The Curse Of Oak Island - General Discussion

[Quilt Fairy]

On 3/3/2021 at 4:59 PM, rmontro said:

Do you think they might claim a victory this season?  

I think that's unlikely.  If they actually solve the "mystery" there won't be another season.  Unless they have a follow-up show called "Restoring Oak Island" where they fill in every hole they've dug and re-landscape the whole damn place.  (Hey, it could be on that new Magnolia channel on Discovery+!)

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I think that's unlikely.  If they actually solve the "mystery" there won't be another season.  Unless they have a follow-up show called "Restoring Oak Island" where they fill in every hole they've dug and re-landscape the whole damn place. 

Hey, that could take another eight seasons.

I wonder if Rick and Marty actually gave up on it, if anyone else might get the bug and continue trying to find a treasure?

[AZChristian]

12 hours ago, rmontro said:

I wonder if Rick and Marty actually gave up on it, if anyone else might get the bug and continue trying to find a treasure?

We've seen several people with cockamamie ideas that have convinced R&M to allow them to appear on the show.  If R&M gave up, I'd assume those same people would be knocking on the doors of the History Channel, begging to be allowed to continue the search . . . if the History Channel is kicking in some $$$$$.

[AnnA]

I stopped watching the show live.  Now I only watch what I've recorded.  I do that so I can FF through the ridiculous "I found wood" segments.  Once upon a time I couldn't wait for the new episode to air.  Now I watch only because I've been watching since the beginning and feel that I should see it through to the end.

 

 

[rmontro]

14 minutes ago, AnnA said:

I stopped watching the show live.  Now I only watch what I've recorded.  I do that so I can FF through the ridiculous "I found wood" segments. 

You must really be in a hurry to get to those fascinating "I found a nail" segments  🙂

[AnnA]

4 minutes ago, rmontro said:

You must really be in a hurry to get to those fascinating "I found a nail" segments  🙂

Yes and they're sandwiched in between the rock highway, shreds of leather and oxen shoes. 🤣

Edited March 14, 2021 by AnnA

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

It's like the show has slowly moved away from a hunt of finding treasures of gold ,silver,jewelry and lost Biblical artifacts to now looking for more historical artifacts pointing towards who was on Oak Island when, and what were they doing while there. Can someone tell me why they only have one guy with a metal detector? They could grid the island and have 20 guys with metal detectors, (believe me, using these detectors isn't hard to learn)  to cover the whole island and could find all kinds of odds and ends just like they already are finding. 

[rmontro]

8 minutes ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

They could grid the island and have 20 guys with metal detectors, (believe me, using these detectors isn't hard to learn)  to cover the whole island and could find all kinds of odds and ends just like they already are finding. 

Really?  I thought Gary Drayton was the only person on the planet qualified to operate a metal detector.

[merylinkid]

11 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

It's like the show has slowly moved away from a hunt of finding treasures of gold ,silver,jewelry and lost Biblical artifacts to now looking for more historical artifacts pointing towards who was on Oak Island when, and what were they doing while there.

I like this better than the Theory of the The Week as to who pulled up to the Island and dropped off treasure.   I just wish they would actually DO that.  Instead it's "oh hey, we found ox shoes, they needed oxen to pull something heavy.   TREASURE IS HEAVY."   Like that is the only heavy thing on the planet.  If they really dug into the archives and pieced together a history of settlement of Oak Island I would find that fascinating.  

[deirdra]

18 hours ago, AnnA said:

Yes and they're sandwiched in between the rock highway, shreds of leather and oxen shoes. 🤣

Thankfully they found some nails. We were wondering how the oxen could lose all their shoes without throwing a nail, unless the island never had a decent farrier.

