The Curse of Oak Island

[Procutus]

It seems that whatever is down there wasn't meant to be dug back up. Burying something that deep with boobytraps seems like it was meant to be a permanent resting place, so to speak. So, what kind of "treasure" would be buried where it could not be retrieved?

I've given a lot of thought to this over the years as well. My feeling has always been that the main shaft, the Money Pit itself, was designed so that if anyone did find it, they of course would eventually run into the flood tunnels and not be able to retrieve what is down there. By the same token, I believe that whoever did this, may have designed a secondary method of being able to retrieve the treasure themselves, by digging down through virgin ground that used surface markers to indicate where the treasure was at. In other words, I feel that lateral tunneling was done by the originators of the project, in order to have a way to get to what they buried.

Although a large part of me still thinks that Spanish conquistadors, using slave labor, are responsible, I have to admit that the Templar theory is becoming even more plausible to me. I would really like to know where Zena's map was found, or if the paper itself has been examined and dated. If real, it predates Henry Sinclair's trip by at least a century or more (Sinclair may have come to Nova Scotia in 1398).

But you are definitely right, it seems that whatever is there, was meant to stay there. Time will tell.

 

[daddymouse]

Its gotten too long and boring for me. Also, the repetition (names, both spoken and splashed on the screen) drives me nuckin' futts! Let me know when they REALLY find something!

 

[Kirby]

^^^ LOL!
I feel the same way, too. Stop introducing Rick and Marty Lagina five times per episode, we know who they are!

 

[Procutus]

I just wish they would show the dates that the various finds occurred on. Since they film from spring until late fall (mid-November, this past year) it would be helpful to have a frame of reference to what happened when.

 

[Procutus]

The discovery of the ancient, Templar-style cross at Smith's Cove was intriguing to say the least. The evidence pointing to Templar involvement at some point is compelling, and while I feel that they may in fact have been on Oak Island in the distant past, I'm still not fully convinced they're responsible for what's in the Money Pit. I still favor the theory of Spanish involvement (16th century conquistadors) as much of the wood that has been brought up that is pre-searcher has been carbon-dated to this particular time period, give or take a decade.

I'll be curious to see if Gary Drayton's assessment of the age of the cross they found is accurate, and what means are used to determine this.

 

[Leviathan]

^^^ LOL!
I feel the same way, too. Stop introducing Rick and Marty Lagina five times per episode, we know who they are!

A mysterious repetition? Found on Oak Island? Could it be a sign of Templar treasure...or something even MORE valuable?

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah the first 20 minutes seemed to be a recap of what was shown in the past couple of weeks. They really do seem to be running out of things to show. What I don't understand is why they didn't stop the drilling when they hit the void, lock it down and send a diver to see what's there. Instead they went all the way down to the bedrock, ensuring that they would never know what was down H-8 - the very bore that they were all sure was the link to the Chappel Vault. That was a very frustrating and somewhat confusing experience.

 

[Velocity]

They've added a long preview for the next week's episode at the end of each episode lately. Maybe they hope to keep people interested even though there are very few new exciting finds.

 

[137th Gebirg]

The ancient lead cross was amazing. Wish they could find more stuff like that.

 

[Procutus]

What I don't understand is why they didn't stop the drilling when they hit the void, lock it down and send a diver to see what's there. Instead they went all the way down to the bedrock, ensuring that they would never know what was down H-8 - the very bore that they were all sure was the link to the Chappel Vault. That was a very frustrating and somewhat confusing experience.

On that same line of thought, it surprised me that they didn't send down some form of side-scan unit to map the void. Cameras would be useless in all the crap they've stirred up, but I would think that sonar would've given them some useful data that might indicate if they were in the Money Pit or not.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yes, good point! No meaningful research was done in the void whatsoever, and I was always under the impression that finding it was their primary goal! I'm truly confused about these recent developments on the show.

 

[JasonJ]

I am also confused by that- I also do not know why they have not use LIDAR to scan the surface of the island for possible dig sites. It would penetrate all vegetation and even show what lies beneath the topsoil, going down a good 10-20ft. This is what they use to find ancient and lost Viking settlements in that area anyways...

I've seen Josh Gates on Expedition Unknown use it while attached to a freaking drone... and they found stuff.

If they have used this tech, why has it not been mentioned? If they have not, why?

