History Channel - Oak Island mini series January 5, 2014

[ex nihilo]

I kind of wanted to see more history in "Curse" but they might be stretching out that to the other episodes. Having the video go off at the pivotal moment was contrived (guess that's the reality part of the show). Good to see the Blankenships are so alive and kicking.

Although I must say, seeing that diving son of one of the brothers and all the face-time he got...is he to be #7 in the Curse?

 

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[UncleMatt]

I doubt their file loss had anything to do with reality, if there even was a file loss, and everything to do with the fact is simply didn't show much that would appeal to a TV audience. Any competent data acquisition person would have backed everything up anyway!

I will give this show a few more episodes, but not holding my breath.

 

[ex nihilo]

Yeah, viewers and ratings first... Funny, old treasure hunters digging that pit used to do the same thing, always "finding" a small piece of evidence right when their backers were getting nervous.

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

The whole forcing air down there to see if anything comes up seems like a terrible idea. Wouldn't they be damaging the entire dig? Also, since there are known side tunnels, wouldn't water and possible artifacts be forced down those as well to a possibly unreachable area?

I suppose the while site has been messed with so much it may not matter, but still seems like this would only make things worse.

Please let me know if I'm off base.

 

[ex nihilo]

I personally don't think you're off base thinking this measure is extreme. Ever use a bathroom plunger with a severely clogged pipe anywhere in the house? Yup, you get water forced up out of every drain (or at least some chugging). With the way the water came shooting out of the hose into the dumpster reservoir, I can't see much non-metal surviving. Certainly not a piece of parchment the size of a pea.

And I think putting a mesh net on the discharge hose dumping into Smith's Cove would be a basic idea. No sense letting something valuable go flushing out into the Atlantic.

Yeah, it works, but I don't think such an indelicate method would be a first choice.

 

[flyadive]

I missed ( slept through ) the episode , looked on demand?? Couldn't find it. My wife watched it and liked it! Anyone know when it will air again?

 

[Ripper1313]

I missed ( slept through ) the episode , looked on demand?? Couldn't find it. My wife watched it and liked it! Anyone know when it will air again?

It's on again on Sunday. It's on at 4 my time (Colorado)

 

[ex nihilo]

Hey, Ripper1313, I see we fly the same flag. Didn't know anyone else had it here. It's actually my pc wallpaper.

 

[cudamark]

I watched the episode and like it for the most part. Like most of the other "reality" shows, they can't resist "Hollywooding" it up. It would be nice if they'd lay out all the facts and play it straight for a change. I guess they figure it would be too boring that way. I too think it highly unlikely that anyone was able to bury something that deep over 200 years ago. We have a hard time doing that today with all our modern machinery and technology! I say, get in there with a bunch of pumps and some backhoes and see what's down there. Seems to me it would be cheaper than the way they're doing it.

 

[ibjeepn]

Drama sells. Reality shows rely on drama. Just watched a show on Chambers. It wasn't far from me in Tionesta Pa. Wow.. anything for viewers. Lame. I hope they find something at Oak Island and prove my expectations wrong. I say nothing.
Stay warm fellows !

 

[Jason in Enid]

All the episodes were filmed long ago. If ANYTHING had been found, it would already be public, so no, I don't foresee them finding anything except more nebulous clues.

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

All the episodes were filmed long ago. If ANYTHING had been found, it would already be public, so no, I don't foresee them finding anything except more nebulous clues.

I say true, HOWEVER, the History Channel COULD have had an airtight non-disclosure contract with everyone involved. If so it is plausible that a big find was made and nobody has talked. But...I'm sure the history channel would have let it leak just before airing the show for the publicity. OR did they air it so close after the new year in 2014 because the contact said it would air in 2014 and they wanted to show it asap before anything DID leak.

If CBS can keep the winner of survivor a secret I'm sure they can keep already secretive treasure hunters bundled up for 6 months. : )

 

[UncleMatt]

All the episodes were filmed long ago. If ANYTHING had been found, it would already be public, so no, I don't foresee them finding anything except more nebulous clues.

Its the same with that guy who is claiming he found the Lost Adam's diggings, but can't show us the gold because he claims its coming out on a new show. Yea right! I think its treasureforce.

