Oak Island Money Pit

[hitman]

Ok so if your more than 15 years old you've heard the story of the oak island money pit. So for the billion dollar question whats at the bottom?

Cast a vote and post you're thought's.

Now as for me I really don't know what to think but from what is known about the pit and its construction I doubt it had to do with Capt. Kidd but then hey we don't know now do we. If I had to quess from me own options I'd say it was the British army what done it or other. Nothing else seems likely.

[Longarm]

I know exactly what they'll find at the bottom of the pit. Once they get to the bottom and everything is taken out. They will find..... wait for it.... they will find. Rocks and Dirt! Remember the key word here is everything. What the everything consists of I have no idea. But after alot of personal experience digging holes, trenches and footings, I can pesonally say that at the bottom of everyone of them I have found rocks and dirt. Because the money pit goes below the water table they will in fact find wet rocks and dirt but, it is still rocks and dirt.

[Zorg]

18 minutes of tape from the Nixon era, Bush's WMD's, 11000 hanging chads, and the ethics of all the ethics committees ever formed, not to mention 15 sets of my car keys.

handy thing, those pits

[Capt. Morgan]

*nods* And about 200 single socks that disappeared in my washing machine over the years... actually, I HAVE NO idea what's down there, but the pieces of gold chain brought up waaaaay back in the day have me wondering...

[El Pirata]

Maybe Jimmy Hoffa is burried there...

[HarborMaster]

Maybe Hoffa is there HAHAHA ROTFLMAO

HarborMaster

[JoshuaRed]

I love this mystery. I'm positive that it has nothing to do with Kidd. My favorite theory is the Spanish treasure ship that was carrying some utterly priceless religious artifact, probably Aztec or Mayan back to Spain. Rumor was it got blown way off course in a storm, and knowing they were lost in English waters they hid the artifacts on Oak Island before continuing on to England.

To me, this theory makes a lot of sense as they knew it was not a question of if but when before they were intercepted, and thus would have been desperate, even crazy enough to go to such lengths.

Though it's very doubtful I also like the Knights Templar theory.

Here is what kills me though - with the incredible array of fiber optic technology today, why don't they just snake a 300 foot optic cable down with an infrared cam? If there is a hollow space they'll see something for sure. BAH! I hate waiting for solvable mysteries.

[Coastie04]

I have to admit, I like the Knights Templar theories as well (I've heard at least two). I've heard that it's the burried treasure of the Knights Templar that was never found, or that it's a religious artifact. Supposedly the keystone to one of the great pyramids was used as a cornerstone for Solomon's temple, and it had great powers. So, they may just find rocks. As for anything that has reportedly been unearthed there, such as the gold chain, etc., I'm highly skeptical. I don't believe that any of the artifacts (confirmed) are still around today for examination.

Another one I've heard is that the American Government has already found the treasure, and it's being hidden in some government warehouse. This is more fun than Kennedy assassination theories.

Coastie

[Black Deacon]

Ok, someone give me the readers digest version of this story.

[Capt. Morgan]

Another one I've heard is that the American Government has already found the treasure, and it's being hidden in some government warehouse.

Ha Ha!! Right next to the Lost Ark of the Covenant!!

As for a reader's digest version... there really isn't one... if we tried to condense it, we'd rob you of a lot of the interesting tid-bits... lemme see if I can't post a URL that'll allow you to read at your convenience...

[Capt. Morgan]

This should help get you started... there are a few decent older books you can probably find in your local library, too...

Oak Island

[Matty Bottles]

I don't think it's a treasure at all. I think it's a horiffic monster who couldn't be slain, ala grendel, so they bound it, imprisoned it, and buried it alive two-hundred feet below sea level, with the booby trap designed to prevent anyone from coming close to freeing it. I don't really believe that, but it would make a hell of a movie, wouldn't it?

[Black Deacon]

Thanks for the link. Now I believe it was made by the same aliens that made the pyramids because the engineering and digging seems to be too good for the time. Putting my tinfoil tri-corn on now.

['Salem Bob']

What is precisely there remains an unknown, but for a fact something is there. The pit has been known since the late 18th century, and a boreing in the 19th brought up amongst wood bits a bit of coconut hist, and a damaged bit of gold chain - I believe part of a barrel top was gotten out of the excavation before the cofferdam flooded and the excavation under dropped the platform to it's present level.

The found artifacts, and the elaborate construction argue for something of value being concealed - it is far too elaborate for a hoax, and the island was not frequented by the local population until the last years of the 18th century - principly due to the pit being found.

I sincerely doubt it is the loot of Havannah, as the British army is not in the habit of burying loot, but placing same in the hands of it's upper officers and the Crown. I equally find it unlikely to be specifically the loot of Kidd, but it is something of value put there by someone - given the effort and the concealment, it is likely ill-gotten gains.

[El Pirata]

Oak Island

I love that site.

[corsair2k3]

Thanks for the link. Now I believe it was made by the same aliens that made the pyramids because the engineering and digging seems to be too good for the time. Putting my tinfoil tri-corn on now.

Greetings,

Actually, the scientific knowledge needed to build the main shaft and side tunnels was pretty commonplace back then--not so common now, though, and so we just THINK it was beyond the capabilities of the 18th -century.

The Corsair

[Capt. Morgan]

El Pirata Posted on Mar 2 2004, 06:01 PM

  QUOTE (Capt. Morgan @ Mar 2 2004, 01:12 PM)

Oak Island 

I love that site. 

I found it to be pretty cool, too! Glad I could be of assistance!

[Deacon Frye]

The Skeptical Inquirer has a rather persuasive article on Oak Island by Jor Nickell:

The Secrets of Oak Island

He maintains that the pit is simply a natural formation, layered over with several generations of Masonic obfuscation.

