Two Brothers Search For Cursed Treasure
Many of us have dreamed about searching for and finding a treasure that could change history. Or maybe it’s the pure excitement of thinking about the wealth we might acquire from finding a valuable hidden treasure. This is the story of two brothers who always wanted to be explorers and hunt treasure, but who didn’t know what they were getting into when they went after a 200-year-old cursed treasure in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The idea of finding lost treasure is not a new concept at all. For centuries explorers and adventurers have ventured out to search for what they believe might make them incredibly rich, and in some cases quite famous. But with so many hidden artifacts and treasures out there, how do you know where to start? There are lots of stories and myths about hidden caches of valuables all across the world, but how does one get direction to these sites?
When we imagine a treasure map, it usually includes the likes of drawings, burned edges, some unimpressive clipart images and of course, a red X that marks the spot where the treasure can be found. But the reality is usually quite far from that. In the case of these two brothers, the map that was supposed to lead them to riches was actually quite like a blueprint of a building project.
These two brothers were going after a treasure that was never proven to be real or not. Not only that, they were also searching for a treasure that was supposedly cursed. Now if that doesn’t sound like an adventure fit for the movies, then you’d better read on to find out exactly how haunted this treasure’s story is. Unexpected disappearances and tragic deaths, the elusive cache gained a bad reputation and mysterious status with every explorer’s quest to discover it.
This story is about two brothers who grew up with the drive to find a treasure that they had only heard about in stories and tales told by their elders. As they grew older, their curiosity grew too. By the time they were adults it was no longer a dream; it was turning into a plan and that plan was gaining traction with every day. There’s more than meets the eye, and these brothers found that out for themselves.
The Curse Of Oak Island
In 1956, Rick Lagina was only 11 years old when he first read an article in Reader’s Digest about the hidden treasure on Oak Island. The writer didn’t mention the treasure’s whereabouts which only made Rick even more curious about the cursed treasure of Oak Island. The story told of a curse that would take the lives of seven people before anyone could retrieve the treasure.
The Curse Of Oak Island
Young Explorer
Since Rick was always interested in adventures and exploring as a child, it was no surprise that he wanted to find the treasure he had read about. One day Rick was strolling through his neighborhood in Kingsford when he came across a large granite stone that seemed to be covering something. After summoning the help of his friends to move the rock, he was disappointed to find that there was nothing underneath it.
Young Explorer
The Mystery Stone
The mystery of Oak Island began in a similar fashion. In 1796, a young boy noticed a strange circular-shaped indentation on the island, and when this news spread, investigators came to see what he had found. A company called Onslow came to investigate the area in 1804 and they started to dig in and around the area. After some time, a fragment of stone was found with an inscription bearing an unknown language on it.
The Mystery Stone
Written In Stone
The exploration seemed to have hit a dead end, and it was only in 1886 that the inscription could be translated at Halifax University. The translation of the stone gave everybody a jolt to the heart, when they read it. “Forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried.” News quickly spread about the location and the message on the stone, but the legend of the curse that 7 people have to die first wasn’t shared.
Written In Stone
Shakespeare or Marie Antoinette?
Like any event without all the answers, rumors started to run like wild fire around the Oak Island treasure. One theory was that a character by the name of Francis Bacon was the actual writer of Shakespeare’s works and decided to bury his plays and money there. Then came the theory that one of Marie Antoinette’s maids upon arriving in Novia Scotia requested that the Navy bury all the possessions of Marie Antoinette.
Shakespeare or Marie Antoinette?
Pirate’s Treasure
When we think of treasures of gold and silver, we often think of pirates and their quests to rack up riches. “Where none but Satan and myself can find it,” said the infamous Captain Blackbeard, according to legend. Although no-one is sure, some believe that Oak Island was the destination for his treasure.
Pirate’s Treasure
Freemasons
One of the most riveting rumors and theories is that of Freemasons being the ones behind the treasure. The source of such a theory comes from the isolation of the island as a primary place to hold secret meetings. Also, on the island there are markings that seem to suggest that there were Masonic lodges there at some point in history.
