The Curse Of Oak Island - General Discussion

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Why no record is harder.    The only thing I can come up with is that it was only in use for a short time and the records were lost somehow.    Or they  just aren't looking for those records because its not as cool as the Templars somehow finding Oak Island in the 1300s

There were some episodes where they had some records stating that the French military had some operations on the island, so there is that.  Lately they seem to be saying that Britain had military activity there as well, so I would expect there to be some records of that, somewhere.  As you say, maybe they're just not looking too hard.

The well idea makes sense.  I don't understand the point of having wooden platforms every 10 feet or whatever it was, if that was true.  The stone story is suspicious and unverified.  But I've never bought into the booby trap idea, it just makes more sense that if you dig deep enough you're going to hit some water.

[deirdra]

14 hours ago, merylinkid said:

I think someone dug a well.   It floods with sea water because of natural caverns or even drainage ditches built to protect the military installation.   Once sea water gets in its useless as a well.   

It is common when a new well is dug to use the failed one as a garbage dump.  The shallower holes are probably old privies, that also get abandoned and a fresh one dug. Broken pottery, torn boot leather, bobby dazzlers from creepy stalkers, dead European & Middle Eastern pirates, etc. get thrown in. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by deirdra

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, deirdra said:

The shallower holes are probably old privies, that also get abandoned and a fresh one dug. Broken pottery, torn boot leather, bobby dazzlers from creepy stalkers, dead European & Middle Eastern pirates, etc. get thrown in. 

Or accidentally falls in while they're doing their business.  It's kind of amusing to think they are mucking around in someone's toilet.  Hey Rick, did you find the "treasure" yet?

[Joan of Argh]

On 11/22/2020 at 8:39 PM, TexasTiffany said:

And... 3 more must dye. 

Bravo! 😂

[merylinkid]

I ran my Oak Island theory past my niece who is working on her Ph.D in history and just wrote a paper on piracy in New Orleans.   She agrees it makes more sense than anything else.   Also, based on her research on the paper, pirates were NOT popping by to drop off treasure and build huge elaborate booby trapped tunnels with a military force sitting RIGHT THERE.   

 

[rmontro]

Another dull episode.  They've confirmed there will be no big dig this year, because of Covid.  I can't help but think that's likely to wipe out next year also.  So that doesn't leave a lot to look forward to.  The big news this week was they found some disturbed soil.  And there was another far fetched theory involving a pentagram overlapping a menorah.  Just in time for the holidays, I guess.

[deirdra]

Axes? In the dirt? Perhaps people were chopping down trees for firewood or to build things.

[pezgirl7]

3 hours ago, deirdra said:

Axes? In the dirt? Perhaps people were chopping down trees for firewood or to build things.

lol I was thinking the same thing, but I thought they said that the axes they found weren't the heavy duty kind used for chopping down trees, and that an axe was valuable, so you wouldn't just leave one lying around to lose, so it probably wasn't left by a farmer. And the fact that they found multiple ones was strange. But why would anyone be dropping axes on the ground? I would think most artifacts would be from abandoned homesteads/settlements/encampments, which really means they could be from anything.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, deirdra said:

Axes? In the dirt? Perhaps people were chopping down trees for firewood or to build things.

Chopping down trees?  To build things?  Like maybe a giant ship that could be filled with treasure and then sunk in the swamp?

[Dustbunny]

On 11/25/2020 at 1:35 PM, AZChristian said:

Scuttlebutt is that Dave Blankenship "retired" after the Lagina brothers bought Dan's property; Dave is reported to have been upset that the producers didn't give Dan enough credit for all of his research, work, etc.

Probably an unpopular opinion:  I always felt that Dan was probably a pain in the ass to work with, and that he had a lot more information than he shared with the OI team.  Given a couple of maps and things they've found in his papers (which they also purchased), this may be true.

My (joking) opinion is that the opening to the vault in the Money Pit can only be accessed by a hidden stairway behind a bookcase in the Blankenship basement.

JMO but it always seemed like they preferred blaming Fred Nolan and insinuating that he was the problem but in early episodes I got the impression that Dan Blankenship wasn't the nicest guy to deal with either.

