Page 35 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2014 Edition

New TV Show Investigates Oak Island, NS Curse of Oak Island arguing the apparent pit is a natural sinkhole. Again, no. Generations of diggers have assumed Millions of dollars have been spent reignites centuries-old digging pits, looking for gold and other buried they existed but none have ever uncovered and traced them. One company claimed to have treasure hunt treasure. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt financed a struck a tunnel in the late 1800s, but this was never verified. In the 1960s, Robert Dunfield dig. But not a single coin has been found. cbc.ca The Curse of Oak Island aired its first rode the bucket of an excavator to the bottom of episode on Jan. 5. The show is considering the Pit to examine it for evidence of the tunnels: A new television series is fuelling the dreams of shooting season two this summer. Blankenship he found none, and his dye tests indicated all but treasure hunters in the search for Nova Scotia's said he'll welcome the company after a long, 15 gallons/minute of the water was coming legendary treasure trove at Oak Island on the lonely winter on his personal treasure island. [] from below the 140' level (natural infiltration province's South Shore. from the underlying limestone bedrock). For more than 200 years, treasure The Top Ten Myths about The fact that dowsing via divining rod hunters have flocked to the small island in has often been used on Oak Island to "verify" Mahone Bay, hoping to find the treasure alleged the Money Pit the existence of various features suggests that to been buried on Oak Island. very little scientific inquiry has taken place The Curse of Oak Island, a new series 1) The Discovery of the Pit in 1795 is there. airing on the History Channel, follows two Historical Fact brothers from Michigan — Rick and Marty Wrong! While the story of "three boys 6) The Artifical Beach is The Source of The Lagina, who have purchased part of the island on an adventure" finding the site in this year has Flooding — and their attempts to find the treasure. been passed down by generations of poor David Blankenship has been looking for researchers, no contemporary source Unlikely at best. While the beach does exist and the treasure since 1975. His father owns part of documenting these events has ever been is a legitimately interesting feature, Dunfield the island. discovered. We do know that the men existed, found that the vertical "drain" was a dead end. It Blankenship remembers the day but they were not boys. McInnis was in his mid did not intersect with one of the so-called flood producers from the show came calling. 30s, and the only historically documented tunnels, but instead terminated abruptly. "I thought they were nuts," he said. "Anthony Vaughn" known to live in the area One of the major mistakes most people Still, Blankenship admits he wants to was of a similar age. Two of the men owned make is associating one feature on the island believe a great treasure trove remains buried on land on the island prior to the alleged discovery, with another. The existence of the "beach" does Oak Island. in fact. not confirm other details of the MP story, and There are several theories about what's there's no hard evidence the two are related. buried on the island, including pirate treasure, a 2) The Pit Contained Nine Oak Platforms golden trove buried by the Knights Templar and Also not verified. The story has changed 7) Two Links From a Gold Chain and a Piece the missing French crown jewels once repeatedly since it was first documented in the of Parchment Were Found belonging to Marie Antoinette. 1860s, when it spoke only of a few log Possibly. Various people say they've "I hope it's the Knights Templar. They platforms near the top. The rest of the way held the parchment (if parchment it is) in their had, what, 13 ships left England that's never down, searchers were said to have found hands, but there's no way to confirm that (a) it's been found?" said Blankenship. "That's cool. It "marks" of some kind every ten feet. The idea the original piece, and (b) that it wasn't planted was loaded with gold." that these were more platforms was added later in the Pit to provide a false lead. on by unknown writers, and became integrated The "gold links" have been changed 6 have died in search of treasure into the folklore of the island. over the years, however: when first mentioned, they were described as "several links from a fine Six people have died in pursuit of the treasure, 3) Surely the "Inscribed Stone" Is Verified, chain, as if forced from an epaulette." Later, the either in collapsed excavation pits or other Right? We Have a Translation... latter phrase was dropped and the legend accidents. The usual set of pictograms found on changed to "two links from a gold chain." No In its dramatic opening, The Curse of many Web sites and in books were invented, one has seen this mythical artifact in over 150 Oak Island begins: "An ominous legend says probably by one Reverend A.T. Kempton of years, if it ever existed to begin with. that seven people must die in pursuit of the Cambridge Massachusetts. This is still being treasure before Oak Island will reveal her verified, but the stone, if it ever existed to begin 8) Many Other Artifacts Have Been secrets. So far, the body count stands at six." with, was never copied, traced, or otherwise Recovered From The Pit Whether that's true remains to be seen. depicted in any format until Edward Rowe Various expeditions claimed to have Since the 18th century, many have tried Snow, a New England writer, published located bits of chain, worked wood, and other and failed to find the riches said to be buried on Kempton's symbols circa 1948. No one knows items when digging in the Pit. This is the island. where Kempton obtained the symbols; most meaningless, however, since the area As legend has it, in 1795 a trio of young likely he invented them on his own. underlying the "original" Pit is filled with a men noticed a depression in the ground. rabbit's warren of abandoned tunnels, shafts, Recalling local lore that said pirates had stashed 4) The Stone Was Translated as "Forty Feet and debris. Historically documented cases of their booty on many of the islands in Mahone Down, Two Million Pounds Are Buried." the Pit's "cribbing" (wooden supports, etc.) Bay, they began to dig. This is the most common interpretation, collapsing repeatedly over the years show us A layer of flagstones gave way to two but we must be cautious since the symbols (as that this area is likely filled with the trash of wood platforms farther down, but nothing cited in #3) are highly suspect. Kempton likely prior expeditions. Finding a piece of worked turned up. Disheartened, the three abandoned invented a "translation" that fit the "forty feet wood, chain, or even a bit of parchment, in the the dig. down" phrase. Other sources have said the stone area of devastation beneath the Pit is to be Nine years later, in 1804, they returned translated to "ten feet down, two million expected, since it's rather like an old mine that's as part of a syndicate formed to retrieve the pounds." Without the actual stone, it is been worked by multiple companies, few of island's buried secret. Thirty metres down, they impossible to determine if the inscription was which ever documented the location of all their said, they found a slab carved with unfamiliar legitimate or when it was created...it could just cuttings. symbols and felt certain they were close to the as easily have been made by one of the treasure treasure. diggers. Continued on Page 53 But when they returned the next It should be noted that "inscribed morning, the shaft was two-thirds full of water stones" are part and parcel to hundreds, if not Listen To Past Broadcasts of — the result of what some say was an elaborate thousands of treasure-related folktales. The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV Show with Rob McConnell booby trap designed to keep greedy hands off at the prize. 5) The "Flood Tunnels" Have Been Mapped www.xzonepodcast.com Others dispute that claim, with critics and Verified