Buried Treasure Was Undiscoverable for 220 Years Until Two Brothers Embarked on a Wild Journey...
For 220 years, treasure hunters have been after the riches buried on the mysterious Oak Island. Brothers Marty and Rick Lagina have spent a good portion of their lives trying to find it.
The television network, A&E, decided to chronicle their efforts and groundbreaking discoveries in a documentary special entitled The Curse of Oak Island. Let's take a deep dive into their journey and find out how they discovered buried treasure!
Ancient Artifacts
The brothers' obsession with the island drove them to shell out considerable amounts of money to fund the excavations to find the hidden treasure. Fortunately, the TV show about the island that they were involved in also got other investors interested, and they were able to acquire more funding for the treasure hunt. The show would go through two seasons without any significant discovery from the Laginas. But during the third season, the brothers came across a huge find.
While draining a large hole, the duo found a few startling artifacts, one of which was a well-preserved ceremonial Roman sword, suggesting that the Romans have managed to make it to North America thousands of years before Christopher Columbus. Also found were Portuguese carvings and other relics believed to have belonged to the Aztecs.
By the end of season 3, the brothers believed that they were on the right track. And at the start of season 4, they sought to identify what was one of the more interesting items they've unearthed: a handmade copy of what seemed to be an old French map.
With the help of Zena Halpern, a historian and an expert in the field of ancient seafaring, they were able to date it as far back as 1647. The map had the words "hatch," "anchor" and "valve" on it, suggesting, as it were, that the hidden treasure had its origins in Africa.
Ancient Manuscripts
Another thing the team of treasure hunters found in the 'Money pit' that was seen to be of great significance was an object that seemed to be a section of a book. It looked like it was meant to bind paper together—like a bookbinder. This led the brothers to believe that there could be more manuscripts, waiting to be discovered, each with either its own secret or each like a piece of a bigger puzzle.
“If that really is parchment, and we’ve had several people render the opinion that it is,” Rick Lagina says “It can only go that there’s some sort of manuscript or document at great depths in the Money Pit.”
Along with the ancient bookbinding, another piece of historical value that was found was a parchment that seemed to have been constructed out of animal skin. Some have speculated that the relic can be linked to a conversation between Frederick Blair and William Chappell, the latter having been involved in an investigation on the island during the 1930s.
Whatever the case may be, the parchment made from animal skin can be dated to as far back as the 15th century, when only kings and non-commoners had the luxury of sending and receiving letters.
The very first indication that treasure existed somewhere underneath Oak island happened towards the end of the 18th century. A young boy named Daniel Mcginnis found what seemed to be unnatural scarring on an oak tree.
He deduced from this that it was caused by a rope that was used in some kind of pulley system to move objects up and down a shaft. After finding a 5-meter depression under the tree, he concluded that something must have been buried underneath. He told this to two of his friends, and they began a decade-long excavation that was in the end unsuccessful.
It would be a few years later when the Onslow company would attempt to finish what the three friends had started. Although their efforts can't be said to have been successful, they found a tablet the writing on which was only translated after nearly a century.
One supposed expert alleged that some of what's written means "Forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried," which some have taken to be confirmatory that a treasure lies underneath.
Oak Island has been the staging ground for some of the wildest theories. Indeed, some have theorized that the treasure in question belonged to Marie Antoinette. Others believe some of the manuscripts found could be linked to Shakespeare and Francis Bacon.
Whatever the case may be, many of these theories are still able to capture the imagination of a lot of people, despite none of them having been confirmed.
During the early 21st century, a few pieces of gold were found at an excavation site in Oak Island. The Truro company, who was doing the excavations, ran into trouble, with water from the sea filling the hole in which they suspected the treasure to be buried. The effort to continue with the excavation was so great that they eventually ran out of funding and stopped.
This area became known as the Money Pit, the flooding of which the Oak Island Association was to concentrate their efforts in draining. But their attempts were unsuccessful, and in one of the attempts, Oak Island claimed its very first life.
The 20th century saw many exploring the island, with each company of hopefuls ending up as unsuccessful as the last. It was said that President Roosevelt, who had a lifelong obsession with the island, was part of one such exploration group. One can only speculate why Roosevelt gave up searching for treasure in Oak Island, but it's likely that, just like all of the excavation teams before him, his team was unsuccessful and didn't have the funding to continue.
Interest in the Money Pit refused to abate, however, despite all those past failures, since the mystery of the Island was kept alive by discoveries like those of Erwin Hamilton, who cleared out a shaft and claimed to have found rocks and wood that were alien to the surrounding area, confirming that something (treasure, maybe) was further underneath.
It was clear that since childhood, these boys were already budding treasure hunters, and that it was only a matter of time until some treasure hunting mystery beckons and has them in wild pursuit.
In fact, at just 10 years of age, Ricky discovered in his hometown of Kingsford a huge granite boulder and proceeded to attempt to find out if there was any treasure underneath.
Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina are in good company, with a team that has not just the knowledge, know-how, and experience to handle a treasure hunt of this magnitude, but who also have the faith and resolution that the island will, in their lifetimes, yield and give up its mysteries.
Dan Blankenship (who knows Oak Island like the back of his hand), his son David and Marty's college roommate, Craig Tester, who is an engineer and expert in drilling, form the other half of the Lagina team. Each of them has their own unique skill set, and they are indispensable to each other and the mission.
Dan Blankenship, a famous Nova Scotia treasure hunter, was not infrequently described as a "living legend." He had a successful contracting business but left it all for Oak Island after reading an article about the Island's mystery.
