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I think _______ made the money pit

  • Captain Kidd (privateer)

    Votes: 6 9.8%
  • Gangs Of Pirates (Thar be booty in that pit, arrr)

    Votes: 9 14.8%
  • The French (just to spite english or americans after their gold)

    Votes: 3 4.9%
  • The Vikings (the viking settle ment of vinland it thought to be on the nova scotia coast, which is w

    Votes: 2 3.3%
  • The Spanish (If you're worried about prirates and you've lost a lot of ships to a recent raid by the

    Votes: 3 4.9%
  • British Navy (on the run with lots of lovely treasure after/dureing the american war of independance

    Votes: 7 11.5%
  • Native Americans (dosen't fit with the artifacts found but native americans could theoreticly have m

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Aliens (Aparently they made the pyramids too :rolleyes: )

    Votes: 6 9.8%
  • Another Theory?

    Votes: 14 23.0%
  • The Templars (after escaping from La Rochelle)

    Votes: 11 18.0%

  • Total voters
    61
That's exactly right -- if these people went to all the bother of hiding some vast treasure down there, why did they make the inexcusable error of leaving a surface clue like the depression and pulley (or branch with burn marks in)? It makes zero sense, as does most of the original tale.

Some years ago I was guest sceptic (!) at a Money Pit event, and one of the major proponents of the legend told me, almost verbatim, that he and others now completely dismiss any so-called "history" around the island prior to the 1950s as too unreliable. I nearly had a cardiac arrest at that, because most of the believer set hold onto the original "three boys on an adventure" tale even though it's largely based on a work of fiction called The Treasure of the Seas, written in the 1870s, that loosely uses the MP mystery as its foundation.

I also have evidence (it's on my site, look for the John Brown Report) that digging stopped in the 1860s following statements by the company running the auger drill. Most books say the drilling produced a noise like "metal in pieces" which was always assumed to be gold coins, but the drilling company owner said this was ridiculous and that it was gravel, because that's what was coming out of the hole. He also said he had a habit of flipping a coin into the drill tube, because he was guaranteed it would come up again after hitting the drill bit. Thus, the idea that they'd struck a treasure chest was ludicrous because money would have been pouring out of the hole.

He also said that at the 140' or so level they hit what were obviously untouched soils, so the idea that something lies below 200' is also rubbish. But they'll keep digging, because it keeps the tale alive and faces on the telly.

Didn't realise there was a story inspired by Oak Island (note to self: seek it out; could prove useful). Echoes of J Habakuk Jephson's Statement in how it might have muddied the narrative waters. There may well be a kernel of truth buried deep down somewhere, but we're about as likely to find it as the searchers are treasure on the eponymous isle.

Of course, there's the ultimate irony - far, far more has been poured down into the Pit than can ever be reclaimed. Amazing how much people can obsess over a mere possibility...
 
About 20 years ago I knew a guy who was really into this tale.......he talked about it all the time.
After all these years and no gold I think it's safe to say that if there ever was any it's long gone.
It could be that someone was going to bury something then changed their mind....but the hole was started and never really used.
 
I have recently sat (often stood, sometimes walked and more lain) through the almost 7 hours Astonishing Legends podcast devoted to "The Money Pit", my recall may be slightly hazy as I slept though some bits - tend to listen podcasts in bed, which means there are many where I've heard the opening sections multiple times and slept through the latter, but I now think I'e heard all of it in when at least semi-awake. I'd previously dismissed the pit as being a monument to storytelling, cupidity and delusion but the hosts seem to think that there is something to it.

I am least familiar with the three hour(!) final episode covering theories but they gave a little too much credence to the Knights Templar stuff and to some of the wackier stuff surrounding the Bacon/Shakespeare "connection", so I'm not sure what to make of them. I'd had a high opinion of them after the Tamam Shud episodes, perhaps I was premature in my evaluation. It's enjoyable storytelling if nothing else.

Surprised the thread for this is so short here.
 
I have recently sat (often stood, sometimes walked and more lain) through the almost 7 hours Astonishing Legends podcast devoted to "The Money Pit", my recall may be slightly hazy as I slept though some bits - tend to listen podcasts in bed, which means there are many where I've heard the opening sections multiple times and slept through the latter, but I now think I'e heard all of it in when at least semi-awake. I'd previously dismissed the pit as being a monument to storytelling, cupidity and delusion but the hosts seem to think that there is something to it.