[merylinkid]

They found evidence of something big burning right where the swamp was.   Shipyard, ship burns in the channel blocking it (hello Suez Canal, we learned how easy THAT is).   Shipyard abandoned as unavigable.   Silt fills in the channel between the two islands, making them one, voila Swamp.   The moneypit?   Abandoned well.   YOu know what happens to abandoned wells?   They get turned into trash pits.   Hence all the "finds" in the area.  

Samuel Ball made so much money as a cabbage farmer because he had a naval contract supplying food to the shipyard and provisioning ships.   Or they bought lumber off his land to build.   Or he raised cabbages to feed all those oxens.   Then he was careful and didn't waste it but saved it.   A million ways he legitimately could have made money without TREASURE.

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, merylinkid said:

They found evidence of something big burning right where the swamp was.   Shipyard, ship burns in the channel blocking it (hello Suez Canal, we learned how easy THAT is).   

I'd like to see you as a guest in one of those war room segments, where you present your theories on a Zoom call or whatever it is.  "Samuel Ball's treasure was cabbage".  Hey, it would be refreshing.

[Lugal]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[kn51]

Ah, another action packed episode.  Gary whipped out the big one and it paid dividends with a baby ox shoe.  Next week, more wood.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I record and can fast forward the whole boring episode in about 5 minutes. The show is almost becoming embarrassing.

[CAM]

After watching this week's episode it feels like whenever the narrator or one of the team members says "treasure" it reminds me of the talking heads over on Ancient Aliens saying "it was aliens"

[Dustbunny]

Hubby and I used to really enjoy this show and anxiously anticipated the new episodes but we slowly found ourselves bored to death watching Jack and Gary digging up one nail after another and then stand there wide eyed while they speed dialed Marty and Rick to tell them they need to come see the latest find!

Hubby lost interest before me but eventually I lost interest as well so now I rely on all of you to keep me up to speed and from what I'm reading it sounds like more of the same nonsense...  ZZZZzzzzzZZZzzzzzzzzz

Edited April 1, 2021 by Dustbunny
spellingK

[Arynm]

On 3/30/2021 at 10:11 PM, merylinkid said:

Samuel Ball made so much money as a cabbage farmer because he had a naval contract supplying food to the shipyard and provisioning ships.   Or they bought lumber off his land to build.   Or he raised cabbages to feed all those oxens.   Then he was careful and didn't waste it but saved it.   A million ways he legitimately could have made money without TREASURE.

Yes! I find it offensive that the only way a "former slave" could have made the amount of money he did would because of a treasure that he found,  not because of hard work and determination. Samuel Ball made his money by working hard.  They always say "former slave" like he is incapable of doing anything in life because of his past. He did it all on his own, of that I am sure.

[deirdra]

On 4/1/2021 at 7:17 PM, Arynm said:

Yes! I find it offensive that the only way a "former slave" could have made the amount of money he did would because of a treasure that he found,  not because of hard work and determination. Samuel Ball made his money by working hard.  They always say "former slave" like he is incapable of doing anything in life because of his past. He did it all on his own, of that I am sure.

Many former slaves understood that owning property was the key to long-term success and would save so that they could buy adjacent/nearby properties when they became available. More land to farm means more profit that can be used to buy more property. It was not uncommon to buy property by first farming it for the property owner & splitting the profits until it was paid off and became your property.

And when he wasn't farming he was probably beachcombing.  There were a lot of ship wrecks back then and new stuff would have been hurled onto the beach during every storm.

[TexasTiffany]

Let me try and guess tonight's big find: 

• spike
• nail
• ox shoe
• discolored dirt
• packed rocks

Their suspense is putting me to sleep. 

[rmontro]

6 minutes ago, TexasTiffany said:

Let me try and guess tonight's big find: 

• spike
• nail
• ox shoe
• discolored dirt
• packed rocks

Wow, that would be a real action packed episode.  But I think you've summed up the whole season.

"Rick, you better get down here.  We found some discolored dirt".

[deirdra]

7 minutes ago, TexasTiffany said:

Let me try and guess tonight's big find: 

• spike
• nail
• ox shoe
• discolored dirt
• packed rocks

Their suspense is putting me to sleep. 