 

[137th Gebirg]

I honestly can't remember if they used it or GPR. Such things would be useful more out at the swamp site with the box drains and over on the rocky beach. They wouldn't be useful over by the money pit, as it would be way too deep. All they would find there is leftovers and ruins from previous digs that they already know about.

 

[JasonJ]

I honestly can't remember if they used it or GPR. Such things would be useful more out at the swamp site with the box drains and over on the rocky beach. They wouldn't be useful over by the money pit, as it would be way too deep. All they would find there is leftovers and ruins from previous digs that they already know about.

For sure, but in the areas like Samuel Ball's lot, where it's all forested and overgrown, LiDAR or similar could reveal what is underneath all of that vegetation. Could show the actual box drains, show "the hatch", or other possible entrances... Heck, even in the money pit area it may even show where the highest concentration of debris is going down 10-20ft.. at least then you'd know about where to dig.

 

[Procutus]

Back in the mid-60s, the ground around the Money Pit area was in fact several feet higher than it is now. Robert Dunfield Sr. moved a lot of earth around, scraping away a lot of dirt in trying to expose the original shaft when he worked on the island. A lot of sub-surface artifacts may have been lost during that time period. But I agree that it would be worth trying to apply GPR or some other tech around all those survey holes to see what else lies close to ground level. Thus far, their concentration really seems to be with the material they are bringing up from below 150 feet.

Hopefully what they find (or rather found) in the new DMT shaft will prove they are in the right area. And then of course the question becomes, once they positively locate the Chappel Vault, how do you bring it to the surface without completely violating its integrity?

 

[Procutus]

Some thoughts regarding the find at Smith's Cove:

Like Rick, my first thought upon seeing it was that it was indeed a Christian cross, albeit one that isn't completely symmetrical. While I can accept the notion that it might be Phoenician in origin, representing the entity known as Tanit, what I can't quite buy is the idea that Templar Knights would pray to what is essentially a pagan deity, or embrace it as part of their beliefs. As Zena is also the one who had incorrectly translated part of the map, I'm starting to think that she may be making some of this stuff up as she goes along.

Sometimes a duck is just a duck, and in this instance, I think that what Rick and Gary found is a representation of a regular cross and is likely to be Templar in origin and not Phoenician. Don't get me wrong; as a long-time proponent of the theory of pre-Columbian contact, I think it's quite possible that the Phoenicians may very well have come to North America, even before the Celts and Vikings.

But I'm just not convinced that they have something to do with the Smith's Cove find. I really wish the show would follow up with some of the analysis work that the Laginas and their partners should be doing on the pottery, metal fragments other non-organic material that's being excavated. That, and as I've mentioned previously, it drives me bonkers that the production company can't supply the dates when these various things have occurred. I mentioned this once to Garnette Blankenship and she said that she'd pass that suggestion along to the Prometheus crew, but obviously they feel it's more important to plaster everyone's name on the screen, everytime they appear.

 

[Scout101]

whole thing just seems like such a joke. Maybe there's better work happening off screen, but from what they show, they'd destroy or invalidate whatever they find. And whole show seems to be just about dragging it out so they keep getting paid without ever having to show progress. Can't even be bothered to check in much anymore, nothing's going to change/happen. There's no endgame here.

 

[jbny67]

Last night was basically a clip show.
The only new thing was the promo for the spin off show with Marty.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, a history lesson about the Templars, basically. Using stock footage from Knightfall, another History Channel show; some cross-marketing going on there as well, in addition to Marty's new show. Which is okay with me, because I love Knightfall.

I wonder if they can use some kind of mass spectrometer analysis to see if the cross does, indeed, have a gold core under the lead. I agree with @Procutus, though, in that I feel that Zena can no longer be a reliable source of information. I think she's far more interested with her own self-promotion than with historical accuracy.

 

[JasonJ]

Yeah, a history lesson about the Templars, basically. Using stock footage from Knightfall, another History Channel show; some cross-marketing going on there as well, in addition to Marty's new show. Which is okay with me, because I love Knightfall.

I wonder if they can use some kind of mass spectrometer analysis to see if the cross does, indeed, have a gold core under the lead. I agree with @Procutus, though, in that I feel that Zena can no longer be a reliable source of information. I think she's far more interested with her own self-promotion than with historical accuracy.

I was thinking about the possibility of a gold core to that cross. Calculate the volume of material there, then compare that and it's mass with the known mass and density of pure lead. If it's off, then it's not all lead.. should indicate if there is a core of any other material inside the lead outer shell.