# The Oak Island money pit > A shaft on a small island in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, has been dug and re-dug since the early 1800s on the strength of a story that three young men found… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-27T17:47:56+00:00 --- **MYS** 0D52WSKE3PW1·Mystery · site # The Oak Island money pit **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=oak-island) The Oak Island money pit ![Oak Island is a 57-hectare (140-acre) privately owned island.](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/oak-island-lead) Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0 Where Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia⁠[[2]] Story begins 1795 (by tradition); first in print 1857⁠[[14]] First detailed account J. B. McCully, Liverpool Transcript, October 1862⁠[[1]] Deaths Six searchers, 1861 to 1965⁠[[18]] Bedrock Windsor Group limestone and gypsum (south-east), Halifax slate (north-west)⁠[[8]] Recovered treasure None documented⁠[[10]] Legal frame Oak Island Treasure Act, 2010⁠[[13]] Status Partly explained Questions 0 of 6 answered People [**John Smith** Settler; first digger by tradition; later owned the pit lot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WVHY3FGR/john-smith)[**Anthony Vaughan** Settler; first digger by tradition](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WVSR0YX8/anthony-vaughan)[**Daniel McGinnis** Settler; first digger by tradition](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WVA45JJR/daniel-mcginnis)[**J. B. McCully** Truro Company organiser; author of the 1862 narrative](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WW1J5VQ0/j-b-mccully)[**Joe Nickell** Sceptical investigator](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WWS06KGG/joe-nickell) All 8 people › [**Mather Byles DesBrisay** County historian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WW9C6P7K/mather-byles-desbrisay)[**Richard E. Joltes** Source-critical historian of the legend](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WX0T3RH8/richard-e-joltes)[**Robert Restall** Searcher 1959 to 1965; died on the island](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/people/FIG0D52WWH60FBE/robert-restall) Catalog key**MYS** 0D52WSKE3PW1 Oak Island is a 57-hectare island on the south shore of Nova Scotia, joined to the mainland by a causeway since 1965. Local tradition, first written down in the 1860s, says that in 1795 Daniel McGinnis found a depression under an oak with a tackle block hanging over it, and that he, John Smith and Anthony Vaughan dug down through a layer of flagstones and then through oak platforms at regular intervals before stopping at about 30 feet⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. Companies formed in the early 1800s, in 1849, in 1861, in 1866, in 1893 and many times since to continue the shaft, which flooded with seawater and has been known since the 1860s as the "money pit"⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. No treasure, and no object that can be shown to predate the searchers, has ever been recovered. What exists is a chain of narratives: newspaper pieces of 1857 to 1864 written by or for the men selling shares in the digs, an 1893 prospectus, DesBrisay's county history of 1895, twentieth-century books that copied and enlarged these, and since 2014 a television programme that announces finds weekly⁠[[5]]⁠[[6]]⁠[[7]]. The documented facts are the digs themselves, the deaths of six men, and the geology. The island's south-eastern half sits on Windsor Group limestone and gypsum, rocks that dissolve in groundwater and form cavities and sinkholes; a natural sinkhole opened under a team of oxen on the island in 1878⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]. The sceptical case, put by Joe Nickell in 2000 and by Richard Joltes in a source-by-source study, is that the pit is a natural collapse, the "flood tunnels" are the island's water table, and the story grew in the telling to raise money⁠[[10]]⁠[[5]]. The believers' case rests on the regular platforms, the coconut fibre, the inscribed stone and the Smith's Cove drains, none of which survives in a form that can be examined with its original context⁠[[4]]. Of the 6 questions on this site, 0 are answered. The most likely answer to “Are the "flood tunnels" man-made?”, not yet confirmed: the pit floods because it is dug below sea level into permeable, cavernous rock; no tunnel exists. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Are the "flood tunnels" man-made?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3443MBJ/are-the-flood-tunnels-man-made)Most likely: the pit floods because it is dug below sea level into permeable, cavernous rock; no tunnel exists [**What is the Oak Island money pit?