It was a week devoid of spikes, nails and ox shoes, but they did find a piece of forged iron with a square nail hole in Dan Blankenship's basement - a piece that he had collected and labelled in 1970.  LOL.  

[AnnA]

Hey we might get lucky and they'll find another scrap of leather.  LOL

What are the current odds on whether or not they uncover a ship in the swamp?

 

[TexasTiffany]

The only entertainment I've gotten out of this season is reading the funny comments here. ♥♥♥

Quote

It was a week devoid of spikes, nails and ox shoes, but they did find a piece of forged iron with a square nail hole in Dan Blankenship's basement - a piece that he had collected and labelled in 1970.  LOL.  

Oh, great. A tie-in to Forged In Fire! "Alright, Smiths. Tonight's challenge is forging an ox shoe and a spike out of these rusty farm tools from the 1400s which are believed to be left by Ancient Aliens." 

I half expect Rick to be a guest on Swamp People. Rick's got swamp experience. Of course, William Shatner would come along. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by TexasTiffany

[merylinkid]

So I had to listen to the episode from a few weeks ago 3 times to make sure I heard right.    Can we get a REAL historian on this show?   they have linked Oak Island to the Plymouth Colony.   Which okay not the weirdest theory on this show.   But the narrator said "Plymouth Colony, the first know English Settlement in North America."    Umm, Jamestown would like a word with you.   Roanoke Colony would too, if we could find them.   

GEEZ.

[AnnA]

2 hours ago, TexasTiffany said:

The only entertainment I've gotten out of this season is reading the funny comments here. ♥♥♥

Oh, great. A tie-in to Forged In Fire! "Alright, Smiths. Tonight's challenge is forging an ox shoe and a spike out of these rusty farm tools from the 1400s which are believed to be left by Ancient Aliens." 

I half expect Rick to be a guest on Swamp People. Rick's got swamp experience. Of course, William Shatner would come along. 

 And yet I continue to watch.  What does that say about me?  

[merylinkid]

Next week:  Season finale.

 

So they found a pirate who did go to Nova Scotia.  Who then sold his land to Samuel Ball.   Which of course means Ball found pirate treasure.   Or you know, needed a wharf to transport his cabbages beyond the Island and the immediate mainlaind.   Or he wanted to expand into import/export of other goods (just because the show cause him an ex-slave Cabbage Farmer doesn't mean that's all he was)  There was a big wharf (well yes, you need that if its a shipyard).   Although the evidence that it was big was how far out from the shoreline they found bits of it.   From 200 years ago, I would take into account shoreline erosion before I got all excited.    Also the leading questions are getting really heavy handed:   So did you find bedrock from the Island down there?   (IOW, you forgot your lines and now I need to feed them to you).  

The drilling down episode was a HUGE mistake.   It was supposed to show us "behind the scenes" and give the technical people a little attention.   But it just showed how scripted the show is.   The first thing we see in the production trailer is all the notecards on the wall -- for scenes for the upcoming season.   The explanation -- Rick and Marty tell us what they are going to do this year and then we plan it out.     So all those "Are we going to go back in dig in the swamp?" decision midseason?   Yeah they already knew they were going to do that.   

They found a sack marker.   Yep, loading and unloading large sacks from the wharf.   For a  shipyard that takes in GREAT quantities of things not just lumber, etc.   

But then the end.   WHere they did the water sample.   Got me intrigued.   Now I have NO FRICKING idea what your average body of water near ANY settled area looks like, could be the exact same.   Or the science could be junk science.   But damn, I would be happy to be wrong that there is no treasure.   

[AZChristian]

Did anyone else notice Laird's massive eyeroll when he was talking about the age of the trigger, and Gary responded back about how they traced back to being much older in England?

The look on Laird's face was, "Oh?  And how far back have they traced lipstick tubes in England?"

