Treasure hunter claims to have solved Oak Island Mystery

[underpants]

I just read a very interesting article about this in Rolling Stone magazine (not available on website at least not yet) and I am completely fascinated by it. Not what might be hidden there (if anything) but the design and construction of such intricate and advanced systems (flood tunels and the fake beach) back in the 1500-1600's.

I highly recommend reading it if you get a chance. This may just be Blankenship's last gasp effort to receive not only the rights to the island but also funding, who knows?

http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2003/12/29/f168.raw.html

After 38 years of searching, Oak Island's most famous treasure hunter believes he's solved the mystery of the famous Mahone Bay island.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Dan Blankenship said he has uncovered evidence that proves the 32-hectare island is the repository for millions in silver and gold left behind by marauding Spaniards in the mid-16th century.

He located the shaft based on measurements taken from the position of a series of oddly shaped multi-tonne stones. First discovered by rival treasure hunter Fred Nolan of Bedford, the rocks form the shape of a giant cross and Mr. Blankenship now believes they serve as a key to the mystery.

He was prompted to look for the shafts after the previously unreported discovery of stone icons by a small Norwegian exploration team that worked on the island in June. He believes the European team was hoping to confirm that the island was the repository for the Shakespearean works of Francis Bacon, but he believes his subsequent find points to the Spanish treasure.

Quoting from a book that details 1,500 years of mining experience in Spain, Mr. Blankenship hinted that many of the surface icons are markers that mirror something happening deep below the surface.

All exploration requires a licence from the the province, and all licences for searches in the area expired in July, said Rick
Ratcliffe, the province's registrar of mineral and petroleum titles.
New requests have not been approved


Good summary sites
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/OakIsland/

http://www.unmuseum.org/oakisl.htm

[RandomKoolzip]

1. No kiddin'!?

Wow, do you think he's really got it, or is this just another in a long line of claimants to the "treasure?"

I remember hearing about Oak Island as a kid and wanting to go there myself and get the damn treasure! Think of how amny people have died there at the site, and nobody really knows what's really down there...weird.


Now, if we can solve the Beale Cypher and the Voynich manuscript, we'd be getting somewhere!

[underpants]

8. I think RS said 6 deaths but that really isn't unusual

when you consider the indutrial sized mission and machinery that has been used there.

The Holy Grail?
Gateway to Hell?
Millions in gold Gooooooooold I tell ya
Sir Francis Bacon's original Shakespearean writings?

Like I said none of that (or Knight Templar/Masons theories)is as interesting as the huge construction process that must have been undertaken to make whatever it is that is there. I just read the article yesterday and was looking it up to print out for some co-workers.

[DarkPhenyx]

15. As long as Heraldo Rivera dosen't get involved...

...there is a fighting chance. Soon as he takes an interest I'll know there is nothing at all there.

[VelmaD]

17. Not to be nitpicky or anything...

but since you were giving Turkish pronunciation lessons on another thread I thought I'd just point out that you spell Geraldo's name with a G. :P

[windansea]

2. interesting! n/t

[papau]

3. I love the booby trapped nature of the Mahone Bay island. "repository"

One of the great stories - and treasures to be found!

:-)

[bif]

4. Sounds like the title of a Hardy Boys novel

n/t

[hatrack]

5. This should be interesting!

The Oak Island story has fascinated me ever since I was a kid. However, this guy will not be the first to have gone for the gold, and who knows whether he'll get it.

[Loonman]

6. Let's see him or anyone try to open it, though

Impossible and deadly.

[northzax]

7. they were looking for Francis Bacon's writing?

please, hasn't this crap been discredited yet?

[underpants]

9. In the RS article I read yesterday

That doesn't even pop up until the end of the article. That sounds a bit far fetched to me too.

[nostamj]

10. how did Dirk Pitt miss this one? n/t

[Emperor_Norton_II]

11. I'm amazed the island hasn't collapsed into the bay, myself.

They've been digging under Oak Island for almost 200 years now, and that ground wasn't all that stable to begin with.

Personally, I'm betting it's Templar treasure. They never did find out where all that gold went when the Paris temple was seized...

[underpants]

14. Yeah I was kinda wondering about that

It sounded like there is nothing left around the "Money Pit" such massive excavation has been done.

[Sagan]

12. I've been following this for years

Even used to call the companies that were supposedly working on it.

Very cool, underpants.

[xcentrik]

13. Beware of:

1. Anything based on "oddly shaped stones";

2. Anybody claiming non-Stratfordian Shakespeare authorship;

3. Anybody claiming "I have almost found this treasure, which I have almost no evidence of, and I just need this one additional infusion of cash/extension of my lease, etc."

As to the great construction effort, it has been pointed out that many of the claimed construction features, if they ever existed, were obliterated by the treasure seekers, and that the underwater "tunnels" may simply be ordinary water seepage.

I'd love for this one to turn out to be some great treasure, but there is simply little evidence of any such thing.

[underpants]

16. Soooo you are saying it ISN'T the gateway to hell?

The fake beach is what blew me away. I don't have any engineering experience or aptitude but that truly amazed me.

[mmm]

18. They better not do it: it all belongs to Applegate!

I hope they find the treasure.