What lies at the bottom of the Money Pit?

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Imagine yourself walking through the trees of a wooded island rumored to hide buried pirate treasure. Suddenly you come across a depression in the ground. It's roughly circular and there's a tree standing above it with a branch that has been cut and appears to have been used as a pulley. Your imagination is fired and hope soars. You run off to get your friends and digging equipment.

You and two friends return the next day, shovels in hand, ready to claim your prize. The digging is easy. The dirt loose. Only two feet down your shovel strikes rock. As you clear the dirt away you find a neatly arranged layer of flagstone covering a circular area 13 feet in diameter. You pry the stones out, expecting treasure but there's only more dirt.

You begin again. Digging down 8 more feet with no luck. Suddenly you hit wood. This is it. You scrap away the dirt only to find a platform of oak logs covering the pit. You pull out the logs and resume your digging.

Ten more feet and still nothing. Finally, you strike wood. This MUST be it. As you clear the area you find another level of oak logs.

Now you know there's something valuable here. Why else would anyone go to so much trouble?

Now 20 feet below the surface you heave to again. Another 10 feet. Another set of oak boards.

Disappointed, you and your friends decide that you can't go any further alone. You leave but vow to return to retrieve your treasure.

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Now imagine that it's more than 200 years later. The pit has been explored to more than 150 feet. The treasure, if any, that was buried is still there, protected by an ingenious booby trap that floods the pit with sea water anytime someone gets close.

Group after group after group have tried to solve the riddle. Neither brute force nor technology have been able to overcome the problems. Six lives have been lost and millions of dollars spent trying to uncover the secrets of what has become known as the Money Pit. Still, no one knows what lies at the bottom, who built it or why. There are numerous theories but little proof.

This is the story of Oak Island, Nova Scotia, one the most frustrating and intriguing mysteries of all time.

Join us as we explore what is known and what is theorized about this enigma. Perhaps you will be able to find the one clue or come up with the right approach that will finally help crack this puzzle.

Contents

Facts

• The Story of Oak Island
• The Inscribed Stones - try your hand at deciphering the mysterious inscriptions.
• Inscribed Stones Translation - here you'll find the key to the mysterious inscriptions and what they might mean
• Vital Statistics - including listings of the results of drilling operations and all the artifacts found on the island, in the pit, and from drilling
• Where in the world is Oak Island? - maps showing the location of Oak Island, Nova Scotia and brief description of the island
• Theories - from Captain Kidd to the Aztecs or Mayans to Francis Bacon
• Who's Who - a listing of the people who have played major roles in the discovery and exploration of The Money Pit.

Reference

• Mediagraphy - lists and reviews of books, magazines, videos, etc. on Oak Island and related topics
• Links - lists and reviews of on-line sources of information about Oak Island and related topics
• Contacts - people and organizations involved with Oak Island and related topics

Timeline

• 1795 - Daniel McGinnis finds The Money Pit. McGinnis, John Smith, and Anthony Vaughan dig to 30 feet temporarily give up.
• 1803 - Onslow Company along with the 3 original finders begin excavation. They get down to 90 feet put are flooded out.
• 1804 - Onslow Company digs parallel pit to 110 feet put this too floods when they attempt to tunnel over the Money Pit.
• 1849 - The Truro Company begins digging. They drill through 2 casks filled with "loose metal". Also recovered 3 gold chains links.
• 1850 - Subterranean waterway and artifical beach where found at Smith's Cove.
• 1861 - First life claimed by Oak Island. A man was scalded to death by an exploding boiler.
• 1861 - The bottom literally fell out as the items that had been at 100 feet feel farther down to hole thanks to weakening of the pit by several cross tunnels.
• 1893 - Fred Blair and The Oak Island Treasure Company begin their investigations. Cave-in pit investigated.
• 1897 - Triangle rock formation was discovered.
• 1897 - Cement valut encountered and parchment was found during drilling.
• 1897 - Second life lost when Maynard Kaiser fell to his death while being pulled out of the pit.
• 1899 - The 2nd flood tunnel, The South Shore Tunnel, was discovered.
• 1936 - 2nd inscribed stone found and more evidence of original cofferdam found.
• 1965 - In one day Oak Island claimed four more lives: Bob and Bobbie Restall, Karl Grasser, and Cyril Hiltz.