# The Curse of Oak Island **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213 "2014-01-31T16:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/41 "2014-02-01T16:54:49Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > To be fair, there were no truly skeptical investigations until quite recently, and the basics of the story were all taken as having factual basis. Each iteration of the telling just reshuffled the claims and tried to make sense of them. I forget the turning point but someone of clear mind and investigative bent finally listed all the points and ran them to ground, showing that only a few trivial ones were (1) documented contemporaneously and (2) appeared to have any basis in hard fact. The most interesting part of the story is that, after 200 years, it still seems to be carrying on its original purpose of suckering rich investors (I would actually watch an Oak Island TV show if it took that point of view.) I don’t care a few wacky millionaires get separated from their money, but it’s truly embarrassing for prestigious institutes like the Smithsonian and the Woods Hole Institute to get involved in this Hardy Boys fantasy bull shit. Their trustees should give them hell for it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/42 "2014-02-01T17:29:40Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I don’t care a few wacky millionaires get separated from their money, but it’s truly embarrassing for prestigious institutes like the Smithsonian and the Woods Hole Institute to get involved in this Hardy Boys fantasy bull shit. Their trustees should give them hell for it. How involved are they - in money terms, and in commitment? Assigning a researcher to keep an eye on the proceedings and giving him/her a modest budget to do so is one thing, and maybe even reasonable. Taking any major role and spending more than token funds is another. I wouldn’t be surprised if the TV producers are blowing the role of these institutions out of proportion (and perhaps even that the institutions are milking the promotional value of their presence). As Brian Daley once amusingly put it, “Their affiliation is likely in the form of a lawsuit.” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/43 "2014-02-01T18:06:53Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > If the pit was built by pirates (or whoever) with tunnels designed to flood it if someone tried to dig it up, how were they planning on digging it up later? Yeah, there seems to be a bit of a flaw in that cunning plan … 😃 The whole thing is (sadly) absurd. No-one, other than those making tombs for the afterlife, buries treasure in such a manner that they cannot readily retrieve it. The point of burying treasure is, usually, to hide it temporarily so that you can come back and get it later. Sort of hard to do at the bottom of a huge shaft below the water table. If concealment is the point, why would anyone leave obvious clues like a block and tackle over a depression? The story on its face makes no sense. My favorite treasure-story, for absurdity, is that of a woman in Japan who watched the movie _Fargo_ and became convinced that she could find that biefcase with a million dollars in it that the villian is seen burying in the snow somewhere in Minnesota - and dies searching for it. As it turns out, that version of events is itself totally false - a result of a misunderstanding: > **[Death in the snow](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/jun/06/artsfeatures1)** > > A body is found in the frozen North Dakota woods. The cops say the dead Japanese woman was looking for the $1m she saw buried in the film Fargo. But the story didn't end there. By Paul Berczeller. Which didn’t stop her story from, itself, inspiring a movie: > **[Sundance Review: Rinko Kikuchi Is Stunning As Alienated ‘Fargo’ Superfan In...](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/sundance-review-rinko-kikuchi-is-stunning-as-alienated-fargo-superfan-in-the-zellner-bros-strangely-transfixing-kumiko-the-treasure-hunter-31050/)** > > Sundance Review: Rinko Kikuchi Is Stunning As Alienated 'Fargo' Superfan In the Zellner Bros.' Strangely Transfixing 'Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter' … all of which is really no more nor less absurd than Oak Island. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/44 "2014-02-01T18:11:52Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > If the pit was built by pirates (or whoever) with tunnels designed to flood it if someone tried to dig it up, how were they planning on digging it up later? > [@Malthus](#): > > Yeah, there seems to be a bit of a flaw in that cunning plan … 😃 > > The whole thing is (sadly) absurd. No-one, other than those making tombs for the afterlife, buries treasure in such a manner that they cannot readily retrieve it. The point of burying treasure is, usually, to hide it temporarily so that you can come back and get it later. Sort of hard to do at the bottom of a huge shaft below the water table. One of the supposed clues was a rock inscribed (in clear or in a cipher, I can’t recall right off hand) “At 80 guide maize or millet” - with the assumption being that dumping an absorbent down a 80-foot shaft at that point would block the flood tunnel. As the rock was seen only by a few people and has since disappeared, it sounds quite retconnish to me. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/45 "2014-02-01T18:26:16Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > One of the supposed clues was a rock inscribed (in clear or in a cipher, I can’t recall right off hand) “At 80 guide maize or millet” - with the assumption being that dumping an absorbent down a 80-foot shaft at that point would block the flood tunnel. As the rock was seen only by a few people and has since disappeared, it sounds quite retconnish to me. Heh, I agree - but for fun, assume it is all true. How is that supposed to work? You dump the absorbent down the tunnel, blocking the flood … then what? Also, assume that there exists a way to block the flood trap … what possible reason could the makers of said trap have, to leave instructions on how to block the trap? The problem with the story is that none of it makes any sense on its face. Even when you assume all the evidence is true and exists, it adds up to nonsense. Real treasure-buriers would not go through such efforts to make their treasure impossible to get at, and if they did, they would never leave instructions on how to get through the traps! ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/46 "2014-02-01T18:53:06Z")
IMHO, the funniest part of this legend is that a gang of pirates in the year 1800 supposedly built an ingenious artificially-intelligent underwater construction project that rivals the Holland Tunnel, using only the simple tools on their ship, without leaving any traces… just to hide a treasure chest. Don’t you at least need to go to college for that? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/47 "2014-02-01T23:06:56Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > I think it was **African** or European. Uh, African swallows are non-migratory. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/48 "2014-02-02T01:27:02Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > mrAru and I figured that some ship landed there [possibly one that occasionally operated as a privateer or pirate] to resupply and do some repairs, and they decided to mess with people and set up a bogus treasure site with the original pit and pulley under the treasure oak, and everything else just sort of happened due to natural cracks in the rock, swamps and such. Grab some of the old coconut matting they used for caulking, some old timber baulks, toss in a necklace, make a couple stone tablets and go around arranging rocks you decorated up with carvings. Not a problem. > > Hell, mrAru pointed out we could have had serious fun at any time visiting the island and discreetly popping the covers on some of the pits and turfing in something that would sink in the muck in the shafts - he was thinking of some of his repro viking bone carvings or my scythian gold sequin work. 😛 See, this is the sort of thing I’d love to do - drop some old coins, jewelry, whatever in those shafts, just to mess with people. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/49 "2014-02-02T18:37:16Z")
> [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](#): > > See, this is the sort of thing I’d love to do - drop some old coins, jewelry, whatever in those shafts, just to mess with people. 😃 I figure that at this time, if you are using a metal detector in the swamp, 99% chance of it being some piece of crap someone threw away, a boat part, some broken pump part, an old shovel. Nobody back in the day seemed to really give a crap, look at the discarded trash and junk they were pulling up from one of the pits. I honestly do not believe that there is or ever was any treasure on Oak Island, I think it was all a big joke _someone_ was playing. Whether it was a con job to get investors to pay in money, or a bunch of sailors or even locals, I feel the original setup [tree, hoist, square shaft with assorted levels of coconut fiber batting, timber baulks, flat paving stones] was deliberately dug, possibly salted with fake clues, a tiny amount of gold [a chain, perhaps a few coins, possibly an old wooden crate as a ‘treasure chest’] and that is that. Everything else is all crap. If there were any underground channels and flagstone paved areas they were probably old attempts at draining land for agricultural purposes and assorted natural land features. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/50 "2014-02-03T01:59:07Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > In short, it has all the hallmarks of a nineteenth century scam to swindle treasure seeking investors (something that used to be common all over the Atlantic coast). Isn’t that how [Joseph Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_Joseph_Smith#Treasure_hunting) got his start? The little bit of a gold chain they found looks to me more like something to “salt the mine” than pirate booty, too, especially since they didn’t find more. There’s a sucker born every minute. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/51 "2014-02-03T13:24:49Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > The little bit of a gold chain they found looks to me more like something to “salt the mine” than pirate booty, too, especially since they didn’t find more. There’s a sucker born every minute. What’s even easier than dropping some gold chain down the hole is spreading a rumor that gold was found. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/52 "2014-02-03T15:40:57Z")
ISTR that nothing exists of the “three gold links” except one grainy photo. Ditto for the “scrap of parchment with ‘vi’ on it.” Which is at least more than most of the other claimed physical evidence, noted only anecdotally and long after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/53 "2014-02-03T15:58:03Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Sir Christopher Wren… Buccaneer! [Wouldn’t be the only time pirates and science mixed…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirates!_In_an_Adventure_with_Scientists!) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/54 "2014-12-08T13:43:45Z")
Is anyone still watching this since they’ve started a second season? I’ve been keeping up with it, but I’m sure glad I can record it and skip the commercials, all the “infighting” and such gets old. I’m guessing they still haven’t found anything of note, though the wood could be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/55 "2014-12-08T14:08:39Z")
My Wife watches it, as do I if I’m home when she does. Had I a pirate treasure, I would let it be known that I had buried it on Oak Island with tricks and traps, and quietly sail off to spend my money. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/56 "2014-12-08T14:40:16Z")
The fellows digging there now would seem to attract crackpots and con artists at a prodigious rate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/57 "2014-12-08T14:45:32Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > There’s a series of tunnels not far from me. I made a video about it. Does that mean pirates dug it or buried treasure there? No, it just means I live in karst country. [Conspiracy Theory]OR You’re trying to hide something.[/CT] ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/58 "2014-12-08T15:00:01Z")
That’s what you’d _like_ us to believe, Musicat! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/59 "2014-12-08T15:42:45Z")
> [@randompattern](#): > > … > > They took the fibers they found to a lab and had it confirmed as coconut fibers. What, in Nova Scotia? The coconut’s tropical! ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213/60 "2014-12-08T16:05:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The fellows digging there now would seem to attract crackpots and con artists at a prodigious rate. 🙂 The crackpots might be the best part of the show! I mean at least two of them seem to have given the same Knights of Templar sign and they both pointed to the “swamp”. I think they’re gonna dug up the Ark of the Covenant and inside that will be the lost works of William Shakespeare. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-oak-island/680213.md?page=4)