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X2WA4BV7/what-is-the-oak-island-money-pit)Most likely: the depression was a natural sinkhole over a dissolved cavity in Windsor Group gypsum; the platforms were… [All 6 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=oak-island) ## The site Oak Island lies in Mahone Bay about 60 kilometres south-west of Halifax. The money pit is near the east end, on the lots that the Oak Island Treasure Company and its successors held; Smith's Cove is the beach about 150 metres east of it⁠[[6]]⁠[[4]]. Bedrock is Mississippian Windsor Group limestone and gypsum under the south-east half of the island and Cambro-Ordovician Halifax Formation slate under the north-west, with glacial till above. The only public geological survey document is a preliminary Geological Survey of Canada interpretation of a 1996 multibeam sonar survey, which notes circular seabed depressions that may be gas pockmarks or sinkholes over the Windsor rocks and warns that sonar alone cannot identify man-made features⁠[[8]]. Consulting reports by Warnock Hersey and Golder Associates (late 1960s and early 1970s) and a 1995 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution study exist but were commissioned privately and have never been published⁠[[11]]. After two centuries of digging, the original pit no longer exists as a feature. The area has been excavated to 134 feet with a crane (Dunfield, 1965 to 1966), bored to 235 feet (Triton Alliance's Borehole 10-X, 1971), and criss-crossed by dozens of shafts and tunnels dug by searchers, so that anything found there today must first be shown not to be a searcher's own work⁠[[4]]⁠[[10]]. **Map of the island** [Open the full map](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/map) [East end][Island][Mahone Bay][Region] [+][−] 1 **The money pit** Excavation Mapped 2 **Borehole 10-X** Borehole Mapped 3 **The Cave-in Pit** Sinkhole (flooded) Mapped 4 **The swamp** Wetland Mapped 5 **Smith's Cove** Cove and beach Mapped 6 **Smith's Cove cofferdam remains** Ruin Mapped 7 **Smith's Cove box drains (reported)** Buried structure (reported) Within 1 km 8 **The causeway** Causeway Mapped 9 **Joudrey's Cove** Cove Within 1 km 10 **South Shore Cove** Bay Mapped 11 **The stone triangle** Stone arrangement (lost) Within 1 km 12 **Oak Island Interpretive Centre** Museum Mapped MappedWithin 1 kmBase map © OpenStreetMap contributors ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## What was found Everything attributed to the 1795 to 1804 digs is known only from accounts written sixty years later. McCully (1862) and "A Member" (1864) describe flagstones a few feet down, oak platforms about every ten feet, layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre, and at about 90 feet (95 in one account) a flat stone cut with characters⁠[[1]]⁠[[3]]. The stone is the only one of these finds that anyone later claimed to have seen. It was said to be built into a chimney in the 1860s; an 1864 correspondent said the marks looked scraped rather than cut; the 1893 prospectus said it had been taken to Halifax and read as "Ten feet below are two million pounds buried"; a 1911 visitor described a hard stone with no visible symbols; and a 1935 statement placed it as a beating stone in a Halifax bookbindery that closed in 1919. It has not been seen since⁠[[6]]⁠[[4]]⁠[[5]]. No drawing made from the stone itself survives; the familiar cipher is a later reconstruction. The Truro Company's auger of 1849 was said to have passed through wood, "loose metal" and more wood at about 98 feet and to have brought up three links of a gold chain, a claim first printed thirteen years later⁠[[1]]. An 1897 drilling was said to have recovered a scrap of parchment with the letters "vi" or "wi" in ink; the 1931 Chappell shaft produced an axe and a miner's pick; Triton's 1971 borehole camera produced footage described as chests and a severed hand that no one else has been able to make out⁠[[4]]. None of these objects was recorded archaeologically, and most come from fill that earlier searchers had already disturbed⁠[[10]]. At Smith's Cove, searchers in 1850 found what they described as box drains of flat stones converging on a point, covered with coconut fibre and eelgrass, and read them as the intake of an engineered flood system. A 2010 study by Dennis King argued they are the remains of an early salt works; others see nineteenth-century wharf or searcher work⁠[[4]]. Coconut fibre from the cove and the pit exists in several hands; a 1970 analysis reported three of four samples as coconut, and radiocarbon dates have been quoted for it, but the chain of custody from any original context is not documented⁠[[9]]. The Lagina era (2006 to the present) has produced a lead cross from Smith's Cove (2017), human bone fragments from boreholes, a wooden "slipway" and "wharf" structures at Smith's Cove, and many small finds of iron, pottery and coin, all announced on television⁠[[7]]. The one statement found outside the programme is from the University of New Brunswick, whose laser-ablation lab measured the lead cross's isotopes and reported a European lead source; the lab did not date the object⁠[[12]]. No Lagina-era find has been published in a peer-reviewed or museum report, and the finds remain with the