I think you're right about Dan not sharing everything because look at the different surveys and other information we're only hearing about now.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, Dustbunny said:

I think you're right about Dan not sharing everything because look at the different surveys and other information we're only hearing about now.

Well if so it stretches out the show so everybody wins lol.

[Dustbunny]

I'm just catching up with you folks, haven't watched the lastest episode yet..

Nothing that exciting so far but the "phoning" has become so annoying they really need to stop it.

it's so childish it reminds me of my kids when they were 5 or 6 and they'd find something while playing/digging in the backyard, they would run in and show me and then they'd want to show daddy too and would ask to phone him at work lol.... I'd have to tell them to save it for when he got home so he could see the "treasure" in person.... it was usually a bug, or a funny looking piece of wood, or a coin or some other small object.

Gary making such a fuss over that old coin was ridiculous and in my opinion the "BIG REVEAL" fell FLAT and then he sputtered and rambled trying to make it sound more exciting than it actually was.

The whole thing looked foolish. 🙄

I guess it's the producers doing it to try and make their finds look exciting but Gary is supposed to be a serious treasure hunter who's found actual treasure in the past and this is making him look like an idiot and a stooge. 🤡

[AZChristian]

At this point, I'm beginning to think that more than half of the entire world population has either:

• BEEN to OI,
• Worked for a company that has done digging, surveying, etc.
• Been included in a tele-conference call with the guys in the war room
• Is related to the Nolan, Blankenship, Lagina or McGinnis families
• Has a cockamamie idea that has earned them their 15 minutes of fame when they discuss it on the show

. . . what am I missing?  As part of the less than half who has not done any of these things, I'm feeling like an unwanted ex in-law at a funeral.

[deirdra]

I've worked for a company that has done digging, surveying, etc. and that is what I find most interesting on the show - the data & science, not the theories. I started watching long before two guys I actually know turned up on the show.

[pezgirl7]

Although the map/boulder theory is interesting, there are so many boulders on that island, I think the woman was just picking boulders that suited her layout. Also, do we know if that map from the 1400s is legit? Why would you draw such a crude map if the locations on the map were plotted so precisely? Or is the map just a quick copy of an older map? The words on the map look like they were written in more modern times. It was like someone was trying to make it look like older writing, but it's not written in a nice, neat, calligraphic style I would expect from earlier times.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, AZChristian said:

At this point, I'm beginning to think that more than half of the entire world population has either:

• BEEN to OI,
• Worked for a company that has done digging, surveying, etc.

I went on one of the tours on Oak Island.  I think a lost my old coin that had a square hole in it while I was there, has anybody found it?  (Kidding, just kidding).

The boulder theory seems like a bit of a stretch, but the map is interesting.  Why someone made it, why they made note of those particular features, etc.  The map is nothing new though.  Her theory doesn't really tell us much, because it just said that the money pit is within three feet of where their main suspect hole is.  So the plan was to expand around that anyway, so there isn't any practical change from what I can see.  Unless she's jockeying for a piece of the profits, if there are any.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I wouldn't put it past the network to bring in the woman GIS story to add some wokeness, it's happening everywhere in movies, shows,ads, commercials, etc...  Not to burst anyone's bubble, but unfortunately, the surveying accuracy of the 1300's was no where near as accurate as it is nowadays. 

[merylinkid]

Finally caught up.    This show is no longer Must See Tv on Tuesdays for me.   I know I can catch the reruns the next week.    This year especially is just ... more nothing than usual.    I don't think Covid delays are the excuse.

As for the map and the cross, yeah ANY cross would yield that drawing.   Not a big deal.   Oh look, they found a pretty blonde woman who wanted to be on tv to "confirm" Zina Halpern's map.   

Finding evidence of wharf just supports my theory that this was ship building base at some point.    

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, merylinkid said:

This year especially is just ... more nothing than usual.    I don't think Covid delays are the excuse.

The funny thing is, on Beyond Oak Island afterward, Marty and Rick said that this was probably their most productive year yet.  I hope that show was filmed later than this one, and they're referring to something that happened later in the season.  Because so far, I agree, there's not much going on.  Maybe it's just after all these seasons, all the constant teases just aren't that interesting anymore.