Freemasons
The Start
Let’s take a closer look at how the interest in Oak Island caught everyone’s attention. The young boy who noticed the strange shapes on the earth was Daniel McGinnis. When he approached the area he noticed a tree that didn’t have any branches. It seemed like someone had removed them on purpose to use it as a pulley of some sort. Just like Rick, hundreds of years later, he called his friends to help him explore the site.
The Start
Just Keep Digging
Along with his friends, John Smith and Anthony Vaughn, the boy started to dig the earth in hopes of finding something hidden there. After a short while they hit a stone and when they managed to removed it, they managed to keep digging for about 30 feet. At this point they reached a layer of wood and logs which prevented them from digging any further.
Just Keep Digging
Caught In A Trap?
It took an entire 8 years for the site to be worked on again, and the second time the work was done by the Onslow company. As their excavations progressed, every 10 feet they found another layer of oak logs and layers of coconut fiber and charcoal. It was after these layers that they found the stone with the fascinating inscription. Just as they were lifting the stone, a rush of water flooded the remaining area. They couldn’t help but wonder if they had been set up and it was all a trap.
Caught In A Trap?
Drowning Trap
It seemed like the first signs of a trap because each time the water would be removed, it would refill as soon as the water from the sea came rushing back in. After a closer inspection, the diggers realized that the original builders had created a waterway from the sea to the site. Their intention was obviously to drown out any treasure hunters seeking for the treasure.
Drowning Trap
Hitting Gold
It wasn’t until 1847 that another company took to the cursed treasure project, and that company was Truro. Their primary goal was to find a way to stop the water from rushing into the pit which was done by using drills. The drills worked relentlessly until they heard a cracking sound down below. What they drilled into were two chests of gold! But the mass of mysteries were far from being solved. When the gold was brought to the surface, there were links of gold chains that disappeared from the chests.
Hitting Gold
Curse From The Sky
Understandably after finding some treasure, Truro wanted to continue digging in hopes of finding more treasure on the island. But there was another curve ball that smacked them out of nowhere. Even after building a dam to stop the water from flooding their excavation site, the beach on which they were standing was starting to fall away – it was completely artificial. Just when they thought that they were getting somewhere, a massive storm came and destroyed all their progress. Beliefs about the island’s curse were starting to arise again.
Curse From The Sky
Curse From The Earth
A new team of diggers came to attempt entering the pit further than anyone had entered already. However, they were met with the might of the curse in a most unkind way. Despite having successfully dug eighty-eight feet and created a shaft to prevent the water from flowing into the pit, disaster struck. One of the workers was swept up the heavy current after a pipe burst and he was killed.
Curse From The Earth
Curse From The Underground
Fears of what the site could do to anyone trying to explore it were running high. Near the close of the 19th century, a team of diggers came to try their luck on Oak Island. There was small progress and the team’s spirits were lifted when they discovered an unreadable parchment in the pit. But then, just as they were lifting one of their workers from the pit, the rope snapped and he feel to his death. The curse was alive and well, it seemed.
Curse From The Underground
Roosevelt On Oak Island
It wasn’t until 1909 that another group came to explore Oak Island. One of these workers was to become president of the United States and his name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Their endeavors were not successful, but the mystery of Oak Island would stick in all of their minds for the rest of their lives.
Roosevelt On Oak Island
A New York Businessman
Almost 20 years later, a New York businessman heard about the hidden treasure on the island and made his way there. Since he, Gilbert Hedden owned a steel company, he had the knowledge that would aid him when it came to the engineering issues of the site. He took his partner, Fred Blair along with him and decided to drill deeper than anyone else had. Their many shafts brought them something unexpected.