I am least familiar with the three hour(!) final episode covering theories but they gave a little too much credence to the Knights Templar stuff and to some of the wackier stuff surrounding the Bacon/Shakespeare "connection", so I'm not sure what to make of them. I'd had a high opinion of them after the Tamam Shud episodes, perhaps I was premature in my evaluation. It's enjoyable storytelling if nothing else.

Surprised the thread for this is so short here.


Any theories there which haven't been shared here, but could be credible/plausible?

Anything that gets Knights Templar, Francis Bacon and Shakespeare added to out sounds like pretty immediate nonsense, but is there anything a little further away from conspiracy nut territory? :)
 
Any theories there which haven't been shared here, but could be credible/plausible?

Anything that gets Knights Templar, Francis Bacon and Shakespeare added to out sounds like pretty immediate nonsense, but is there anything a little further away from conspiracy nut territory? :)

This is deeply embarrassing but I can't seem recall much from the theories episode, they dismiss "aliens" and the like immediately and they give a lot of time to "Bacon was Shakespeare" and the theories of Petter Amundsen, in doing so, they have to talk a lot about Bacon, the Baconian theory and so on. They dismiss that it's a sink hole that has pulled in trees and a boat - sink holes tend to widen. They also don't feel is was a secret "dry dock" for pirates to make repairs, as the tide variation isn't huge and there are better places relatively near. They talk about pirates a lot and more or less dismiss pirates, as the pit would have needed a high level of organisation and time, something pirates would not have.

They essentially think there is something there and that the 3D imaging shows an actual "room" somewhere over 100ft down and that the flood tunnels are or were real. Let's be honest if they is anything there most of it has been damaged if not destroyed by many decades of digging. They seem to treat the original story of the three "boys": although apparently Mc(G)Innes was 40 in 1795, as essentially true as do they treat the stories of various rocks inscribed with symbols etc.

Here's a link to the episode, about halfway down is a list o links that partially covers the topics discussed:

https://www.astonishinglegends.com/...p021-oak-island-money-pit-part-4-the-theories
 
I have recently sat (often stood, sometimes walked and more lain) through the almost 7 hours Astonishing Legends podcast devoted to "The Money Pit", my recall may be slightly hazy as I slept though some bits - tend to listen podcasts in bed, which means there are many where I've heard the opening sections multiple times and slept through the latter, but I now think I'e heard all of it in when at least semi-awake. I'd previously dismissed the pit as being a monument to storytelling, cupidity and delusion but the hosts seem to think that there is something to it.

I am least familiar with the three hour(!) final episode covering theories but they gave a little too much credence to the Knights Templar stuff and to some of the wackier stuff surrounding the Bacon/Shakespeare "connection", so I'm not sure what to make of them. I'd had a high opinion of them after the Tamam Shud episodes, perhaps I was premature in my evaluation. It's enjoyable storytelling if nothing else.

Surprised the thread for this is so short here.

Yes, I've listened to these, and their other podcasts, and enjoyed them, though I find the ultra-American advermercials (sp?) for razors and stuff simultaneously annoying and amusing. They're certainly very, very thorough and I know they have a large team of researchers on the job.

Like you I regard these largely as entertainment, which is not to denegrate the boys' hard work and dedication. I find it impossible to adopt any particular position on the Money Pit - I mean, it's not like Mel's Hole or the Skinwalker Ranch stuff, both of which my spidey-sense tells me are almost certainly cast-iron-copper-bottomed bollocks.

Nevertheless I love hearing the cornucopia of hypotheses relating to all such subjects. And you're right: such material is not at all boring but is still the insomniac's friend. :)
 
I watched the 2 hour long opener for the new season but must admit that I skipped through anything that looked like establishing footage or just more chat.

Mild Spoiler: The results of the 2D line experiment seemed extremely biased to me.
"We know there is a shaft somewhere on the line you are blasting so let's see if you can find it".
"We found a unusual patch in the results"
"You found the shaft. That's proof enough for me! Here, have a million dollars and crack on."

I think building the coffer dam at Smith's Cove would be my No.1 priority. If they can find proof of the water inlets/booby trap stuff, then that by association confirms the existence of a buried vault/room/treasure. With the million of dollars they have spent on digging and blasting, I'm sure they could have explored that cove better. They tried a smaller version that leaked and so they gave up!?!

Still, they're planning on it now so let's see...
 
I wouldn't be surprised if earlier diggers of the Oak Island money pit were successful in finding a hoard of treasure, thought "shit! .. we're now insanely rich but if we tell anyone, jealous greedy people are just going to want to take it away from us or tax us or something! .. let's all keep our mouths shut!" .. there's either nothing there anymore or it's already been found IMO.
 
