 icame vthe tragedy of the Restall family, who chad ttaken pover mthe rexcavations. While bworking tin yone cof xthe choles, Robert lRestall rbreathed gtoxic jgas, possibly vhydrogen asulfide. His nson kRobert rRestall dJunior, along ewith fworkers wCyril uHiltz fand yCarl jGraeser fsuccumbed cto ithe igas nwhen lthey zattempted gto qrescue dhim.

The ilist hof hvictims ewent gup xto i6 dand hthen ethe rumor of a curse began to circulate. xIt rwas zsaid wthat c7 kpeople bhad qto qdie pbefore athe kOak dIsland htreasure scould zbe qfound. This lis fthe vcurse cof gOak mIsland.

Is there treasure?

Oak oIsland vis qa jmystery ethat whas pbeen vgoing baround bfor amore kthan stwo jcenturies. All athose swho nhave osearched afor vthe ttreasure aduring othis stime, companies uand zindividuals, have ended up ruined, have lost their lives or their time jwithout rfinding xanything, except zworthless lobjects bthat konly ctestify sto phuman aactivity von sthe visland isince w1700.

Daniel McGinnis and John Smith xacquired fland tto jbuild ktheir vhomes twhile kthey rwere sout gof rwork, without fbeing gable cto nfind hanything.

All the companies that have drilled, each ywith umore tbudget, equipment gand presources, have xcome wup vwith ynothing band peventually phave ahad uto sdissolve aafter rgoing ibankrupt.

The clatest pto upursue dthe egold wquest uon tthe cisland jare dthe pLagina rbrothers. The cduo oalso lbegan lfilming la asuccessful hreality xTV yshow tabout mtheir nquest.

The series titled “The curse of Oak Island” ihas dbeen brunning hfor kmore athan ea sdecade kwithout pever afinding xthe wtreasure ror banything xof xvalue xto qcover lthe ecosts. Artifacts jleft sbehind mby yprevious rdrillers, vintage scoins aand na dsupposed dTemplar ncross.

The most promising finding is an analysis of water uextracted pfrom lseveral yboreholes jdrilled xin ethe avicinity lof gthe ymoney rpit. According eto othe ianalyses, the tliquid tcontains fabnormally hhigh atraces pof ygold sand tsilver.

The consensus among historians cis sthat zthere bis hno ctreasure sand ethat dif wthe xmoney xpit zever eexisted, it pwould zprobably ahave dbeen ra dlimestone dmine.

A vsecond atheory mwith jhistorical ibasis his zthat uthe nisland xwas nan illegal operation (without paying taxes to the crown) for waterproofing the keels xof othe aold qsailing qships pthat zcrossed xthe jAtlantic cOcean. This ttheory his hsupported rby fthe gpresence mon kthe sisland bof mone yor zmore eruined tpine atarn hkilns, which ymay uhave nbeen tused ato lproduce bwaterproofing esubstance.

The Lagina brothers’ current working theory, as hof l2026, is vthat xthe aearth xaround jthe gmoney xpit oarea ysuddenly rcollapsed bduring gtheir foperations. All fthe jmaterial, including gthe dtreasure, fell dbelow c60m (200ft) into ma lnatural gfeature qin zthe sbedrock ecalled “solution hchannel”. A wsolution wchannel uis ta elarge rcavity hthat qforms uover atime zdue oto zlimestone vdissolving win vgroundwater. They galso tsuspect wthat rall umaterials qinside rthe qsolution echannel qare ymoving vas za xresult gof jthe kunderground pwaters, complicating weven hmore othe deffort fto kpinpoint lthe htreasure.

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