A New York Businessman
Another Stone
Yet again a stone with an inscription came to the surface. After a closer inspection, they concluded that the stone looked exactly like the one from 1804. There was something else that summoned their interest and that was the wooden tools they found. They noticed that the tools were held together with wooden pinks and not metal ones. This told them that they could not have been from other explorers but rather from those who buried the treasure there.
Another Stone
A Level Lower
After the New Yorkers gave up on Oak Island, a series of other explorers came each year to try their luck. In 1938, Erwin Hamilton made two discoveries that sparked interest in the island again. The first was the presence of gravel and rocks far deeper than anyone had dug at 190 feet down. The second, and more important find was limestone with wood protruding from it. This meant that there was wood underneath the limestone. Something was being kept deep in the hole.
A Level Lower
Return Of The Curse
Once again, another optimistic explorer came to dig for treasure. In 1959, Robert Restall became obsessed with the island and even brought his whole family to live there. He worked on finding the treasure while his family supported him. It was a grand day when he found a stone with the number “1704” written on it. But his luck quickly turned around when he fell into the pit, immediately ending his life. The curse struck again.
Return Of The Curse
One After The Next
When Robert Restall’s son, Robert Jr. saw his father fall to his death he quickly rushed to try save him. But as he approached the hole, he too fell in and died. Two workers were beside themselves at the tragedy and race to save Robert Jr. But when they got there, they fell in too and died immediately. What was killing them? The answer – lethal fumes from carbon monoxide consumed the lungs of each of them.
One After The Next
Little Success
The island saw more explorers come and go with small discoveries that didn’t really lead to anything. Robert Dunfield was the first to come to the island after the Restall disaster, but he was quick to leave with all the bulldozers he brought with him. After him came Daniel Blankenship in 1965, who only left with a washer and a heart-shaped stone.
Little Success
New Technology
Nearing the end of the 1960’s, the Triton Alliance brought huge machinery in hopes of digging more and further than anyone else had until then. Besides finding a 300-year-old pair of scissors, the group left without much. Only in 1976 did a group come to the island with a camera that would be lowered into the pit, rather than putting a person in danger.
New Technology
Shocking Images
Sending a camera down into the hole was like turning on a light in a dark room. They suddenly saw more than they ever could have imagined. First they saw a variety of tools, then a pair of leather shoes and then they saw a severed human hand. After some more scanning, a human corpse came into view half-submerged in the water. And then, the most heart-stopping moment came when they saw three chests on their screen.
Shocking Images
So Close Yet So Far
There was much debate about what they could do next, and the unanimous decision was to send divers down into the water. However, it didn’t take long for them to come back up empty-handed because of strong currents and poor visibility in the water. Even though the team was eager to find the treasure of the pit, their monetary sponsors stopped funding their mission and they were forced to stop.
So Close Yet So Far
Exposed On Television
When Triton Alliance were forced to abandon their mission to find treasure, silence about the treasure seeped in. But in 1979 the silence was broken when a television show mentioned the unsolved treasure hunt of Oak Island. With its newly-fueled publicity, Oak Island quickly became the interest many people of all different ages and backgrounds.
Exposed On Television
Land Lawsuits
Although it was very enticing to travel to the island and search for the treasure, there were legal issues regarding the rights of the land. In 1983 Triton Alliance sued one of their employees because of “damages” that he, Fred Nolan, had caused to one of the plots of land on the island. The lawsuit was unsuccessful, and Triton lost on two separate occasions. Once again the hype around Oak Island passed into silence.
Land Lawsuits
The Lagina Brothers
Like many others, Rick Lagina found interest in Oak Island from a young age. When the tour company which owned the island put up a part of the island for sale, Rick and his brother considered going after the treasure. The cost was set at $7 million, but the brothers who were then in their 50’s went for it and acquired a 50% stake in the company. 2005 would be the start of the adventure of their lifetimes.
The Lagina Brothers
21st Century Technology
They didn’t want to waste any time getting their treasure, so the brothers took advantage of the technology they had at their disposal. Being in the 21st century had many advantages that made their endeavor more likely to succeed. They used modern machinery to excavate parts of the island that had never been touched, and found new ways to stop the site from flooding.