licensees under the Oak Island Treasure Act, which requires sworn reports to the Minister but no archaeological publication⁠[[13]]. ## What is known The earliest document is a traveller's 1857 note of debris at an abandoned dig; nothing from 1795 to 1856 mentions a treasure pit⁠[[14]]⁠[[5]]. The 1861 dig by the Oak Island Association was promoted and attacked in the Halifax press that year, which is also when the flood-tunnel claim first appears in print, and when a boiler explosion killed the first searcher⁠[[15]]⁠[[16]]⁠[[4]]. McCully, who had organised the 1849 company, wrote the first full narrative in 1862; a second appeared in 1864⁠[[1]]⁠[[3]]. DesBrisay's county history of 1870 and 1895 passed the story into print as local history, and twentieth-century writers built on it⁠[[17]]⁠[[2]]. The later record is better. Companies dug in 1893 to 1900 (Maynard Kaiser died in 1897), 1909 to 1911 (Bowdoin, who left unconvinced), 1931 (Chappell), 1935 to 1939 (Hedden), 1959 to 1965 (Restall), 1965 to 1966 (Dunfield) and 1967 onward (Triton Alliance)⁠[[4]]. On 17 August 1965 Robert Restall, his son Robert, Karl Graeser and Cyril Hiltz died in a shaft on the island, apparently from gases; the family's own account is in Lee Lamb's book⁠[[18]]. Triton's work in the 1970s produced the consulting reports and Borehole 10-X; Triton and Frederick Nolan litigated over lots through the 1980s⁠[[4]]⁠[[11]]. Rick and Marty Lagina bought into Oak Island Tours in 2006, and the province replaced the Treasure Trove Act with the Oak Island Treasure Act in 2010 to regulate their search⁠[[13]]⁠[[4]]. What is not known is anything about 1795. No deed, diary, letter, court record or newspaper from before 1857 has been found that mentions the pit, the men, or a treasure; the names McGinnis, Smith and Vaughan are attested on the island as settlers, which is all the early record shows⁠[[5]]. ## The explanations The treasure reading holds that someone, before 1795, dug a shaft at least 90 feet deep, built platforms at intervals, and protected the deposit with tunnels that flood from the sea. Candidates have included Captain Kidd, Spanish or French colonial authorities, British Army paymasters during the American war, and the Knights Templar⁠[[4]]⁠[[10]]. The reading predicts a datable worked structure below the searchers' own disturbance and an engineered channel from the shore. Neither has been shown. Two centuries of digging have reached 235 feet without a documented chamber, and the Woods Hole dye study of 1995, as reported by those who have read it, attributed the flooding to natural groundwater movement⁠[[11]]⁠[[4]]. The natural reading holds that the original depression was a sinkhole over a dissolved cavity in the Windsor gypsum, that the "platforms" were fallen timber and debris in the collapse, and that the flooding is simply the island's water table in porous rock. It has the geology on its side: the bedrock, the 1878 ox sinkhole, other sinkholes on the island and mainland, and the consulting reports as read by geologist Steven Aitken⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]⁠[[11]]. It does not by itself explain the coconut fibre, which is why the fibre's provenance matters. The hoax or embellishment reading, argued by Joltes, holds that the story was concocted or inflated in the 1840s to 1860s by men selling shares, and that each detail (the tackle block, the regular platforms, the stone's message) first appears when a company needed money⁠[[5]]. Nickell adds that the tale follows the stock pattern of nineteenth-century treasure legends and reads like a Masonic allegory of the secret vault⁠[[10]]. This reading predicts that no pre-1857 document will ever surface and that the earliest accounts will contradict the later ones, which they do on several points, including the depth of the stone and the dryness of the pit below the platforms in 1861⁠[[16]]⁠[[5]]. These readings are not exclusive. A natural sinkhole could have been dug into by 1790s settlers and then mythologised by 1840s promoters, which is close to what the sceptical writers propose. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1862 | J. B. McCully⁠[1] | In 1795 three settlers found a worked shaft, floored with log platforms every ten feet down to an inscribed stone at about 90 feet, dug to hide a deposit. | Disputed | No record older than 1857 mentions the pit, the narrative was written by a company organiser, and the island's gypsum forms natural sinkholes⁠[5]⁠[11]. | | 1862 | J. B. McCully⁠[1] | The pit floods because its makers cut a tunnel from Smith's Cove to drown it if it was breached. | Disputed | Dye put into Borehole 10-X did not reach the shore, and geologists explain the flooding by digging below sea level in cavernous rock⁠[19]⁠[20]. | | 1893 | Oak Island Treasure Company⁠[6] | The stone found at 90 feet had been deciphered to read "Ten feet below are two million pounds buried". | Disputed | The stone was never drawn or photographed, and the cipher later printed as its inscription goes back