Oak Island Artifacts: Just the Facts

[petetherocker]

I have to agree.

Personally, I'm a guy who would love to believe in buried treasure on the island, and would love to see treasure found. However, as time passes, that seems less and less likely. That's why I created this thread; to see what story the tangible evidence might be able to tell, and maybe make me a believer again. Three years watching the show has served only to push me in the other direction.

Regards,

TCK

^x3.

It seems that many here have theories, and accept and/or reject facts to fit their theories, rather than let the evidence dictate the truth.

 

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[sdcfia]

Any one know of templar astronomical techniques or how they figured the lat. and long. Lines to be where they were on their maps? If so I'd like to know, please send me a private message and I wouldn't mind sharing some valuable information ( so I think ) on the subject of oak island however mine is based off of a templar connection and not so much a buried treasure definitely not on oak island. The island is too obvious of a focal point that its borderline comical to watch people suffer through it. Oak island is important in so much as it is a clue to a larger puzzle.

Latitude was easy enough. Longitude? Maybe they were using ecliptic sky coordinates instead of polar. They could have determined the local north/south meridian and midnight easily enough at their local position, then observed certain star positions in the zodiac. They would have needed an ephemeris of similar ecliptic sightings from some fixed prime meridian (Giza?) to compare with, but if they had such data, they then could calculate the difference in longitude from the meridian.

 

[lokiblossom]

Any one know of templar astronomical techniques or how they figured the lat. and long. Lines to be where they were on their maps? If so I'd like to know, please send me a private message and I wouldn't mind sharing some valuable information ( so I think ) on the subject of oak island however mine is based off of a templar connection and not so much a buried treasure definitely not on oak island. The island is too obvious of a focal point that its borderline comical to watch people suffer through it. Oak island is important in so much as it is a clue to a larger puzzle.

Latitude was figured quite easily in the 14th century with midday readings of the sun or nighttime readings of The North Star. For longitude at sea you needed to know the difference in time from whichever meridian you were using as a starting point (called the prime) 15 degrees/hour. Most early maps of New France (16th and 17th century) are very inaccurate as to longitude. With adequate shipboard timepieces of the later 18th century accurate longitude readings then became possible.
Cheers, Loki

 

[captain1965]

I believe that the money pit is an attempt at desalination. The construction leads me to believe it's a filter. It was discovered as a round depression with a pulley hanging above it. Sounds like a well. The brothers should dig the money pit edge to see how the wooden logs are attached to the bedrock. If the bedrock is notched above the lumber then it's holding back pressure. Hydraulically it looks like a giant sand filter not a treasure vault. Plus why would the Templar forget to grab the pulley? Lol

 

[captain1965]

Looks like a well to me.

 

[TheCoinKid]

Plus why would the Templar forget to grab the pulley? Lol

I always thought the same thing. Interesting how that's seldom mentioned.

 

[Dave Rishar]

It was discovered as a round depression with a pulley hanging above it. Sounds like a well. The brothers should dig the money pit edge to see how the wooden logs are attached to the bedrock.

Do we know for a fact that there was a pulley or logs, or is this an assumption?

 

[Ryano]

Well or not, any physical evidence is gone now, right? Wasn't the Money Pit and surrounding areas bulldozed down to 80' or so by Triton in the 1950's ??

 

[Dave Rishar]

Well or not, any physical evidence is gone now, right? Wasn't the Money Pit and surrounding areas bulldozed down to 80' or so by Triton in the 1950's ??

I don't know that they excavated that much, but I'd expect that most of the island has been worked at some point.

You see where I'm going with this this though, right? A lot of the "facts" associated with this legend have no forensic evidence to back them up. Everyone knows that there were wooden platforms, and field stone platforms, and a stone with a cipher on it, and et cetera, but there are no pictures, no fragments, no anything - just oral tradition.

 

[NostraDanis]

In response to the OP; you said, " The Nolan's Cross stones and the various triangle stones don't really do much for me."

For me, the stones of the cross, and apparently the Tree of Life, are the most tangible evidence that something has occurred on the island that is unusual. The other evidence is either missing or subjective in one way or another. However, those massive boulders are not subjective. Quite the contrary, they seem very hard to reasonably explain.

One of the few things that the tv show has provided for me is that look at one of the stones in Nolan's Cross. (I think it was the scene where one of the brothers stood on top of the rock) I had not realized just how large those rocks are, which speaks to how difficult it would be to move them. While it is true that Nature does occasionally arrange things in a straight line, I'm not aware of any instance where Nature makes crosses. I also believe I have read or heard that those rocks are not indigenous to the island; I'm not sure about that, however. If so, wow.

So, for me, the best "evidence" on the island is still very tangible and touchable (or standable!). The alignment of those boulders is evidence of man's hand, in my opinion. Who's hand, and when? I haven't a clue.

 

[TheCoinKid]

I don't know that they excavated that much, but I'd expect that most of the island has been worked at some point.