I just wish that this was being done from a proper archaeological perspective. Rather than just blowing shit up.
 
The psychology of this "anomaly" is more interesting to me than the anomaly itself.
  1. Someone notices a dip in the ground.
  2. With their heads full of stories of adventure and treasure, they start to dig.
  3. Because the hole "must contain treasure"...
  4. Various features that a "secret treasure store" needs are added: a block and tackle hanging from a tree, trapdoors, chests, stones with strange carvings...
  5. And because it "has" the various things in (4) it must contain a huge amount of treasure.
  6. Therefore, normal flooding of a deep excavation on an, er... island surrounded by water... can only be a booby trap...
  7. In which case, the treasure must be of enormous value...
  8. In which case, the booby traps, the mystic writing can only be Masonic, or Templar, or (usual suspects)
  9. And if it's Masonic (etc.) treasure worth protecting so thoroughly, it must be unimaginably valuable
  10. And if so many people have tried to find it and failed, it must be really well hidden: go to 7, 8 or 9 according to taste.
Or, just stop at 1.
 
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I'm not so interested in the money, tbh. Moreso at finding out if there actually is a provable chamber/s, and clues to who built it and why. Or whether this has been the biggest hoax of a dig from the very beginning.
 
Agreed ... I was fascinated by the imagination-fueled implications attributed to the 'hole' (pit) 50 years ago. As time went on I came to see the hole as a sort of self-perpetuating Fortean mystery, and the self-perpetuation became an even bigger mystery than the hole itself.

What's this hole? Let's dig down to see what it may be. Past a certain depth one has to start shoring up the excavated hole with timbers, and all sorts of junk gets discarded within the hole. Later someone else repeats the exercise, and every artifact found gets attributed to the original hole rather than all the earlier excavations.

The pit is a self-refreshing source of anomalous evidence, because trying to get to the bottom of it (both figuratively and literally) only adds to the physical evidence that there's something down there.

I'm not sure there's a better example of a self-replenishing mystery.
 
Bit of a thread revival but did anybody else make it all the way through season 6 of Curse of Oak Island?

I could rant for ages about the problems with the series and its editing/pacing, but I still thought it was quite enjoyable(*). Hard to really say much without giving away spoilers, except I think I can safely say they didn't find the (soggy) works of Shakespeare or the Ark of the Covenant. I genuinely thought the stuff they found in Smith's Cove was really interesting, if a little glossed over quickly compared to the money pit material. Wish they'd followed up on it more quickly rather than leaving it until the last episode.

I cant help but feel like one of the original posters on this thread that if anything were there in the first place, it's probably been destroyed/hidden by the years of digging. Is it really going to be worth more than the money it must have cost them digging so far too? They seem like good guys though, so I'm really hoping they do find something and that there's a season 7.

RIP Dan Blankenship. An interesting life led.

(* - For a 22 episode season, I think there's a really excellent 10 part series lurking with no constant recaps. At least in the UK we were spared the "Mr Dramatic" voiceover man!)
 
I struggled with the last season. I must admit that I wasn't as gripped as usual. They have found some genuinely significant and interesting stuff in Smith's Cove. Laird Niven (complete with NUFC cap) must be really happy - if not frustrated by the the lack of interest from the rest of the team.

Something happened on that island but I'm finding it increasingly hard to believe in a buried treasure.
 
Wait a minute - there have been SIX TWENTY-TWO episode seasons of this? What on Earth do they fill up all that airtime with? "Still digging… nope, nothing here... still digging... no, still no joy... still digging..."
 
Wait a minute - there have been SIX TWENTY-TWO episode seasons of this? What on Earth do they fill up all that airtime with? "Still digging… nope, nothing here... still digging... no, still no joy... still digging..."
Me thinks 'The Money Pit' could well be how much money they 'dig-up' making all these follow-on T.V. episodes?
1562525765459.png
 
Me thinks 'The Money Pit' could well be how much money they 'dig-up' making all these follow-on T.V. episodes? View attachment 18693

Heh! They must be making a nice little profit out of this, but without ever having seen an episode, doesn't it get hugely repetitive when there's no end in sight? Mind you, if they found anything of value that would be the end of the show, I suppose.
 