For instance, I can't get too excited over the possibility of finding a shipwreck.  Especially since they said there are 25,000 shipwrecks in the area.  Don't see what would make this one any more special.

[TexasTiffany]

I've been enjoying the holiday Oak Island ads. Last year we joked here about doing a Christmas vignette for this show. Someone had a green army man with a metal detector and a bulldozer. Also joked about a string of red Christmas lights to simulate the many rounds of dynamite blasting. I laughed so hard when I saw the new promos with the toy excavators and scenery. Someone sure had fun and is spreading the cheer all around!

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by TexasTiffany

[merylinkid]

I have the green army man with the metal detector.   He's not under the tree this year.   Although the heavy construction equipment is, the Village is still expanding.

I saw the Merry Christmas from Oak Island ads too.   I yelled at hubby to come see.   He's the one ALWAYS commenting on the show is really about Caterpillar (although this year they are using another company) equipment.    

[rmontro]

18 hours ago, TexasTiffany said:

 Also joked about a string of red Christmas lights to simulate the many rounds of dynamite blasting.

They should have a diorama that ends with the island slowly sinking into the sea.

[AZChristian]

5 minutes ago, rmontro said:

They should have a diorama that ends with the island slowly sinking into the sea.

And the sinking should come from within the island (like the swamp and money pit areas) to show that all of the digging and exploration weakened the supporting ground under the island . . . 

[TexasTiffany]

On 12/19/2020 at 4:21 PM, rmontro said:

They should have a diorama that ends with the island slowly sinking into the sea.

They'd change the name of the show. The Curse Sunken Treasure of Oak Island.

On 12/19/2020 at 6:38 AM, merylinkid said:

I have the green army man with the metal detector.   He's not under the tree this year.   Although the heavy construction equipment is, the Village is still expanding.

I saw the Merry Christmas from Oak Island ads too.   I yelled at hubby to come see.   He's the one ALWAYS commenting on the show is really about Caterpillar (although this year they are using another company) equipment.    

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

When they show Zena's map, I try to read all of the notations on it. One is "December Triangle". I googled it. I read that these stars appear brighter during the winter months. Maybe in December they are aligned in such a way that points the way to the treasure. (The Lagina brothers should find a boulder coordinating with the December Triangle marking on the map. Get Harrison Ford to stand on that boulder at sunrise in December, while holding the garnet brooch. The sun will shine through the stone and point the way. There should be a set of numbers for what day in December. The 2 anchor boulders should match with the December Triangle stars. While I await an invitation from the show's producers to present my theory to the Lagina's, I will work on my hypothesis.)

Quote

"The Winter Triangle, or the Great Southern Triangle, is an asterism formed by three bright stars in three prominent winter constellations. These stars are Betelgeuse in Orion, Procyon in Canis Minor and Sirius in Canis Major"

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by TexasTiffany

[rmontro]

On 12/19/2020 at 5:27 PM, AZChristian said:

And the sinking should come from within the island (like the swamp and money pit areas) to show that all of the digging and exploration weakened the supporting ground under the island . . . 

And as soon as it's gone, a golden menorah briefly bubbles up, before disappearing below the surface forever. 

[merylinkid]

I told you it was shipyard.   they just found a slipway.    You don't have a slipway for arriving ships.   that's for launching them.   The swamp?   yeah, they dug a canal to to work on the ships out of the harbor/sea.   But silt built up and it became a swamp.    Occam's razor people.   It all makes so much more sense than Oak Island being the epicenter for buried treasure in the world.

[rmontro]

On 12/29/2020 at 10:11 PM, merylinkid said:

I told you it was shipyard.   they just found a slipway.    You don't have a slipway for arriving ships.   that's for launching them.   The swamp?   yeah, they dug a canal to to work on the ships out of the harbor/sea.   But silt built up and it became a swamp.

That makes sense.  I suppose it would have been part of the French military presence that was there at some point, the 1600s I think it was?

The blonde lady with the map theories, she sure struck out with the first borehole.  I don't understand why she wanted them to dig for a back-filled "corridor", instead of digging where she concluded the treasure was.  I know she said because it's probably booby trapped, but it sounds more like they're just trying to stretch things out.  I notice she always says "we" are digging.  Is she part of the brotherhood now?

