The secrets of Oak Island are close to being revealed, but if the island has any say in the matter, those secrets will remain hidden. The Lagina brothers and the Fellowship of the Dig have vowed to never give up the quest for the treasure which had begun in 1795 when Daniel McGinnis and company first discovered the Money Pit. Time, money, and even a curse (see below) cannot, and will not, keep them down.
RUNDOWN In the conclusion of my previous post (Oak Island Rundown S11 Ep15), I noted that the Knights Templar were the earliest party to operate on Oak Island. The results of carbon testing on tree stump samples collected from the swamp further prove this theory. Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner had concluded that the trees dated back as early as 1296 to as late as 1396. Since these trees cannot grow within this environment, the Fellowship can further conclude with confidence that the swamp was not an original feature of the island, but was man-made. The paved area in the swamp had previously been scientifically dated to 1200, another point for both the Knights Templar and the manipulation of the swamp. If dates are not enough to suggest the Knights Templar, then artifacts recovered from deep within the Money Pit area should help fill in those blanks. Geoscientist Dr. Aaron Satkosky analyzed wood samples recovered from 180 feet underground and deduced via isotopic testing that they originated from such possible locations as southeastern France, northern Italy, and Norway. The former two, researcher Doug Crowell noted, relate to the Templars as each served as a Templar stronghold. A 14th century lead cross discovered on Oak Island a few years ago was scientifically tested and revealed to have come from a mine in France. The Knights Templar also passed through Italy en route to France from Jerusalem. THE CURSE While time and money have been an obstacle for previous searcher teams, the main threat is a curse which states that seven men must die before the treasure can be found. To date, six men have given their lives. While time and money have not been a deterrent for the Fellowship, there still remains the curse. Marty Lagina noted that while he doesn't believe in a curse, he cannot help but notice the pattern of mysterious happenings that occur whenever they follow a lead to uncovering the treasure. In the conclusion of this week's episode, "Dark and Stormy," Lagina's older brother, Rick, announced that they will have to temporarily pause their search operations due to the approaching category 5 Hurricane Lee. Could this be merely a coincidence or could there be a higher power at play? CONCLUSION In a previously aired special episode of The Curse of Oak Island, William Shatner joined the Lagina brothers and members of the Fellowship in the War Room. When the curse was mentioned, Shatner stated its reality should all the requirements of that curse be met. As stated above, six of seven lives have been lost and extreme whether has attempted to plague the Fellowship. If it is anything like the ten plagues of Egypt, these warning sings will only increase in severity until the final life is taken. Could there be a curse protecting the treasure? This treasure, in my opinion, must be so valuable and of such great importance that someone had taken up the time and labor to dig an elaborate tunnel system, and even going so far as the placing of a curse, to ensure it remains protected. I can see such efforts being made if the treasure were to be religious relics such as the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail, the latter of which I personally don't think exists, but that's for another post. Only time will tell, and I hope it won't be another 229 years before the secrets are finally revealed.
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The triangle-shaped swamp has been among the more curious locations on Oak Island. Every excavation of the site has yielded more questions than answers. If, however, the discoveries made in this this week's episode of History's The Curse of Oak Island are any indication, some of those questions may finally be answered. This week, we were treated to two hours of Oak Island adventures! First to air was the fifteenth episode of season eleven titled "On Target" followed by an episode of the spin-off, Drilling Down, titled "Decoding the Swamp." Continuing my episode rundown, I will provide a summary of key finds and share my own thoughts and theories.
BACKGROUND Since Oak Island adventurer Fred Nolan first posited that the swamp holds the answers to the long-elusive mysteries of the island in 1969, it has been speculated that the swamp is a man-made feature; Oak Island was once two separate islands, the waters between them were dammed and filled in to form a single landmass with the swamp in the middle. You may recall from my previous Oak Island Rundown blog (Feb. 15, 2024) that there is reason to believe that Sir William Phips was involved with the mysterious goings on associated with Oak Island. Clues revealed this week further fuel the fire of the Phips connection. RUNDOWN A piece of a leather shoe, which was found in the swamp two weeks ago (episode 13), was taken to be analyzed by leather expert Joe Landry who dated the artifact to the late 1600s/ early 1700s. These dates fall in line with the Phips theory. In Drilling Down, host Matty Blake tours the swamp and stops by the northernmost point known as the "Eye of the Swamp," which is a ring of stones. The age of the Eye of the Swamp has been dated between 1680 and 1700, the same time period during which Phips would have been active around the island! Seen from above, the whole of the swamp, with this circular stone feature, is not unlike the All-seeing Eye, a symbol common in Freemason iconography. Sir Phips had partnered with Freemason Capt. Andrew Belcher is the former's salvage of the Concepcion, whose treasures have been thought to have been hidden in Oak Island's Money Pit. Could this be coincidence? While that may be a possibility, there are too many factors to call this a definitive coincidence. So, it is likely that Sir Phips and Capt. Belcher were behind the swamp's creation. More stones have been uncovered during the swamp's excavation. These stones, it was noted, did not originate from the beach, but rather from underground. This could connect to the Money Pit; the rock excavated during the creation of the Money Pit were used to pave the area that would later be made into a swamp. Some of the stones in the swamp had been dated as early as 1200 AD, nearly 500 years before Sir Phips' time. So, does this discredit Sir Phips and his company as the builders of the swamp? Not in the slightest! As I mentioned in my previous Oak Island Rundown blog, the wide range of dates indicates that the activity conducted on Oak Island was made by numerous parties. To paraphrase Rick Lagina, it was a multi-generational endeavor, and the