Wait a minute - there have been SIX TWENTY-TWO episode seasons of this? What on Earth do they fill up all that airtime with? "Still digging… nope, nothing here... still digging... no, still no joy... still digging..."
Uuummmm.. Yes. That's it exactly. :shy:
 
Heh! They must be making a nice little profit out of this, but without ever having seen an episode, doesn't it get hugely repetitive when there's no end in sight? Mind you, if they found anything of value that would be the end of the show, I suppose.
Wonder if they've actually found it already, years ago, keeping it secret whilst thinking about how to go about it, then decided to make as-long-a-documentary type programme as possible, so that they could reap the benefits - both from the production of the supposed treasure hunt, and have the treasure multiply in value after it becomes a famous find! Now that's what I would call... forward thinking!
 
That's 22 episodes plus the numerous spin off programmes, and the "digging deeper" episodes with extra facts. To be fair, the first few seasons were much shorter, but it's now the History Channel's most successful show and they really, really drag it out.

Each episode is an hour, but there's loads of padding and telling you what happened 5 minutes ago and who all these people are again and again. They tightened up a bit in season 6, but it still gets annoying. However, they always find something towards the end of each show which drags you back the next week. Still, it's the journey that's interesting not the destination, right (keep telling myself that....)

I liked Laird's NUFC cap too. :)
 
Hi all. Season 7 of The Curse of Oak Island starts on the History Channel on 5th November in the US.

It's one of mine and my wife's favourite shows to watch, despite the repetitive nature. We are both in agreement that it is down to the individuals that are involved with the investigation; Rick and Marty are such likeable guys. We love it when Dave's eyes light up at the mention of the word "Gold". We're always excited to see what "Bobby Dazzlers" and "Top Pocket Finds" Gary is going to find; The lead cross and its likeness to the carving in France is uncanny and still our favourite find.

In a recent discussion about the show we realised that in Season 6 it became a lot more of an archeology show rather than treasure hunting show. I think this is the best way for them to treat it. In my eyes the treasure is the archeology and discovering all the new secrets that are popping up. On many occasions we have said they need Tony Robinson and his team on the Island. I believe that this year is all about the swamp and what it is hiding; I definitely think that it is artificial.

We also think that the real treasure is long gone and spent by the former slave who seemed to make a lot of money for a simple cabbage farmer.

Though nowhere near as entertaining, we have recently watched The Curse of Civil War Gold. It shares the format of Oak Island but is about a hoard of Confederate Gold that is possibly on the bed of Lake Michigan. The hunt has taken the team all over the US though. Lots of Civil War intrigue and shady goings on. Marty Lagina is a producer on the show and is part funding their treasure hunt; Also sending his son Alex on the hunt along with Gary Drayton from time to time. The last episode of Season 2 left us with a massive cliff-hanger in regards to what they find on the bed of the Lake. If you can put up with the voice overs, recapping and the fact that there are a lot of dead-ends followed by the team it's another entertaining watch.
 
I have recently sat (often stood, sometimes walked and more lain) through the almost 7 hours Astonishing Legends podcast devoted to "The Money Pit", my recall may be slightly hazy as I slept though some bits - tend to listen podcasts in bed, which means there are many where I've heard the opening sections multiple times and slept through the latter, but I now think I'e heard all of it in when at least semi-awake. I'd previously dismissed the pit as being a monument to storytelling, cupidity and delusion but the hosts seem to think that there is something to it.

I am least familiar with the three hour(!) final episode covering theories but they gave a little too much credence to the Knights Templar stuff and to some of the wackier stuff surrounding the Bacon/Shakespeare "connection", so I'm not sure what to make of them. I'd had a high opinion of them after the Tamam Shud episodes, perhaps I was premature in my evaluation. It's enjoyable storytelling if nothing else.

Surprised the thread for this is so short here.

I believe that the AL guys are going to be doing a Money Pit follow up soon. There is a Tamam Shud update on their Patreon that I am going to listen to tonight on my way home from work. The guys seem to be getting a lot of grief lately for their eagerness to believe some of the more out there theories of the subjects they are researching, though I've personally not noticed that much of a difference. They certainly don't say that any of their theories are the definitive truth. My only gripe has to be the Sallie House episodes as they really dragged that out, and I got the impression that a lot of hoaxing was going on at that location (not by them, by the people looking after the house). Despite what the HAM Radio guys said, Scott's EVP sounded nothing more than static to me; I couldn't hear shouting at all. I just couldn't believe what all the fuss was about; I guess you had to be there.
 
We also think that the real treasure is long gone and spent by the former slave who seemed to make a lot of money for a simple cabbage farmer.
Agree with pretty much everything here (apart from the confederate gold programme, yawn! ;)) but especially this. If there was any treasure, Ball went away with it and good for him. It just seems obvious.
 
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