WanderingFox
Wide-eyed vulpine rambler
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2017
- Messages
- 201
- Location
- South Gloucestershire
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...