21st Century Technology
The Cursed Island
When news of the brothers’ exploration became public, The History Channel created a TV show called “The Curse of Oak Island” which was aimed to follow the brothers’ project. The TV show once again lit the fire of curiosity around the island’s alleged treasure.
The Cursed Island
The Dynamic Duo
Rick and Marty Lagina were a well-experienced and intelligent pair for this project. Marty was an experienced well digger and he had years of experience in this field. His brother, Rick, had accumulated a collection of connections from previous jobs that he had done and didn’t wait to ask them for help. This was one of the greatest differences between the Laginas and previous explorers – they asked for experts’ help.
The Dynamic Duo
A Single Coin
it didn’t take too long for the brothers to bring something new and valuable to the curious world. A single copper coin came up from a swamp that they had started digging in. Experts claimed that the coin was a 17th century Spanish coin. Immediately, theories started to pop up about who could have left the coin behind. The brothers’ motivation to continue searching and digging was multiplied tenfold.
A Single Coin
Mind-Blowing Discoveries
Even though the single coin was a big break after years of barren searches, it would not be the biggest find. Using all the latest technology, like massive pumps to drain water from the pits and sonar readers to find hidden items, more was to come. They were blown away when they found a Roman sword, a number of Portuguese carvings and even evidence that humans from the Aztec civilization had reached the island.
Mind-Blowing Discoveries
Living In A Story Book
Most moments in real life can’t be paralleled to our dreams, but for the brothers this was anything but a bland reality. “Every day it feels like we’re turning a page of a really good book.” Rick said, “To me, life’s a treasure hunt. We’re all on one in our own different way, and we happen to be on a real one right now.”
Living In A Story Book
An Old Map
With new discoveries popping up during the many seasons of the brothers’ TV show, they were becoming an interest pair to watch. During their fourth season, they produced a French map from 1647. The map depicted Oak Island and it seemed to indicate that there was a treasure somewhere on the island. But to date, no-one had found it.
An Old Map
Money From The Titanic
The excavation project on Oak Island was quite costly and it needed someone to fund it – that person was Vincent Astor. Astor was convinced that the island did indeed hold the treasures that everyone had spoken about. He also believed that the ancient ark of the covenant was on the island. Astor’s large funding amounts came from the money he inherited from his father who lost his life when the Titanic capsized in 1912.
Money From The Titanic
French Treasure
After the use of the French map, many began to believe that the treasure must have come from France. Rumors about Marie Antoinette’s maid burying her possessions during the French Revolution began to run hot again. But this wasn’t the only rumor related to the French. It was said that French soldiers brought their loot to the island during the Seven Years’ War.
French Treasure
Stones With Stories
Speculation runs high when there are unsolved mysteries. One expert archaeologist, Barry Fell, who took a look at the stones that were found on the site claims that Native Americans used them in commerce. He went on to say that ancient Coptic Christians visited Oak Island and some of the stones serve as evidence of that.
Stones With Stories
learning Lessons
The brothers’ show caught a lot of attention and even managed to educate people about things not related to the search for the Oak Island treasure. One such example is that of a man who noticed how the brothers built a special dam to prevent water from flooding their excavation site. When Hurricane Harvey tore across Houston, Texas, he was prepared because he had built a dam just like the one he had seen on the show. He saved his house because of this.
learning Lessons
The Almost Treasure
It has been centuries of searching and excavating. It has been years of explorers trying and dying with only few artifacts found. Yet the answers to this great mystery are still unknown. The Lagina brothers are adamant to find the treasures that are rumored to have been buried there. Six people have died in the search for the Oak Island treasure. The legend speaks of seven people having to die before the treasure can be found. Can it be that the Lagina brothers will be the ones to find the long lost cursed treasure of Oak Island?
The Almost Treasure