You see where I'm going with this this though, right? A lot of the "facts" associated with this legend have no forensic evidence to back them up. Everyone knows that there were wooden platforms, and field stone platforms, and a stone with a cipher on it, and et cetera, but there are no pictures, no fragments, no anything - just oral tradition.

My point, exactly.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Looks like a well to me.

Well, it looks like buried treasures to me. People only dig wells where they are going build houses. I believe the story from day one starting with the boys. Who ever dug the hole was to put treasures there, then build tunnels to made it hard to dig up the treasures. Because of the water problems, no treasures is going to be recover. If the brothers did not receives funds from the History Channel, they would give up years ago. The show is on Tuesdays nights.
As I and other stated before, us members and the brothers may not live long enough to recovered any treasures. Best of luck to the brothers, and to those who can keep away to watch the whole show.

 

[TheCoinKid]

In response to the OP; you said, " The Nolan's Cross stones and the various triangle stones don't really do much for me."

For me, the stones of the cross, and apparently the Tree of Life, are the most tangible evidence that something has occurred on the island that is unusual. The other evidence is either missing or subjective in one way or another. However, those massive boulders are not subjective. Quite the contrary, they seem very hard to reasonably explain.

One of the few things that the tv show has provided for me is that look at one of the stones in Nolan's Cross. (I think it was the scene where one of the brothers stood on top of the rock) I had not realized just how large those rocks are, which speaks to how difficult it would be to move them. While it is true that Nature does occasionally arrange things in a straight line, I'm not aware of any instance where Nature makes crosses. I also believe I have read or heard that those rocks are not indigenous to the island; I'm not sure about that, however. If so, wow.

So, for me, the best "evidence" on the island is still very tangible and touchable (or standable!). The alignment of those boulders is evidence of man's hand, in my opinion. Who's hand, and when? I haven't a clue.

I, too, would like to believe. But from what I've seen, I just can't get there (at least not at this point).

Regards,

TCK

 

[Dave Rishar]

I believe the story from day one starting with the boys.

Were they boys? Here is the relevant part of the legend, as printed in the Liverpool Transcript, 1862:

Sometime after the arrival of these persons a Mr. McGinnis went to Oak Island to make a farm, when he discovered the spot in question from its being sunken, and from the position of three oak trees, which stood in a triangular form round the pit. The bark had letters cut into it with a knife on each tree facing the pit, and one of the trees being so directly over the pit, that two large branches formed a crotch, were exactly perpendicular to the centre, and had a hole bored through, and an oak tree-nail driven in, on which hung a tacle [sic] block. He was induced from the appearance to suppose that it might be the place referred to by the sailor. He then acquainted two men, Smith and Vaughn [sic], of the circumstance, and they commenced digging.

It's obviously changed quite a bit during the last 150 years. Do you believe the story as you heard it?

 

[TheCoinKid]

Well, season three certainly hasn't brought much to the party when it comes to physical evidence. Any chance that changes in the season finale? Probably not.

 

[TheCoinKid]

Any thoughts on the gold cross of the McGinnis sisters? Not much presented to support authenticity (chain of custody, metallurgy composition, etc..), but, if real, it would certainly be a game-changer.

The dreamer that I am, says, WOW!!! The skeptic that I have become, says PLANT.

(I apologize if the topic has been discussed on other threads, I haven't looked lately)

Still trying to add to my list of authenticated artifacts supporting treasure on the island.

TCK

 

[Simon1]

Not sure about that cross being a "game changer" as even if proved authentic, the game ended centuries ago. If this was just a part of still hidden treasure, maybe a game changer, but if it came from an already discovered and distributed treasure, game over. Neat looking cross none the less and it looks old, and as you say, maybe metallurgy composition as well as looking for other ways to date the cross would be nice. The brothers neither one asked about the possibility of having that cross tested which did shock me.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Any thoughts on the gold cross of the McGinnis sisters? Not much presented to support authenticity (chain of custody, metallurgy composition, etc..), but, if real, it would certainly be a game-changer.

If.

I don't recall a gold cross ever being mentioned in the 19th century periodicals. When did this come to light?

 

[n2mini]

Apparently just now. Doesn't sound like it was anything that was talked about openly or reported. Just a family thing. I too couldn't believe they didn't ask about trying to date it, or ask what else was found in the chest, along with what did the other two guys get in their chests? Was ironic that there were 3 guys digging and they found 3 chests. Almost to good to be true..

 

[Roadhse2]

Read this entire article...explains quite a bit,,,it is a blog by a descendant that is doing honest reseach into the family and Oak Island history...

One thing in particular...they were not allowed any more claim to treasure as the Money Pit was not on land they owned...though they did own land, house etc on Oak Island...

Scroll to the bottom to read the whole blog...quite interesting stuff

The Oak Island Compendium - The Blockhouse Blog