only to 1949⁠[21]. | | 1895 | Mather Byles DesBrisay⁠[2] | Local tradition held that pirates had buried treasure in the pit before 1795. | Still possible | Nothing from the pit has been dated or tied to any pirate, and no buried deposit has been shown to exist⁠[5]. | | 1998 | Gordon Fader and Robert Courtney⁠[8] | The south-east half of the island, where the pit lies, rests on Windsor Group limestone and gypsum, and the seabed nearby has depressions that may be sinkholes. | Accepted | The province's karst map and 2017 seismic profiles off the island agree⁠[22]⁠[20]. | | 2000 | Joe Nickell⁠[10] | The money pit is a natural sinkhole, its artefacts have no archaeological record, and the legend follows the pattern of other treasure tales. | Most likely | Later geological reviews reach the same reading, but no core or excavation has demonstrated the cavity directly⁠[11]⁠[20]. | | 2002 | Woods Hole scientists, reported by Richard Joltes⁠[19] | Dye put into Borehole 10-X did not come out on the coast, the water in the hole is brackish, and a fibre sample from the shore was coconut dated to about 1100 CE. | Accepted | The 1995 study was never published, so it is known only from these interviews, but no later test has contradicted it⁠[19]. | | 2006 | Richard E. Joltes⁠[5] | The story of a worked pit was most likely made up or embellished between 1857 and 1864 to sell shares in the digging companies. | Most likely | No account of the 1795 find predates 1857, but no document shows the story being made up⁠[14]⁠[23]. | | 2014 | The Curse of Oak Island (History)⁠[7] | Finds such as a lead cross and radiocarbon-dated wood show that medieval Europeans, perhaps Templars, worked on the island. | Disputed | None of these finds is published, their contexts are disturbed, and the lead test did not date the cross⁠[12]. | | 2017 | Peter Fortune⁠[23] | Two centuries of searching rest on hope rather than evidence that anything was ever buried. | Most likely | Nothing of value has been recovered, and the geology explains the pit's features without a deposit⁠[11]⁠[20]. | | 2018 | Christopher McFarlane and Brandon Boucher (University of New Brunswick)⁠[12] | The lead of the cross found at Smith's Cove came from a European source. | Accepted | The measurement is reported by the university, though it says nothing about when the cross was made or arrived⁠[12]. | | 2020 | Steven Aitken⁠[11] | The consulting reports of the 1960s and 1970s and the 1995 Woods Hole report show the pit is a collapsed cavity in Windsor Group gypsum. | Most likely | It agrees with the mapped bedrock and the offshore sinkholes, but it is a review of existing reports rather than a new test⁠[8]⁠[20]. | | 2024 | Peter Simpkin and Gordon Fader⁠[20] | Seismic profiles off eastern Oak Island map sinkholes and pockmarks in the seabed, and most geologists take the shafts and tunnels on the island to be searchers' work. | Accepted | The profiles are published with the 1996 multibeam data they were read against⁠[8]. | ## What would settle it Three things would move the question. First, a document from before 1857 that mentions the pit: a deed, a letter, a court or militia record, or a newspaper item. Lunenburg County records for 1795 to 1850 have never been systematically searched for this purpose⁠[[5]]. Second, publication of the physical data that already exists: the Warnock Hersey, Golder and Woods Hole reports, the Triton core logs, and the borehole and sonar data gathered since 2014, so that geologists outside the search can test the sinkhole reading against the actual stratigraphy⁠[[11]]⁠[[8]]. Third, for any object claimed to be old, a recorded find context, a conservation record and an independent dating published outside the television programme, which the Treasure Act does not require⁠[[13]]⁠[[12]]. A find that would settle it in favour of a deposit is a sealed, dated, worked chamber below the searchers' disturbance. A finding that would settle it against is a complete set of cores showing undisturbed natural collapse breccia and till from the surface to bedrock everywhere the pit is said to have been. ## Questions 0 of 6 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=oak-island) **0** [Are the "flood tunnels" man-made?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3443MBJ/are-the-flood-tunnels-man-made) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the pit floods because it is dug below sea level into permeable, cavernous rock; no tunnel exists **0** [What is the Oak Island money pit?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X2WA4BV7/what-is-the-oak-island-money-pit) 0 of 3 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the depression was a natural sinkhole over a dissolved cavity in Windsor Group gypsum; the platforms were… ## Evidence 38 findings [What is the Oak Island money pit?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X2WA4BV7/what-is-the-oak-island-money-pit)12 findings [A shaft at least 90 feet deep was dug and refilled with platforms before 1795 to hide a deposit.