discoveries made reveal the chapters and paragraphs of this history. What remains to be answered is whether these parties were of the same or separate organizations. One thing is certain: the earliest dates suggest the Portuguese and the Knights Templar, while artifacts from Lot 5 and the swamp date to the late 1600s and suggest Sir William Phips. Lastly, let's discuss Nolan's Cross and its connection to the Money Pit. Author and Freemason Christopher Morford explained that the cross was made by the Knights Templar as a marker pointing to the location of the Money Pit. Cone C was visible from the beach and could be seen by approaching Templar ships. A straight line connects Cone C, drilled stone 1, Cone A, drilled stone 2, and the Garden Shaft (see my not-to-scale diagram below). After their meeting with Morford, Rick Lagina, Tom Nolan, and surveyor Steve Guptill followed the path from Cone C to the Garden Shaft. Guptill noted that drilled stone 2 (X2 on my diagram) marked the half way point between Cone C and the Garden Shaft. As with the swamp, this cannot be mere coincidence. CONCLUSION By connecting the dots, we find that the Knights Templar arrived on Oak Island in the 13th century and paved certain areas of the would-be swamp with stones collected from the excavation of the Money Pit where they hid such treasures as the Holy Grail and King Solomon's Menorah retrieved from Jerusalem. Fast-forward to the late 1600s and we find Sir William Phips and company burying treasure salvaged from the Concepcion and damming the waters between two islands, creating a single island with the triangle-shaped swamp in the middle. There is still much to learn and the Fellowship shows no sign of slowing down. Neither storm nor curse will not hinder their steps in uncovering the secrets that have been sought-after for 229 years. The Oak Island adventure continues Tuesday nights on History Channel's The Curse of Oak Island. On this week's episode, more questions arise as the team continues the quest to find the treasure that has eluded searchers for over 200 years.
BACKGROUND It was in 1795 when Daniel McGinnis and his companions first discovered the Money Pit at the bottom of which is said to lie a hoard of treasure. Just what this treasure is and who buried it remains a mystery. Theories include the Knights Templar, pirates, and Governor Sir William Phips of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Carbon dating results indicate that the artifacts discovered on Oak Island can be placed within a broad range of time periods from as early as the 14th century to as late as the 18th century. This leads researchers, myself included, to believe that whatever activities were being conducted on the island did not start and end with a single party, but was continued by the generations who followed. At which point this operation concluded remains to be seen, though I speculate no later than 1795 when McGinnis and friends discovered the Money Pit; no one since has come forth claiming to know who buried the treasure or what the treasure could be. RUNDOWN This week's episode, "Rick and Mortar," is the fourteenth episode of the eleventh season. Here, we find the Fellowship, the current searcher team led by Rick and Marty Lagina, and mining company Dumas Contracting, Ltd. working to extend the Garden Shaft to a depth of nearly 100 feet. A wood sample, which was recovered in last week's episode, was carbon dated between 1631 and 1684. This places activity within the Money Pit area to the time of Phips, who in 1687 conducted a salvage operation of the sunken Spanish Concepcion. A portion of the recovered treasure may have been buried on Oak Island! The Fellowship is also revisiting borehole H8. Originally drilled in 2017 as part of their effort to locate the treasure vault, this may actually provide the long-sought answers. It had been speculated that spoils from the excavation may have pushed the vault to a deeper depth. Should any evidence be collected that suggests that this is a significant location, further excavations will no doubt be conducted. Lot 5 continues to yield a trove of surprises. Archaeologist Jamie Kouba, MA, RPA, had recovered a soil sample from the stone feature which closely matched samples recovered from the Money Pit area near the Garden Shaft from a depth of 104 feet. This leads the Fellowship to believe that the same party was behind the activity going on in both locations. Lastly, while excavating the lower right corner of the triangle-shape swamp, Billy Gerhardt uncovered a large, conical boulder. Similar to boulders making up Nolan's Cross, the possible relationship between the two cannot go unnoticed. The boulders of Nolan's Cross are speculated to have been put in place by the Knights Templar. With the discovery of the new boulder in the swamp, I am wondering if the overall feature is not just a cross, but the Kabbalah Tree of Life. Though I'm not well-versed in Templar history nor in Kabbalah teaching, from what I have learned thus far, the Knights Templar were no strangers to religious symbolism; ergo, it would not surprise me that they could have constructed an island-sized Tree of Life. CONCLUSION Even though this is not a review, I must say that this was another exciting episode of a series that has left me wanting more since I first began watching. Will the Fellowship's quest finally answer the questions that have been asked since 1795 and bring to light a history that has gone virtually unnoticed? Only time will tell when the centuries-old secrets will finally be revealed, provided that the island is willing. Some readers and researchers may look at mythology as accounts of fictional heroes and places. Perhaps some myths are, but even those must have a kernel of truth behind them. I am going to read a variety of ancient and mythological texts at face value, taking notes on characters and events as fact. This approach to interpreting the mythological texts is called euhemerism. I will be taking this approach regardless of the text's status as totally mythological or semi-historical. While other approaches may be taken in understanding a text (i.e. historical, allegorical, religious, cultural, scientific, etc.), such interpretations are not the main focus of my research; however, some of these other approaches may be utilized providing they help support, and help the reader to understand, my euhemeric approach.
The adventures in this multi-part series will take us to Mesopotamia in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Scandinavia in The Prose Edda, along the Silk Road in Journey to the West, and many more destinations and eras all from the comfort of home, or wherever you are. So, get ready for an incredible journey around the world and throughout time! The secrets of the past are waiting to be discovered; We need only to begin to look. Who's up for an adventure? |
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