Oak Island Money Pit

[Ogdred Weary]

I do hope at some point there is a genuine and realistic book written about all that has happened through the auspices of the Lagina brothers and Co.

That seems extremely unlikely.

 

[gordonrutter]

That seems extremely unlikely.

Why do you say that? Rick in particular is constantly saying how much he is in this for the story so to record his participation in the thread would seem a logical thing to do?

When they had Randal Sullivan on basically just to publicise his book I felt they weren't up for it and I always assumed part of that was due to him doing something they wanted to do at some point in the future.

There are so many involved in the Fellowship of the Dig I would actually be more surprised if in the future someone didn't try to cash in on it all when the cash cow eventually dies.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Why do you say that? Rick in particular is constantly saying how much he is in this for the story so to record his participation in the thread would seem a logical thing to do?

When they had Randal Sullivan on basically just to publicise his book I felt they weren't up for it and I always assumed part of that was due to him doing something they wanted to do at some point in the future.

There are so many involved in the Fellowship of the Dig I would actually be more surprised if in the future someone didn't try to cash in on it all when the cash cow eventually dies.

I have seen many episodes but by no means all and certainly less than half. I've not seen it for a while either but the show is so sensational and obviously the brothers are the centre piece so this taints my views. Also, how much money is there to be made in a book that says "we spent X amount of money and years to find nothing" compared to something more sensational?

I suppose though, if they do give up finding nothing (or little) after many years they will have no option but to publish a realistic book.

 

[Min Bannister]

Also, how much money is there to be made in a book that says "we spent X amount of money and years to find nothing" compared to something more sensational?

They haven't found "nothing" though and I think that is what frustrates fans. The history is what is fascinating to most people it seems and I think a book about what they found without sensationalism ("ooh a Roman Templar ox shoe!" )would be brilliant. I would buy it.

But they have an archaeologist on site who I thought would have guided the process more.
And they don't count on some viewers having long memories.

I think he does but they they edit it out of the show. I love the fact that they have actually found traces of gold and silver down there. Is there an old mine down there that has been forgotten about? Is that what this has all been about for the past 200+ years?

 

[Ogdred Weary]

They haven't found "nothing" though and I think that is what frustrates fans. The history is what is fascinating to most people it seems and I think a book about what they found without sensationalism ("ooh a Roman Templar ox shoe!" )would be brilliant. I would buy it.

Sorry, poor wording on my part. Even in the limited amount I've seen, plenty of intriguing stuff has turned up and/or been planted depending on your point of view. I just meant, at some point, the show will end, the brothers will stop and if they haven't found anything definitive - a hidden chamber, treasure, something else, then it will be seen as "nothing" in terms of general public interest. Most believers will continue to believe no doubt.

 

[Mr. Banooka]

And so it begins... Season 11 Episode 1...

Here we go

 

[Mr. Banooka]

And so it begins... Season 11 Episode 1...

Here we go

2 more Roman coins, a British Tudor coin and a potential Indian coin found on Lot 5.

 

[eziofan]

2 more Roman coins, a British Tudor coin and a potential Indian coin found on Lot 5.

But means nothing unless you know the context, which is always the problem with metal detecting. I have found a roman coin sitting above shards of Victorian pottery. Despite the difference in their ages they all seemed to be found at around the same depth. I think we are seeing the remains of someones coin collection.....

 

[Mr. Banooka]

But means nothing unless you know the context, which is always the problem with metal detecting. I have found a roman coin sitting above shards of Victorian pottery. Despite the difference in their ages they all seemed to be found at around the same depth. I think we are seeing the remains of someones coin collection.....

And that's what the team are trying to find out. What Is the context? Why are these different coins being found in this particular location. That's the fun of this show for me, not the finds themselves but why there is so much history and archaeology on this seemingly unimportant island in the North Atlantic.

 

[Robbrent]

I want to believe but this particular pot has been kept on a slow simmer for many years and nothing as far as I am aware has been found of any significance (cue loads of people telling me about coins and the like)

 

[Cochise]

I do retain a slight interest in this for the same reason as @Mr. Banooka . A pirate hoard (which was originally my preferred theory) could have all sorts of coins in it, remembering gold and silver coins were effectively valid anywhere in the world.

But the more that gets discovered, the more of a puzzle the whole thing seems to be. And surely by now all the locations are thoroughly compromised from an archaeological standpoint?

 

[RaM]

What erver else it is it was a amazing feat of engineering.

 

[Carl Grove]

I do retain a slight interest in this for the same reason as @Mr. Banooka . A pirate hoard (which was originally my preferred theory) could have all sorts of coins in it, remembering gold and silver coins were effectively valid anywhere in the world.

But the more that gets discovered, the more of a puzzle the whole thing seems to be. And surely by now all the locations are thoroughly compromised from an archaeological standpoint?

I am inclined to think that there is -- or was -- something of great importance there. The connections with the Templars and the theory about Bacon being involved interest me. I suspect that the "gold treasure" business is a basic bit of disinformation (if you really wanted to hide a treasure would you leave a message there saying "there is treasure here"?) so I would forget all that drilling and concentrate on the older structures still being uncovered. Unfortunately it seems that the authorities want to prevent a lot of what they really need to do in some of those areas. The connections with places in France and the great circle line from Versailles going through the island suggest that more than gold treasure is involved.