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, rmontro said:

I notice she always says "we" are digging.  Is she part of the brotherhood now?

Changing it into a "siblinghood."

[merylinkid]

25 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Changing it into a "siblinghood."

Fellowship -- of the Treasure.   

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Fellowship -- of the Treasure.   

Great!  What are the profits so far?

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Another yawner episode, Gary says "mate" about 25 times, finds a couple of junk pieces including Oh wow, it's a coin! I think it was a 1919 coin lol. 

[merylinkid]

They are really pushing Gary Drayton lately.   The drilling down was all about his finds.   Personally I find him grating.   Plus he's an expert on every darn thing they find.    He can date it just by looking at it.   But he pushes the theory that EVERYTHING found means there was treasure on the Island so they love him.   I bet they are planning on giving him his own show.

[rmontro]

15 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Another yawner episode, Gary says "mate" about 25 times, finds a couple of junk pieces including Oh wow, it's a coin! I think it was a 1919 coin lol. 

It was a sleeper, all right.

6 hours ago, merylinkid said:

Plus he's an expert on every darn thing they find.    He can date it just by looking at it.   But he pushes the theory that EVERYTHING found means there was treasure on the Island so they love him.   I bet they are planning on giving him his own show.

He does have some experience metal detecting, he hasn't been that far off with most of his date guesses.  Whether they give him his own show or not, there's no drawback to making him into a mini-celebrity.  That way he can guest on other shows and be a draw, which has been how the History Channel has been using him.  He's a real bobby-dazzler!  None of that invalidates your points, of course.

[deirdra]

Whenever I find things on the beach, my first assumption is that they came from the ocean, carried by the tide, a storm or a hurricane for bigger items or farther inland. There have been at least 1000 shipwrecks in the Atlantic, so there is plenty of stuff out there.  Up until ~1950, most people traveled by ship and brought trunks, because they were emigrating or planning a long, rare visit and brought enough stuff for a month or years.  A rusted old hinge is less likely to have come from a treasure chest than a trunk of clothes & household goods that the landowners brought when they moved to Oak Island, or from one on a shipwreck.

[merylinkid]

The Bears-Saints game is being simulcast on Nickolodeon complete with slime cannon (graphic not actually on the damn field thank you).   Sports twitter asked, which channel should they do next.   I said Discovery, get the guy from this show to call the game.

"A pass?  5 yards to the endzone?  Could it be ... a touchdown????"

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, merylinkid said:

The Bears-Saints game is being simulcast on Nickolodeon complete with slime cannon (graphic not actually on the damn field thank you). 

Oh, that explains the slime explosion in the end zone when a touchdown was scored.  

"A touchdown?  Could there be buried treasure beneath the field?  Perhaps planted by the Knights Templar?"  At halftime, Rick and Marty show up with a drilling rig and start to dig on the 50 yard line, while Gary Drayon walks the sidelines with a metal detector. 

[Bctrucker]

So a piece of coal and they say “ Vikings “ how stupid when indigenous people go back 15,000 years in Canada 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

They keep saying that the curse of Oak Island will claim one more death.  Yeah, that may be true,  the death  going to be the death of this show. 

[deirdra]

On 1/12/2021 at 7:59 PM, Bctrucker said:

So a piece of coal and they say “ Vikings “ how stupid when indigenous people go back 15,000 years in Canada 

Forest fires have been making coal for millions of years too.

Edited January 26, 2021 by deirdra

[rmontro]

No new Curse of Oak Island episode tonight, but there was a new episode of Drilling Down, featuring an interview with Dave Blankenship.  The episode description has him being asked why he stepped away from the treasure hunt.  I really, really wanted him to say "Because it's all BS".

[merylinkid]

I didn't even bother to watch.   Because if his answer wasn't "I realized my dad wasted his life and his money trying to find this treasure, I am not going to do the same thing" it wasn't worth the effort.

[TexasTiffany]

I watched this episode. I thought it was interesting. 