[pezgirl7]

On 4/28/2021 at 6:21 AM, merylinkid said:

So all those "Are we going to go back in dig in the swamp?" decision midseason?   Yeah they already knew they were going to do that.

Although I am sure there are some planned moments in the show, they did say that the notes change as the season goes on. The thing that surprised me the most was how many production people are working on the show. And that the "cast" eats meals with them at craft service. I guess it took some of the mystique out of it.

[AnnA]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:59 PM, pezgirl7 said:

Although I am sure there are some planned moments in the show, they did say that the notes change as the season goes on. The thing that surprised me the most was how many production people are working on the show. And that the "cast" eats meals with them at craft service. I guess it took some of the mystique out of it.

I actually enjoyed the Drilling Down segment this week.  Seeing the production and camera crews was interesting.  I'm glad I watched and IMHO the behind the scenes was more interesting than the regular episode.   

Edited May 1, 2021 by AnnA

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, AnnA said:

I actually enjoyed the Drilling Down segment this week.  Seeing the production and camera crews was interesting.  I'm glad I watched and IMHO the behind the scenes was more interesting than the regular episode.   

Not a particularly high bar.  I'm sure Drilling Down is interesting, but I have to draw the line somewhere.  I watch too much television as it is.  

[AnnA]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

Not a particularly high bar.  I'm sure Drilling Down is interesting, but I have to draw the line somewhere.  I watch too much television as it is.  

Drilling Down is usually NOT interesting.  That's what made this week's the exception.  I've been watching Oak Island since day one and honestly don't know why I'm still watching; it's awful and this year was probably the worst.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, AnnA said:

 I've been watching Oak Island since day one and honestly don't know why I'm still watching; it's awful and this year was probably the worst.

This has seemed like a really weak year.  I'm sure they'll want to blame it on Covid, but the premise has worn pretty thin, and they keep going off on these tangents.

[TexasTiffany]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

and they keep going off on these tangents.

At the end of last season, didn't they say they were going to concentrate on getting to the money pit the coming season? When the show came back, I too thought it might be covid-19 protocols that limited their endeavors, but we've seen that they aren't hindered noticeably at all. In fact, they have added lots more people to this show. 

ITA this season has been difficult to watch. The man-made stone path discovery held my attention for maybe 2 minutes, yet this show thinks it is riveting tv, and includes it in every episode.

In the Digging Down behind-the-scenes episode, one of the crew said something about how this year yielded more artifacts than ever before. He gave a number like 700, iirc, someone else probably remembers. Well, that was quite the surprise to me. We've got to figure that they've shown us the best, right? I was actually trying to imagine what dreck they decided to NOT show. I mean... they actually pointed out the "discolored dirt" as a "find". What could they be holding back on? Navel lint circa 1492? Or, would that be "naval lint". 

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by TexasTiffany

[AnnA]

39 minutes ago, TexasTiffany said:

In the Digging Down behind-the-scenes episode, one of the crew said something about how this year yielded more artifacts than ever before. He gave a number like 700, iirc, someone else probably remembers. Well, that was quite the surprise to me. We've got to figure that they've shown us the best, right? I was actually trying to imagine what dreck they decided to NOT show. I mean... they actually pointed out the "discolored dirt" as a "find". What could they be holding back on? Navel lint circa 1492? Or, would that be "naval lint". 

 

I heard that 700 number too and wondered the same thing.   Dreck is absolutely the right word for the crap they haven't shown us.  It's probably the right word for most of what we've seen too which is pretty sad. 

I'm glad you mentioned the stone roadway.  It was interesting for a minute but not any more.  I was happy a few weeks ago when I thought they were going to find a sunken ship in the swamp but then water starting leaking in and they had to put that off until next season.  I don't know know how much longer they can keep going.  If die hard fans are losing interest, who's left to watch?