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52X4B62ZZW/a-shaft-at-least-90-feet-deep-was-dug-and-refilled-with)Disputed +[Accounts of 1862 and 1864 describe oak platforms at regular intervals and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X4K07KKA/accounts-of-1862-and-1864-describe-oak-platforms-at-regular)Suggestive +[Coconut fibre, a tropical material, exists from the pit and Smith's Cove; a 1970 analysis identified three of four samples as coconut.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X4TT5PBM/coconut-fibre-a-tropical-material-exists-from-the-pit-and)Suggestive −[No documented worked chamber or structure has been reached in digging and drilling to 235 feet.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X52M65H5/no-documented-worked-chamber-or-structure-has-been-reached)Supported −[No record older than 1857 mentions a pit, a treasure or the three discoverers.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X5AE4SXR/no-record-older-than-1857-mentions-a-pit-a-treasure-or-the)Supported [The depression was a natural sinkhole over a dissolved cavity in Windsor Group gypsum; the platforms were…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52X5J87DVK/the-depression-was-a-natural-sinkhole-over-a-dissolved)Most likely +[The south-east half of the island is underlain by Windsor Group limestone and gypsum, rocks that dissolve and form cavities.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X5T24Y9A/the-south-east-half-of-the-island-is-underlain-by-windsor)Established +[A sinkhole opened under oxen on the island in 1878, and a well nearby later showed similar flagstone and log layers.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X61W50KR/a-sinkhole-opened-under-oxen-on-the-island-in-1878-and-a)Supported +[A retired geologist who read the Warnock Hersey, Golder and Woods Hole reports concluded the pit is a collapsed cavity.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X69P3F1T/a-retired-geologist-who-read-the-warnock-hersey-golder-and)Suggestive −[Coconut fibre at depth is not explained by a sinkhole alone.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X6HG16AS/coconut-fibre-at-depth-is-not-explained-by-a-sinkhole-alone)Suggestive [The story of a worked pit was invented or inflated in the 1840s to 1860s to sell shares; there may have been…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52X6SA21RX/the-story-of-a-worked-pit-was-invented-or-inflated-in-the)Most likely +[The 1861 'Oak Island Folly' says shares sold at an enormous premium; the flood-tunnel claim first appears in print that year.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X71469FA/the-1861-oak-island-folly-says-shares-sold-at-an-enormous)Supported +[The stone's 'translation' first appears in the 1893 company prospectus.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X78Y6HWC/the-stones-translation-first-appears-in-the-1893-company)Supported +['Patrick' in 1861 reports digging under the platforms and finding it dry, contradicting the flooded-vault account.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X7GR4GT5/patrick-in-1861-reports-digging-under-the-platforms-and)Suggestive −[The 1795 story names real settlers of the island, so a core event cannot be ruled out.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X7RJ0MGW/the-1795-story-names-real-settlers-of-the-island-so-a-core)Suggestive [Are the "flood tunnels" man-made?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3443MBJ/are-the-flood-tunnels-man-made)6 findings [One or more tunnels were cut from Smith's Cove (and the south shore) to flood the shaft when it was breached.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52X8861XXJ/one-or-more-tunnels-were-cut-from-smiths-cove-and-the-south)Disputed +[Searchers in 1850 found converging stone box drains at Smith's Cove and later dyed water that reportedly appeared on the shore.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X8G00E1Z/searchers-in-1850-found-converging-stone-box-drains-at)Suggestive −[A 1995 Woods Hole dye study attributed the flooding to natural freshwater and tidal interaction.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X8QT2C66/a-1995-woods-hole-dye-study-attributed-the-flooding-to)Supported −[Dunfield's 1965 to 1966 excavation reported no sign of the tunnel described by earlier expeditions.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X8ZM6JP9/dunfields-1965-to-1966-excavation-reported-no-sign-of-the)Supported −[Coffer dams at Smith's Cove have never stopped the pit flooding.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X97E32KC/coffer-dams-at-smiths-cove-have-never-stopped-the-pit)Supported [The pit floods because it is dug below sea level into permeable, cavernous rock; no tunnel exists.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52X9F84E4C/the-pit-floods-because-it-is-dug-below-sea-level-into)Most likely +[Windsor Group gypsum and limestone under the east end dissolve and carry water.