And he's been pouring his blood, sweat, and tears, trying to unravel the island's mystery ever since. David Blankenship, son to Dan, is following his father's footsteps, and both a helping each other in pursuit of the Oak Island dream.
Extracting the water out of the money pit to get to the treasure had always been a problem for past and contemporary excavation teams. Craig and the Lagina team, however, came up with an idea: freeze the money pit.
This way, excavation will be easier. “I think if you go with a different type of method – you’re dealing with water all the time," Craig said.
The brothers believed that to pursue their dream of finding the hidden treasure, they would have to purchase a stake in the island. And in 2006, they did exactly that, by buying half of Oak Island tours, which has a majority property interest in this tiny and enigmatic island that is south of Nova Scotia.
Dan Blankenship, who was part of the Lagina team, owned half of the company. Both parties knew from the onset that to pursue their shared dream, they needed to collaborate.
While Marty is cautious about jumping to conclusions when it comes to the recent discoveries made by his team, what the evidence collectively suggests is that significant events occurred on the island farther in the past than initially thought.
This could be a breakthrough in the search efforts, and as such he is cautiously optimistic.
For the Lagina brothers, the fortuitous discovery of the wood-lined shaft, which they believe was built in 1805 by those who first theorized about the Money pit, laid the groundwork for a lot of their other significant discoveries.
Indeed, the brothers discovered around 600 historical artifacts since they started their Oak island adventure.
One of the more significant finds inside the money pit was a human bone that they speculated belonged to someone who had Middle Eastern ancestry. Another bone that was found, on the other hand, was determined to be of someone with European ancestry.
Marty, through his research, hypothesized that each of these was linked to the Knights Templar; “The middle-eastern thing clearly supports the Knight Templar, and things like that,” Marty said.
A fun addition to the team was Gary Drayton, who's said to be called a 'metal-detecting ninja' by those who are familiar with his work. In the show, he is often regarded by the team as someone who has the enviable ability to find things that others can't.
And he's put his skills to good use for the team. Before season five of the show The Curse of Oak Island ended, the Laginas and Gary discovered something truly remarkable.
The brothers, along with Gary, found something they believed was so significant that it had the possibility to rewrite history as we know it. It was a small cross with a hole on its head, which they've dated to as far back as between 1200 to 1600.
They also found a mysterious stone that had the Greek letters Eta and Theta on it, the design of which reminded Rick of a Templar prison at Domme, France. The find wouldn't be so significant if it were not for the other evidence they had on hand that suggested a Templar connection to the island.
To the team, the artifacts made sense in the context of the theories that connect the island to the Knights Templar.
“If proof can be established that members of the Knights Templar..made their way to North America as many as seven centuries ago,” the show's says, “It would change not only the history of a small island over the coast of Nova Scotia, it could change the history of the world."
Historian Zena Halpern, on the other hand, proposed another idea about the cross's origins; according to Zena, the cross might be a depiction of the Phoenician goddess Tanit.
This, it is speculated, could mean that the Templars venerated the Phoenician goddess of fertility and health, which could turn some knowledge we have of history—and especially of the Templars—on its head.
A more terrestrial explanation of the cross's origins was also proposed: it could have been used to smuggle gold; "this was how they smuggled gold.
There was gold under this cross and the cross was covered with lead,” Jack Begley said. “So there’s a chance that they’re out in Smith’s Cove still.”
On top of the shortlist of most stunning discoveries made by the brothers is a stone believed to be between 400 and 500 years old. It is a rhodolite garnet that has a raspberry color and is believed by some to confirm the theory about the Money pit's connection to Marie Antoinette.
In one interview, Rick Lagina, of the rhodolite garnet, says "so, you know, I guess a pat on the back to all of us — we found treasure!”
The rhodolite garnet, however, could have come from a myriad of places, and the Marie Antoinette connection is but one of the theories that people have entertained regarding the stone's origins.
Because of its design, some speculate it's linked to a Masonic Royal Arch High Priest. For the Lagina team, though, what's certain is that the stone is possibly 500 years old.
Whether the show will be renewed for a sixth season is, for the Laginas, of little concern, in contrast to the fact that they feel they are getting ever so closer to untangling the web that is the island's mysteries and unearthing the hidden treasure underneath.
So much so that Matty Blake, host of an after-show dedicated to the efforts of Lagina's team, says “it’s like a lightning rod has gone off and they continue to keep making all kinds of discoveries.”
And, for the Laginas, the discoveries just keep racking up; another strange stone was discovered that had interesting carvings that more than indicated it was not just garden variety. Craig Tester, the team's in-house drilling expert, noted that the carvings resembled Roman numerals.
At this point, if there is anything the team is all in agreement with, it's that anything found near the Money pit must be thoroughly investigated. And later, they would find out something startling about the stone.
It was another piece of evidence that confirms previously well-documented theories about a Viking connection to the island.
They were able to confirm this upon consulting with an esteemed archeologist, Laird Niven, who described the objects as "tube plates."
It perplexed the team, and they've collectively come to the idea that it might in fact be the elusive Chappel Vault, which is believed to contain the Oak island treasures. But only time will tell if this theory is true.
Riches Galore
However their exploration of the island turns out in the near future, what cannot be denied is that the brothers have made a killing from the popular TV show that documents their Oak island treasure hunt. The Laginas now own part of the island and have been a cash cow for the History Channel because of the public's interest in their lifelong dream.
Unsurprisingly, the Laginas are now worth millions, with Rick's worth being in the region of $2 million dollars, and his brother, Marty, in the region of $50 million dollars.
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