 

[ex nihilo]

As long as it's not another fiasco like Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault, it's okay.

 

[onfire]

I watched the episode and like it for the most part. Like most of the other "reality" shows, they can't resist "Hollywooding" it up. It would be nice if they'd lay out all the facts and play it straight for a change. I guess they figure it would be too boring that way. I too think it highly unlikely that anyone was able to bury something that deep over 200 years ago. We have a hard time doing that today with all our modern machinery and technology! I say, get in there with a bunch of pumps and some backhoes and see what's down there. Seems to me it would be cheaper than the way they're doing it.

Burying some thing 200 years a ago? Didn't some one bury something under a billion pounds of stone 8000 years ago? And with todays knowledge we couldn't duplicate it.

 

[Arizona Bob]

Who buries a treasure and never intends to dig it up? Assuming some Middle Ages pirate actually buried a treasure at the Oak Island hidey-hole, he surely intended to take possession of it at some point in the future (unless he died unexpectedly). A smart pirate would be concerned that eventually someone would try to dig it up- so it was buried with booby traps. When the pirate returned for his treasure, he would see that his booby-traps had been activated. The smart pirate would have had another way to access his buried treasure... using Middle Ages technology!

 

[Dave Rishar]

As I said earlier, the story has more holes in it than the island does. There is no logical reason to bury something that deep.

Layers of logs and stones with runes on them in the hole only make sense to someone who's convinced that something is down there. For those not quite so convinced, they make no sense at all. I consider this to be an important piece of evidence on its own.

McGinnis supposedly found a block and tackle above the site. Why would someone leave that behind? It would make a bit of sense if someone had already come by and removed the treasure ("We won't be needing this anymore, just leave it up there...") but then again, why bother filling the hole in afterward? And how long does something like that last out in the elements?

And then we add in the time factor. McGinnis started digging there (probably) a long time ago. Stories change over hours; they change more over centuries. The location of the original hole is no longer documented, if in fact it ever was. I would not be the list bit surprised if it turned out that everyone was digging up the wrong island entirely.

This one's a great story, but that's all it is - a story.

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

Say it's 250 years ago and you had an artifact that you didn't want to destroy, but wanted to make sure nobody would be able to find or recover it for a thousand years. I think you'd have a couple options.

1. Send it down to Davy Jones Locker: The issue is, without exact coordinates you'll truly never find it again and really it'll be at the bottom of the sea and not buried. You won't actually know that it's secure down there, just that you don't have it anymore. You would have known about deep sea pressures...perhaps hiding it there would destroy it which is the last thing you want.

2. Bury it very very deep: Bury it in a new world that has yet to be explored. Bury it as deeply as you can, setup booby traps to fill the hole with water if attempted to be dug up incorrectly. Keep its location hidden to only those in an inner circle and leave clues for the future generations when you want it to be found.

I think my favorite ideas are the ones where the Crusaders were looking for a place to hide the Ark or the Grail after returning to Europe. Those would be two things you would not want to destroy, but not want to fall in the wrong hands or by anyone really. If it was the 14th or 15th century Oak Island would be about as remote and unheard of location as possible to reach.

What other ideas do you guys have for where you could hide something for 1000 years and not destroy it?

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

McGinnis supposedly found a block and tackle above the site. Why would someone leave that behind? It would make a bit of sense if someone had already come by and removed the treasure ("We won't be needing this anymore, just leave it up there...") but then again, why bother filling the hole in afterward? And how long does something like that last out in the elements?

Its possible the block and tackle were being used to remove logs and was a previous abandoned attempt to dig up the treasure, not place it. Pure speculation of course.

 

[ex nihilo]

Block and tackle could mean the burying was interrupted or the hiders had to hurry away. Anyone smart enough to design the Money Pit would know that settling would occur and fill up the top mounded high. A depression, as McGinnis found, and tackle would scream attention to anyone passing by.

If you were aware of the waterways underground feeding and boobytrapping the pit, you would know to block them by shutting them off somewhere else, like digging straight down on top of one from another location. With the boobytraps blocked, you could dig another hole closer to the pit, descend, and walk the empty waterway to the pit to where you buried your stash.