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X9Q21QHN/windsor-group-gypsum-and-limestone-under-the-east-end)Established +[Every deep shaft dug near the pit since 1849 has flooded, including those far from any claimed tunnel.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52X9YW3GEP/every-deep-shaft-dug-near-the-pit-since-1849-has-flooded)Supported [Did the inscribed stone exist, and what was on it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3BY6DCH/did-the-inscribed-stone-exist-and-what-was-on-it)8 findings [A stone bearing deliberate cut characters was found at about 90 feet by the Onslow Company.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XAEG7XM2/a-stone-bearing-deliberate-cut-characters-was-found-at-about)Disputed +[McCully (1862) and 'A Member' (1864) report a stone with characters cut into it, found near 90 feet.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XAPA0F30/mccully-1862-and-a-member-1864-report-a-stone-with)Suggestive −[An 1864 correspondent (Cooke) said the marks looked scraped rather than cut; the stone was by then walled into a chimney.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XAY47QXJ/an-1864-correspondent-cooke-said-the-marks-looked-scraped)Suggestive −[Bowdoin in 1911 described a hard stone with no visible symbols.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XB5Y0A2J/bowdoin-in-1911-described-a-hard-stone-with-no-visible)Suggestive −[The familiar cipher and its reading appear first in the 1893 prospectus; no drawing from the stone survives.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XBDR0REW/the-familiar-cipher-and-its-reading-appear-first-in-the-1893)Supported [A plain or naturally marked stone was found, and the inscription was read into it or added later.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XBNJ7CFV/a-plain-or-naturally-marked-stone-was-found-and-the)Most likely +[The 1893 Oak Island Treasure Company prospectus is the earliest source for the reading 'Ten feet below are two million pounds buried'.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XBXC5RNW/the-1893-oak-island-treasure-company-prospectus-is-the)Supported +[A 1935 statement places the stone as a bookbinder's beating stone in Halifax until 1919, worn smooth.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XC5662ED/a-1935-statement-places-the-stone-as-a-bookbinders-beating)Suggestive [No such stone was found; it was invented for the 1862 narrative.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XCD034QV/no-such-stone-was-found-it-was-invented-for-the-1862)Still possible +[The stone is first mentioned in 1862, fifty-eight years after its supposed discovery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XCMT5KPS/the-stone-is-first-mentioned-in-1862-fifty-eight-years-after)Supported −[Several people between 1864 and 1935 described handling a particular stone said to be it.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XCWM3Z2V/several-people-between-1864-and-1935-described-handling-a)Suggestive [What are the stone and timber structures at Smith's Cove?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3KR6V71/what-are-the-stone-and-timber-structures-at-smiths-cove)5 findings [The drains are the intake of an engineered flood system built before 1795.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XDC87X7Q/the-drains-are-the-intake-of-an-engineered-flood-system)Disputed +[Searchers in 1850 described five converging box drains under coconut fibre and eelgrass.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XDM201Y0/searchers-in-1850-described-five-converging-box-drains-under)Suggestive −[No channel from the drains to the pit has been found in 170 years of digging.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XDVW6TFQ/no-channel-from-the-drains-to-the-pit-has-been-found-in-170)Supported [The drains are the remains of an early salt works or similar shore industry.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XE3P6GGW/the-drains-are-the-remains-of-an-early-salt-works-or-similar)Still possible +[Dennis King (2010) argued the layout matches a salt works.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XEBG4FSQ/dennis-king-2010-argued-the-layout-matches-a-salt-works)Suggestive [The structures are wharves, slipways and coffer dams left by nineteenth- and twentieth-century searchers and…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XEKA43SN/the-structures-are-wharves-slipways-and-coffer-dams-left-by)Most likely +[Companies built dams and wharves at the cove in 1850, 1866 and later; a 1931 photograph shows a wharf.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XEV40ER1/companies-built-dams-and-wharves-at-the-cove-in-1850-1866)Supported −[Television has reported timber dates for the 'slipway' in the 1700s.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XF2Y2SY9/television-has-reported-timber-dates-for-the-slipway-in-the)Speculative [What do the Lagina-era finds show?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X3VJ0CBS/what-do-the-lagina-era-finds-show)4 findings [Some finds are genuine pre-1795 objects deposited by whoever dug the pit.