On the chance that it was a pirate, however, my nod would go to Peter Easton.

Reported to have had 5000 pirates under him (albeit not all at the same time), he was based in the neighborhood.

He also knocked over the Spanish treasure fleet before retiring to live happily ever after on the Cote d'Azur.

He had means, incentive, and opportunity. (And probably some coconut mats used to package the Spanish cargo.)

[hitman]

The skeptical inquirer piece is interesting. Always wondered when someone would call into question the reality of the situation. As to it being a natural formation I kind of doubt it all the early explorations found wooden platforms spaced every 10 feet down the hole. Two for someone who has as little first hand knowledge of the place as we do I'd say he makes some very large assumptions. As to the truth of the money pit well it's there the rumors have been there since the start and the speculation won't end till someone actually does something intelligent like say the fiber optic camera idea. course then will only get one more history channel special out of it. As it is we get at least two a year now. Again the theories all sound impractical but hey so does a two hundred foot deep pit protected by a torant of sea water. However lets face it there is a circular pit 13 feet in diameter ( before modern excavation) and two hundred feet deep. By the way is it just me or does the skeptical inquire use the Masonic order like archeologists use the phrase we think it was for religious purposes.

[Calico Jack]

As a local, I can vouch for a few things:

One. This has nothing to do with Kidd. Kidd was apoor sod screwed over by politics, who tried to buy a chance to escape by inventing a "buried treasure" [at best] or who failed to realise that the Crown had already nipped in and confiscated the stuff he left for safe keeping with a buddy in New England. Nope, not Kidd.

Not the bloody manuscripts of Bill Shakespeare as writ by Marlowe.

_Not_ something that anyone intended to dig up later. The island leaks water like a seive, tunnels or no tunnels. Whatever was stuck down that hole, it was stuck there for keeps.

Not the bleeding Templars, either. There's good odds of figuring when the digging would have taken place based on the still evidence of the lopped branch and remnants of tackle. There was enough left for the kids to notice, not a hundred years of growth.

So? Time and date, it may have been British or French, but no one in [then slightly settled] Mahone Bay noticed a big ship with diggings, or lights, so no big production. Not likely gold, since the only "evidence" for actual gold comes from a 'translation' of a 'coded' inscription which since went missing if ever it was to begin with. The oft-purported 'gold chain link' was to all appearances a bit of copper wire, so I propose the radical possibility that said was actually a bit of copper wire. Thus, I throw in my vote with "other."

Nor do I think the answer matters so much as the question. Heck, mayhaps _nothing_ was put down the hole, but rather the hole was the exercise in itself.

Nor was it Elvis and Aliens from the future burying the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa [grins]. And Easton was not exactly famed for sticking money in a hole in the dirt. Spending was more his style.

URL? http://www.geocities.com/frailbridges/hier...rchy/island.htm and, for those with a sense of humour, http://www.geocities.com/frailbridges/hier...hy/island2.html [templars and aliens, as it were].

- Calico Jack.

[JoshuaRed]

One. This has nothing to do with Kidd. Kidd was apoor sod screwed over by politics, who tried to buy a chance to escape by inventing a "buried treasure" [at best] or who failed to realise that the Crown had already nipped in and confiscated the stuff he left for safe keeping with a buddy in New England. Nope, not Kidd.

Agreed. Not only that, but Kidd was on the run and had NO time to bury so much as a box in three feet of soft beach sand. A 200 foot hole would I think take many months of hard work by dozens of men.

The hole had to be dug at a more leisurely time when the diggers knew they were going to be unseen for a time.

I still subsribe to the "Spaniards blown off course by a storm in the early 1500's" theory. This would place a large Spanish galleon FULL of men and soldiers on Oak Island ready to dig. Being the early 1500s they could probably rest easy knowing no English would be in the immediate vicinity, in fact not much of anyone would be there. If they were indeed carrying priceless Aztec treasure, they would have a strong motive to hide it BEFORE crossing to Europe. They wouldn't want to run the risk of meeting English pirates off France or Spain. Since it was merely 1 isolated ship, it could have wrecked on the way home, been taken, plague or fever could have killed the crew...any thing could have happened to prevent them from ever returning for it.

So that is my favorite theory.

[Deacon Frye]

Another interesting Oak Island site:

A Critical Analysis of the Oak Island Legend

[TalesOfTheSevenSeas]

If not treasure in the sense of gold, then perhaps treasure in the sense of archaeological treasures. At the turn of the century they said that the Valley of the Kings in Egypt had been exhausted- Then they found Tut's tomb in the 20's. On my first trip to Egypt in 1995, our highly respected Egyptologist (assistant to Dr. Zahi Hawass) stated then that the Valley of the Kings had been exhausted. About six months after my return to the US, Kent Weeks discovered that there was far more to KV-5 than anyone ever imagined. I think treasures are in the eye of the beholder. That is what I love about archaeology. You never know what might be lying just below your feet!!

[Capt. Morgan]

Agreed, Claire! I volunteered at the excavation at Mount Vernon (Geo. Washington), and was amazed to find shards of discarded dishes that Washington and his family used!! I got to actually hold them in my hands... and tourists, interested to see what we were doing, were disappointed and dismayed to find that we weren't pulling gold and jewels from the site... one, when I told him what we had found, even commented, "That's it?!?"... *sigh* one man's trash is another's treasure... but there is nothing like the thrill of discovery, big or small... that's why I love archaeology... the chance to actually TOUCH living history.

[Black Deacon]

That's like excavating an old Indian Campground. You don't find the camp. You find their dump.