 

[eziofan]

And that's what the team are trying to find out. What Is the context? Why are these different coins being found in this particular location. That's the fun of this show for me, not the finds themselves but why there is so much history and archaeology on this seemingly unimportant island in the North Atlantic.

But from an archaeological point of view they are not. Once you remove an item from where it was found without investigating the surroundings, you have lost the context. Metal detecting does not detect pottery, clay pipe, tile, etc which can all be dated and therefore provide context.
Laird Niven and his team are the only ones carrying out a true archaeological investigation on the island and Laird is only there because the government of Nova Scotia insist he is there.

 

[Mr. Banooka]

But from an archaeological point of view they are not. Once you remove an item from where it was found without investigating the surroundings, you have lost the context. Metal detecting does not detect pottery, clay pipe, tile, etc which can all be dated and therefore provide context.
Laird Niven and his team are the only ones carrying out a true archaeological investigation on the island and Laird is only there because the government of Nova Scotia insist he is there.

I'm not sure I get your point. They are investigating the surroundings. Records are being kept, locations of finds are logged. They are finding pottery. Gary isn't allowed to actually dig until Laird gives him the go ahead.

 

[Kondoru]

Yes, we have no story, as such, just a random collection of stuff.

Useless.

And treasure or no treasure, where there is human activity there is going to be a story.

 

[Carl Grove]

Yes, we have no story, as such, just a random collection of stuff.

Useless.

And treasure or no treasure, where there is human activity there is going to be a story.

Well, I think the underlying story, which shows great interest in Oak Island from a very early period, with the Knights Templar involved, is very interesting. The fact that they were known to have conducted many underground excavations in Jerusalem and the theory that they might have recovered lost artefacts such as the Ark of the Covenant justifies more study. But I still think that the original money pit was a bit of disinformation to attract the greedy away from the real secret.

 

[RaM]

I think Samuel Ball' who seems to have got quite rich quickly had at least some of what was there.

 

[eziofan]

I'm not sure I get your point. They are investigating the surroundings. Records are being kept, locations of finds are logged. They are finding pottery. Gary isn't allowed to actually dig until Laird gives him the go ahead.

Gary gets a hit, digs a small hole, retrieves a piece of metal. That is not investigating the surroundings. To save going into a long explanation, google 'single context recording'

 

[eziofan]

I think Samuel Ball' who seems to have got quite rich quickly had at least some of what was there.

Where is the evidence that he got quite rich?

 

[RaM]

He went from slave to land owner so he must have been reasonably well off.

 

[gordonrutter]

Series 11 of the TV show starts on the Sky History channel on the 3rd of January at 9pm.

 

[Mr. Banooka]

He went from slave to land owner so he must have been reasonably well off.

He was originally named as one of the discoverers of the Money Pit. However his name was missed out on later accounts.

 

[Druk]

Gary gets a hit, digs a small hole, retrieves a piece of metal. That is not investigating the surroundings. To save going into a long explanation, google 'single context recording'

You never see Gary digging holes,leastways he said he wasn’t allowed to dig them.

 

[Mr. Banooka]

You never see Gary digging holes,leastways he said he wasn’t allowed to

I've often wondered about that, is he not allowed to dig the holes, or is just so he has someone else with him to be on camera.

The big change over the last couple of years is that Gary now plots where he gets hits and these are logged before they are dug. To me this is ensuring that the finds are logged in relation to their surroundings.

 

[Robbrent]

If they did find something it would surly mean the end to the show therefore it's stands to reason they won't find anything

 

[Druk]

I've often wondered about that, is he not allowed to dig the holes, or is just so he has someone else with him to be on camera.

The big change over the last couple of years is that Gary now plots where he gets hits and these are logged before they are dug. To me this is ensuring that the finds are logged in relation to their surroundings.

He said he doesn’t get to dig when he gets a detector signal,there’s someone else to do the grunt work,odd I know but it’s how it is.

 

[Min Bannister]

If they did find something it would surly mean the end to the show therefore it's stands to reason they won't find anything

If they actually find something the whole team are absolutely set for life so I don't think that is a factor!

 

[Steven]

If they did find something it would surly mean the end to the show therefore it's stands to reason they won't find anything

Maybe they'll find Bigfoot.

 

[Stormkhan]

The S.O.P. for the correct and valuable recording of finds is to pick a location and scrape the whole selected area, centimeter by centimeter, until you locate anything. If, say, a bone or coin is found, then it's kept in place and cleaned around until it sits on top of it's own little pile of dirt. Photographs are taken, measurements (depth etc.) recorded and then the item is moved to be cleaned further and cataloged.
What shouldn't happen is that when your detector goes beep, you dig down until the metal fragment appears on your trowel. You've lost context. I don't watch the show, to be honest, so I don't know if the stars ... er ... searchers do this. I've always had a fascination with the Money Pit Mystery, and would be interested in a good and non-speculative history of it. So much of it has been lost over the decades - including potential clues - and makes a convincing solution unlikely.