Dave's parents lived in Florida. Dan and his wife got hooked on moving to Oak Island, bought in, and basically left Dave and the house. Dave got married young. His equally young wife wanted to party too much so they divorced. To lift Dave out of his hard time, his dad asked him to join he and his mom on the island.

Dan introduced Dave to Garnette who was working at the Oak Island Inn at the time. She had 2 children. They ended up getting married. Dave was an iron worker among other things and was able to support his new family. He was in demand and constantly had work, but also would help his dad on the island. 

On one of Dave's jobs there was an accident. A cable broke, he was knocked back 46 feet on a job site. While at the hospital, they attended to his leg and he was missing part of a finger, but they didn't realize he was bleeding internally. He had a stroke. At age 36 he woke up from a coma and had to learn how to walk and talk again. His left side still shows signs of partial paralysis. He's got little to no feeling on that side of his body. That's why he stands with his left arm and hand a bit differently and limps.

Also, the stroke damaged part of his frontal lobe. That's why he curses more and says things that are rather abrupt or rude. Matty Blake pointed out that Garnette usually says "that's not him talking, that's his injury". Gary said, "Dave is the real 'curser' of Oak Island". 

Whether Dave truly believes there is treasure we don't really know. It's pointed out several times that he was there for his mom and dad b/c that's what they wanted to do. He met his wife. He had and has a good life, nice home, and they still live on the island. His wife wants him to retire and rest. He said that if treasure is found, he still gets a percentage, but he doesn't have to be there all the time. Rick said that Dave is still in the area and a part of Oak Island. He's not gone, but stepping back. If or when treasure is discovered, they'll probably invite him to join in. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by TexasTiffany

[deirdra]

Dave always seemed like a shy guy who didn't really like being on TV, though was there to support his father.  Now Dave can do what he wants to do.

[rmontro]

On 2/3/2021 at 6:25 PM, deirdra said:

Dave always seemed like a shy guy who didn't really like being on TV, though was there to support his father.  Now Dave can do what he wants to do.

He seemed to have fond memories of it though, because he seemed to be proud of his "Crown" catchphrase and the gifts fans had sent to him.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Last night's episode was more of the same lame ass  crap they dug up. 

[merylinkid]

They found a keg.   That I think, along with the eye hook are the biggest things they found.    Finding that road along the slipway is interesting.   They are finding all kinds of things -- that support my theory this was a shipyard at one point.

So disappointed on the drilling down episode when they went to the historical society to learn "more about the inhabitants of Oak Island" it was really more of the same -- oh look the name changed, WHY????  What were they HIDING???   TREASURE????   Kinda thing.   Instead of actually researching who lived there and what went on.   Because there's records somewhere of the shipyard.   

[rmontro]

Remember when Marty was a skeptic?  Whatever happened to that?

[AZChristian]

It looked to me like several of those holes that Rick dug for Gary contained amazingly porous dirt, considering they had been there for "'undreds of years."  I suspect those were re-enacted.

Also, when the archeologist found that leather strap between two boulders on the "road" around the swamp, what a coincidence that the camera was zoomed in on JUST that crack between the boulders.

I love the show, but don't like the feeling that production doesn't think viewers see that there are a lot of fakey things happening.

[rmontro]

I was watching the History Channel the other day and I saw a commercial for Curse of Oak Island.  It said  "Nothing will stop them.  The mystery will be solved".  Are they making a claim that they've solved the mystery this season, or is it just a hyperbolic statement about their determination?  Probably the latter.

But if they are saying we'll be getting the answer to the mystery this season, then it seems pretty clear they didn't find a treasure.  Maybe they've found the "answer" as to what was going on with the island, maybe they'll just decide it was a shipyard like merylinkind says.  Don't know if that really explains the money pit with the wooden platforms every 10 feet or the stone with the mysterious inscription, but oh well.  They have been saying for awhile now the real treasure is the historical mystery.  Do you think they might claim a victory this season?  

[merylinkid]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

I love the show, but don't like the feeling that production doesn't think viewers see that there are a lot of fakey things happening.

When Rick was asking why only ONE piece of pottery found and not all the rest of the pieces I MAY have muttered "Because production only seeded one piece."