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, TexasTiffany said:

The man-made stone path discovery held my attention for maybe 2 minutes, yet this show thinks it is riveting tv, and includes it in every episode.

I think the stone path is interesting, it's just that progress on it is so painstakingly slow.  Really, the main point of interest is in where it ends up going, but that looks to be a long way of.  Until then, it's just unearthing rocks.

 

13 minutes ago, AnnA said:

I was happy a few weeks ago when I thought they were going to find a sunken ship in the swamp but then water starting leaking in and they had to put that off until next season.  I don't know know how much longer they can keep going.  If die hard fans are losing interest, who's left to watch?

At this point it's like come on, find something.  And I don't mean a "top pocket find" either.  I almost feel like they don't want to go right at the big stuff (like the ship) because they know they won't find anything and the golden goose will be killed off. 

One scene that suggested that to me was earlier in the season, where the lady had the theory about where the money pit was located, based on Nolan's Cross.  And instead of digging there, they decided instead to go right after where some intersecting tunnel might be.  Take the roundabout way of getting there.  I can't even remember what happened with that, I think the tunnel wasn't there, so I guess the theory didn't pan out? 

[deirdra]

23 hours ago, rmontro said:

One scene that suggested that to me was earlier in the season, where the lady had the theory about where the money pit was located, based on Nolan's Cross.  And instead of digging there, they decided instead to go right after where some intersecting tunnel might be.  Take the roundabout way of getting there.  I can't even remember what happened with that, I think the tunnel wasn't there, so I guess the theory didn't pan out? 

I think they did drill where she suggested and found nothing. People with such ideas should pay part of the cost for their worthless whims.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, deirdra said:

I think they did drill where she suggested and found nothing. People with such ideas should pay part of the cost for their worthless whims.

They drilled for some intersecting tunnel based on her theory, which she agreed with.  And found nothing.  But they didn't drill where she predicted the money pit would be.  That's my recollection anyway, but I admit my eyes have glazed over a few times so I could have missed it.

[Pingaponga]

I'm interested in know where the stone road goes, but since they are actually excavating this carefully it could take another 2 seasons to figure that out.

The most interesting part of this season is seeing how frequently Alex Lagina is working with the blonde archaeologist.

[AnnA]

56 minutes ago, Pingaponga said:

 

The most interesting part of this season is seeing how frequently Alex Lagina is working with the blonde archaeologist.

Alex and his cousin Peter have been getting a lot more screentime this season.  I'm sure that helps them with the ladies LOL

[merylinkid]

On 5/2/2021 at 12:26 AM, AnnA said:

I heard that 700 number too and wondered the same thing.   Dreck is absolutely the right word for the crap they haven't shown us.  It's probably the right word for most of what we've seen too which is pretty sad. 

I think we are seeing representative samples of what they find.   Like ONE shard of broken pottery.   And ONE ox shoe.   They aren't showing every single shard of broken pottery or ox shoe because that would get repetitious.  

Also, they probably aren't showing us anything that doesn't support the idea of TREASURE.   So if they find a pewter fork, well they can't spin something so plain into TREASURE.   The iron cross SHOULD be in that category but that managed to spin that into proof the Knights Templar buried treasure on the Island.   Most of what they are finding is just artifacts of ever day life on the Island, instead of "searchers" and "depositors."

 

ETA:   I am declaring today a holiday and knocking off work early in honor of the Season Finale.   Also I don't feel like working anymore.

Edited May 4, 2021 by merylinkid

[AnnA]

11 hours ago, merylinkid said:

ETA:   I am declaring today a holiday and knocking off work early in honor of the Season Finale.   Also I don't feel like working anymore.

Good for you!

Enjoy!

[AnnA]

It's almost time for the S8 season finale.

What are the chances we'll learn something new?

