Joe Nickell - Investigative Files - Volume 24.2, March / April 2000
It has been the focus of "the world's longest and most expensive treasure hunt" and "one of the world's deepest and most costly archaeological digs" (O'Connor 1988, 1, 4), as well as being "Canada's best-known mystery" (Colombo 1988, 33) and indeed one of "the great mysteries of the world." It may even "represent an ancient artifact created by a past civilization of advanced capability" (Crooker 1978, 7, 190). The subject of these superlatives is a mysterious shaft on Oak Island in Nova Scotia's Mahone Bay. For some two centuries, greed, folly, and even death have attended the supposed "Money Pit" enigma.
ContinueBrian Dunning - Skeptoid #129 - November 25, 2008
It began as every boy's dream adventure, like a chapter from Tom Sawyer. It was the year 1795 when young Daniel McGinnis, a lad of 16, rowed to Oak Island in Nova Scotia on a journey of exploration. On the eastern end of the wooded island he found something out of place: an old wooden tackle block suspended from a heavy branch, and on the ground below, a sunken depression.
ContinueThe Discovery of the Pit in 1795 is Historical Fact?
Wrong! While the story of "three boys on an adventure" finding the site in this year has been passed down by generations of poor researchers, no contemporary source documenting these events has ever been discovered. We do know that the men existed, but they were not boys. McInnis was in his mid 30s, and the only historically documented "Anthony Vaughn" known to live in the area was of a similar age. In fact, two of the men owned land on the island prior to the alleged discovery.
ContinueHistory Channel - Reality TV Series
The search for the treasure at the bottom of the Money Pit had gone dormant, but now, Rick and Marty Lagina, two brothers from Michigan, have bought most of the island and have renewed the efforts to discover the legendary treasure. Since childhood, Oak Island has been a magical place of intrigue for these men. With Marty's financial backing, Rick is now leading the adventure of his life. But will their luck be any different from the many explorers who sought treasure before them and failed?
ContinueImagine 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.
ContinueWikipedia
Oak Island is a 57-hectare (140-acre) island in Lunenburg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 11 meters (36 feet) above sea level. Located 200 metres from shore and connected to the mainland by a modern causeway, the island is privately owned.
ContinueA successor to the old Oak Island Tourism Society, Inc. focusing on summer tours of Oak Island.
ContinueSince 1795, explorers - including our 32nd president - have traveled to Oak Island in search of a mysterious buried and booby trapped treasure. So far, none have successfully reached it.
ContinueHacker News
It's hard not to think the people involved were very foolish, and it's an example of the lengths to which people can push wishful thinking and confirmation bias and ignore basic arguments like 'how could someone bury treasure in such a difficult to excavate way without anyone noticing them constructing it all.
ContinueWayback Machine
One summer day in 1795 Daniel McGinnis, then a teenager, was wandering about Oak Island, Nova Scotia when he came across a curious circular depression in the ground. Standing over this depression was a tree whose branches had been cut in a way which looked like it had been used as a pulley. Having heard tales of pirates in the area he decided to return home to get friends and return later to investigate the hole.
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