Oak Island Mystery

[majicbar]

The History Channel is running a new series on Oak Island, where the "Money Pit" has attracted many efforts to dig for treasure. Every ten feet a floor of logs was found to a depth of 90 feet. Several odd things were found in digging to that depth, starting over a hundred years ago, including a short link of gold chain. Passing through the 90 foot depth a booby trap flooded the works with salt water. It was discovered that the salt water came from a nearby cove. One treasure hunter flooded works with red dye and three major flows of the dye showed up in the water around oak Island. Apparently the water under pressure in the works flowed out of tunnels and back to the sea. Investigation of these areas showed some tunnels and a covering of coconut fiber to prevent sand from clogging the tunnels.

Over the long history of attempting to get at whatever lies below, many stories have been circulated as to how the Money Pit came to be. One of these stories now seems to make sense. The current team digging the site did find fiber in the cove near where the dye was reportedly seen. These fibers were examined and under an electron microscope they were found to indeed be coconut fiber. (The nearest coconuts are a thousand miles to the South in Bermuda.) This fiber was radio carbon dated and found to be from between 1260 and 1400, or an mean age of 1330. This is well before Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Western lands in 1492. This is no small change in the story of Western history, there is every possibility that Columbus knew of lands to the West from old stories. but what does that dating have to do with who built the Money Pit.

One major story has it that the Knights Templar fled with the treasures they had found in the Holy Land to avoid the Pope and the King of France from stealing them. Some said the treasure is buried at Roseland in Scotland, others said the Knights on 18 ships had sailed the treasure to the New World of the West. This would have been around 1308, not far from the mean date of the coconut fiber. The Freemasons become tied into the story too. There is a treasure parable as one of the advanced degree lessons, could it be to inspire questions when legends of the Knights Templar were being told, a clue of sorts? The Knights Templars were allied with the cathedral builders and engineers, the sorts of bright guys necessary to build a complex like the Money Pit.

The show is interesting, I endorse it to those who have an interest in history, adventure and treasure, especially a hidden one like that of Oak Island.

http://www.oakislandmoneypit.com/

[CasperParks]

Interesting, thanks for sharing it.

[norenrad]

I saw a show about this on TV. I sometimes think of it and wonder about it, like I do with most things that do not have a logical answer.

[Doc]

One of the first hardcover books on "alternative subjects" I bought as a teen was one on Oak Island. I got interested in those topics partly because of my father's best friend who was involved with some treasure hunters. When the came to visit I would listen quietly to their conversations, plans, hopes. They located and dove on a sunken wreck that was supposed to be laden with copper but information had been copied incorrectly from an old manifest that read coffee not copper, they drove a car to the tip of South America and back for a car company documentary; had plans of many more things. For a twelve or thirteen year-old kid, this was adventure in a big way.

The book on Oak Island covered all of the known details at the time but back then pirate treasure was the prevailing but not entirely satisfactory theory. The book also introduced me to the concept of limitations in treasure hunting and related pursuits. You are always limited by time, money, and what is physically possible to do. A well-funded and planned expedition can be ruined by weather, broken machinery, injury--then the season is over. You are out all of that money and you want to go back you are a year older. Even at that young age, I got it. You can only do what you can do--at Oak Island, Loch Ness, Nazca--wherever.

[Dragonfire]

Thanks Doc...saw the show the other day... looks like it could be interesting

[tomi01uk]

I've always been interested in this mystery too since I was a young girl. My father had a book about it and it got my interest going. I remember doing a class presentation about it and I had drawn illustrations of the pit and the depth of the coconut fiber, etc. I would love for this to be solved.

[Dragonfire]

I also thank Majicbar for starting this thread.

[majicbar]

The final episode will be coming up. In the latest one they have found what will turn out to be a second sit, the burial sounds like it is dated 150 years earlier, about 1180 - 1200. The swamp vault was checked with a metal detector and the return seemed to indicate either gold or silver. The swamp vault is still about four feet under water so the final episode will have to show how they plan to deal with this find. In the preview the indication seems to be that an artifact of value is recovered.

I am surprised that the archeological community has not raised some ruckus over this, whatever actually is buried here, the dating as preColumbus would imply great importance, especially now that the claim will be for two widely separation burials pre 1492.

[norenrad]

I was watching this the other day, I hope I don't miss the last episode.

[earthman]

Man I wish I had cable. Like to see this one. I don't see why in this day and age someone can't get to the bottom of this. I have know of Oak Island for years. Have seen a few shows on it and can't figure out why someone hasn't dug this pit up yet. The flooding could be pumped out and the flood canals plugged. Just can't figure it out....

earthman

[CasperParks]

Man I wish I had cable. Like to see this one. I don't see why in this day and age someone can't get to the bottom of this. I have know of Oak Island for years. Have seen a few shows on it and can't figure out why someone hasn't dug this pit up yet. The flooding could be pumped out and the flood canals plugged. Just can't figure it out....

earthman

Click there for history dot com -After eight days, a number of networks unlocked episodes for 30 to 90 days. (http://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/videos/the-curse-of-oak-island-the-secret-of-solomons-temple?m=5189717d404fa&s=All&f=1&free=false)

[majicbar]

Man I wish I had cable. Like to see this one. I don't see why in this day and age someone can't get to the bottom of this. I have know of Oak Island for years. Have seen a few shows on it and can't figure out why someone hasn't dug this pit up yet. The flooding could be pumped out and the flood canals plugged. Just can't figure it out....

earthmanWhat it will take is to use cassion technology to get down to bedrock. One previous effort took old petroleum car tanks as such an effort but ten foot diameters wont cut it, they need to have something more like seventy foot or more diameter to really control the dig and flooding. We are talking high tech and big bucks. There should be much greater engineering behind this effort. They may yet need to find the water inlets to be shutting them off, it would do much to limit the flooding issue.