[pezgirl7]

It's interesting that on digging down, Marty said he didn't think any of the theories about Oak Island are correct, maybe partially. Craig said he thinks it has something to do with the British. Rick thinks the treasure might have already been found, but made a nice allegory about how the real treasure is how it has inspired people and changed their lives. So at least some of the guys are trying to be more practical, and aren't all TEMPLAR TREASURE!! The buried treasure story never made sense to me. Why spend so much time to bury something where no one can get at it, and then leave a marker telling everyone where it was? I do think the actual history of the island and the stone road is interesting, but I just don't think there is treasure at the end of it!

Edited May 5, 2021 by pezgirl7

[deirdra]

On 5/3/2021 at 7:56 PM, AnnA said:

Alex and his cousin Peter have been getting a lot more screentime this season.  I'm sure that helps them with the ladies LOL

Isn't that Peter's cuter brother David Fornetti who is getting all the screen time this season?

Edited May 5, 2021 by deirdra

[pezgirl7]

1 hour ago, deirdra said:

Isn't that Peter's cuter brother David Fornetti who is getting all the screen time this season?

It is! I noticed he was wearing a Marquette U. cap, so I googled him, and he works there, and apparently the entire Fornetti family went to school there. I'm guessing he got some off-time due to Covid.

[AnnA]

2 hours ago, deirdra said:

Isn't that Peter's cuter brother David Fornetti who is getting all the screen time this season?

 

1 hour ago, pezgirl7 said:

It is! I noticed he was wearing a Marquette U. cap, so I googled him, and he works there, and apparently the entire Fornetti family went to school there. I'm guessing he got some off-time due to Covid.

I didn't know there was another brother.    I'm guessing Rick and Marty want to employ as many family members as possible.

[kn51]

My god, we did it folks.  We made it through another season!  Let's all take a moment to celebrate this masochistic achievement.

I was fairly surprised in regards to the 700 artifacts.  Not so much they found that much stuff, just for the fact they recorded where they found all of them.  Probably due to the Canadian government clamping down on their procedures.

I always enjoyed the simple items that turn into the find of the century after the small group talks about it for a couple moments.  An ox shoe?  Could these shoes belong to the oxen that hauled the Ark of the Covenant under the direction of the Knights Templar?  And if so, will this clue lead to the Money Pit.

 

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, kn51 said:

My god, we did it folks.  We made it through another season!  Let's all take a moment to celebrate this masochistic achievement.

I was fairly surprised in regards to the 700 artifacts.  Not so much they found that much stuff, just for the fact they recorded where they found all of them.  Probably due to the Canadian government clamping down on their procedures.

I always enjoyed the simple items that turn into the find of the century after the small group talks about it for a couple moments.  An ox shoe?  Could these shoes belong to the oxen that hauled the Ark of the Covenant under the direction of the Knights Templar?  And if so, will this clue lead to the Money Pit.

 

We finally watched it last night.  When they were talking about how all the ox shoes were an indication of heavy loading and unloading activity, so there had to be treasure, the thought that popped into  my mind was "or oxen to help plant and harvest cabbage and haul it down to the dock."

I do enjoy parts of the show, but this "everything is related to treasure" is getting a bit silly.

[merylinkid]

48 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

We finally watched it last night.  When they were talking about how all the ox shoes were an indication of heavy loading and unloading activity, so there had to be treasure, the thought that popped into  my mind was "or oxen to help plant and harvest cabbage and haul it down to the dock."

Yep.    Samuel Ball was quite the entrepreneur.    He wanted that wharf so he could expand his cabbage empire and diversify his goods.   He lived on a fucking island, of course you have a wharf.   It's like, "treasure" is not the only heavy thing in the world folks.   Oxen and heavy loads REALLY support the shipyard theory.   

So does the fact they are talking british military having an outpost.   Did they forget the L shaped structure from last year that was the French?   Who DID have the paychest (which probably had ... silver in it which would explain the water test).   The French had a last stand there, bugged out without the money.   The British took over and found the chest while builidng the shipyard.