Around this time, the first reports of the Oak Island curse appear. The Truro group dug shafts to intercept this drain, with no success. Digging at Smith's Cove revealed five rock-lined sluices extending away from the beach and coalescing into a single drain that appeared to lead to the Money Pit. Undeterred, the crew believed they had found a flood tunnel that channeled water to the pit from the man-made Smith's Cove approximately 500 feet east of the dig site. But before the crew could access the vault, the bottom of the Money Pit collapsed and flooded again, taking the presumed treasure with it. That crew was reportedly able to bail out the water in the pit and reinforce its walls before drilling into the “vault.” The drill penetrated successive layers of wood and loose metal, suggesting a treasure chest, and according to a newspaper account published years later, surfaced three small links of gold chain. Coconuts don’t grow within 900 miles of Nova Scotia, but the story alleges the crew made a more monumental discovery at 90 feet: a rectangular stone inscribed with strange markings.Īnother expedition to Oak Island launched from the nearby town of Truro in 1849. They picked up where the first dig left off, finding more platforms every 10 feet, sometimes with layers of putty, charcoal, or coconut fibers on top. The story resumes in the early 1800s, when the Onslow Company embarked on the first official expedition to excavate the discovery. A second platform lay 20 feet down, but that’s where the account of the first search ends. Two feet down, they found a circle of stones bordering the circumference of the pit, and at 10 feet, they found a platform of cut timbers fit into the sides of the pit. The boys began to dig out what would be known as the Money Pit. In a copse of trees on the southeastern side of the island, the boys found a 13-foot-wide depression surrounded by loose soil and young trees-signs the ground had been disturbed. He heralded two friends and rowed over to investigate. In 1795, a Nova Scotia teenager reportedly saw strange lights hovering over the island from his home on the mainland. Oak Island first garnered intrigue soon after the “Golden Age of Piracy” (roughly 1650–1730), when Edward Low and Bartholo mew Roberts patrolled the seas northeast of the Americas. Was Oak Island a trove for the Knights Templar, a secret British industrial center, or an ill-fated natural sinkhole? The answer, of course, takes some digging. While no treasure has been found, peripheral discoveries-apparent clues, possible traps, and geological curiosities-have compelled searchers onward, even as historians dispute the more sensational claims surrounding the treasure. “If you’re not prepared for the emotional ride, you can pack up your toys and go.” Hunts for the Oak Island Money Pit, a 100-foot hole on an island in Nova Scotia, allegedly containing anything from pirate treasure to the Ark of the Covenant, date back to 1795. “Frustrating, fascinating, enticing-you put any adjective you want in front of Oak Island and that’s what it is,” says Charles Barkhouse, historian for the History Channel show The Curse of Oak Island, which has chronicled an ongoing search for the treasure for eight seasons (with few results). Six have perished in the search for billions in gold, but the danger has only fueled exploration and speculation. The Oak Island curse says seven men must die before the island reveals its legendary treasure.
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