[CasperParks]

Click there for history dot com -After eight days, a number of networks unlocked episodes for 30 to 90 days. (http://www.history.com/shows/the-curse-of-oak-island/videos/the-curse-of-oak-island-the-secret-of-solomons-temple?m=5189717d404fa&s=All&f=1&free=false)

Trying to watch earlier episodes free at history channel's website. Videos keep freezing and buffering. Same issue with CBS's shows website. History Channel does provided videos for Hulu's programing, however this show is not posted there as of yet.

[CasperParks]

One of the first hardcover books on "alternative subjects" I bought as a teen was one on Oak Island. I got interested in those topics partly because of my father's best friend who was involved with some treasure hunters. When the came to visit I would listen quietly to their conversations, plans, hopes. They located and dove on a sunken wreck that was supposed to be laden with copper but information had been copied incorrectly from an old manifest that read coffee not copper, they drove a car to the tip of South America and back for a car company documentary; had plans of many more things. For a twelve or thirteen year-old kid, this was adventure in a big way.

Did that car documentary end-up being part of a TV commercial?

[earthman]

Looks like the newer episodes are still locked but I still have the first's ones to watch. Thanks for the link..

earthman

[Longeyes]

Just saw the last one, I was very impressed with the Norwegian's theory it seemed unbelievable to start with but seemed to have great predictive powers. I'm very interested to see what happens in the next show.
The whole story has so many things going for it. Thanks for posting it Majicbar, I read the whole story on the link you posted and it was a great read. But by the end of it, I was convinced the true pit was lost due to over excavation and drilling -it now seems that they were looking in the wrong place all along. Hope they find something really good.

[Doc]

Did that car documentary end-up being part of a TV commercial?

A car company used the idea for a commercial much later. "You gonna take thees hunk of tin through the Baja?" - If that is the one you remember.

The actual trip was for Kaiser Co. to promote their economy car, the Henry J. Their car sales were failing and they were trying to change their image of a cheap, economy car, to a tough, durable vehicle with a Jeep ancestry. My memory of it is vague, to be sure, but I think they sent two teams in case one didn't make it. I remember them talking about dodging "Jivaro" spears--keep in mind these guys were a pair of wild characters who were not above telling the what approximated the truth in entertaining and creative ways. These are guys who dove on a sunken freighter with little more training than what they got at the store when they bought or rented the equipment.


The 1953/54 Henry J
http://home.comcast.net/%7Eljfid/fids_hj_photos/53_hj_kp.jpg

[CasperParks]

A car company used the idea for a commercial much later. "You gonna take thees hunk of tin through the Baja?" - If that is the one you remember.

The actual trip was for Kaiser Co. to promote their economy car, the Henry J. Their car sales were failing and they were trying to change their image of a cheap, economy car, to a tough, durable vehicle with a Jeep ancestry. My memory of it is vague, to be sure, but I think they sent two teams in case one didn't make it. I remember them talking about dodging "Jivaro" spears--keep in mind these guys were a pair of wild characters who were not above telling the what approximated the truth in entertaining and creative ways. These are guys who dove on a sunken freighter with little more training than what they got at the store when they bought or rented the equipment.


The 1953/54 Henry J
http://home.comcast.net/%7Eljfid/fids_hj_photos/53_hj_kp.jpg


Adventures at heart.

[majicbar]

The last episode of the season, hoping there will be a next season, was titled "The Find". While pulling the weeds from the swamp area they wanted to explore they passed a metal detector over vegetation from an are that read hot on the detector. Within this mass of vegetation they found a copper, or brass, coin, octagonal in shape roughly in size between a nickel and quarter. This coin was stamped with an 8 and a wave like embossment. The metal detectors afterward acted oddly and then died, perhaps shorted out by the muddy waters of the swamp. The only other thing they found in the swamp was rocks that looked like they were part of some kind of paving stone. Until they would be able to truly drain this area of surrounding water,s exploration looked futile.

One can only hope they can configure some kind of funding to properly explore these areas on Oak Island, and really do the kinds of excavations and exploring that will finally tell us what is under oak Island.

[Doc]

It seemed as if the younger brother was financing the exploration. They don't seem to be in any hurry. I suspect they have a deal with the History Channel that involves some support for the dig and proceeding in a careful, planned approach that allows the viewers to follow without figuring out missed parts of the exploration.

[majicbar]

The series has been on the History Channel the last few weeks, tonight's episode has the team drilling a core sample looking fot the money pit, they seem to have found a cement covered wooden vault at depth. This event marks a turning point in the expedition. This is getting very interesting.

[southerncross]

While what's in there is food for thought, I'm really interested in how it was built. Boring some of those deep angled flooding tunnels was quite a feat. The depth is impressive. And whatever is going on in the swamp is just a head scratcher. I know one of the brothers is so done with the swamp, but that's what the builders were counting on. They wanted it to be hard to figure out and tough to access.
No doubt there was a reasonably simple solution at one time. I think any access that was meant to be by the originators has likely been ruined by all the searches conducted to date. It's fun to watch though. I'm in !