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XFJJ3PV7/some-finds-are-genuine-pre-1795-objects-deposited-by-whoever)Disputed +[UNB's laser-ablation lab reported a European lead source for the Smith's Cove cross.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XFTC5S8E/unbs-laser-ablation-lab-reported-a-european-lead-source-for)Suggestive −[The cross and other finds were recovered from a beach and from fill worked by searchers since 1850.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XG264ATS/the-cross-and-other-finds-were-recovered-from-a-beach-and)Supported [The finds are a mix of ordinary colonial and later debris from farming, logging, military use, shipbuilding…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XGA00GT9/the-finds-are-a-mix-of-ordinary-colonial-and-later-debris)Most likely +[The island was settled, farmed and logged from the 1760s and has had continuous activity since.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XGHT7271/the-island-was-settled-farmed-and-logged-from-the-1760s-and)Established +[No Lagina-era find has been published in a peer-reviewed or museum report.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XGSM016C/no-lagina-era-find-has-been-published-in-a-peer-reviewed-or)Supported [If something was buried, who buried it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/questions/QST0D52X43C0QAM/if-something-was-buried-who-buried-it)3 findings [Pirates or privateers (Kidd is the usual name) buried loot in the late 1600s or early 1700s.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XH9851J3/pirates-or-privateers-kidd-is-the-usual-name-buried-loot-in)Still possible +[The pirate reading is the one DesBrisay records as local belief.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XHH24ZDY/the-pirate-reading-is-the-one-desbrisay-records-as-local)Speculative [A colonial power (British, French or Spanish) cached pay or plate during the wars of 1740 to 1783.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XHRW6HMD/a-colonial-power-british-french-or-spanish-cached-pay-or)Still possible +[Nova Scotia was a war zone through the period, and Halifax a naval base from 1749.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XJ0P3XJ8/nova-scotia-was-a-war-zone-through-the-period-and-halifax-a)Speculative [Medieval Europeans (Templars or others) deposited something in the 1300s to 1400s.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/answers/ANS0D52XJ8G1G5X/medieval-europeans-templars-or-others-deposited-something-in)Disputed +[Television has presented the lead cross and radiocarbon dates on wood as medieval.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/evidence/EVD0D52XJGA1NTX/television-has-presented-the-lead-cross-and-radiocarbon)Speculative ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** Transcription1 step from object [The inscribed stone (the "90-foot stone")](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XKFJ73SG/the-inscribed-stone-the-90-foot-stone) Oak Island Treasure Company · Public domain (published 1893) Document1 step from object [Parchment fragment with the letters "vi" or "wi"](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XKQC7GRH/parchment-fragment-with-the-letters-vi-or-wi) unknown (reported to be with the Blankenship or Tobias families or their successors) Document1 step from object [Lead cross from Smith's Cove](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XKZ67GN8/lead-cross-from-smiths-cove) Oak Island Tours Inc. (licensee); reported to be displayed at the Oak Island Interpretive Centre Document1 step from object [Coconut fibre samples from the pit and Smith's Cove](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XM7008RK/coconut-fibre-samples-from-the-pit-and-smiths-cove) various private holders and the Oak Island Interpretive Centre Document1 step from object [Three links of gold chain from the 1849 auger](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XYF46J6R/three-links-of-gold-chain-from-the-1849-auger) unknown (never documented after the report) Document1 step from object [Axe and miner's pick from the 1931 Chappell shaft](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XYYR0TQX/axe-and-miners-pick-from-the-1931-chappell-shaft) unknown Document1 step from object [Borehole 10-X underwater video](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XZEC7KFY/borehole-10-x-underwater-video) unknown (made for Triton Alliance; an enhanced copy was shown by the CBC) Photo1 step from object [Smith's Cove timber structure and drains](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oak-island/artifacts/ART0D52XZP607A7/smiths-cove-timber-structure-and-drains) Les MacPhie and John Wonnacott (compiling earlier photographs and survey plans) · publisher ## See also [ **Great Sphinx of Giza** A 73-metre lion with a human head cut from the Giza bedrock, dated to about 2500 BC. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx) [ **Skinwalker Ranch** A ranch in Utah's Uintah Basin where owners reported lights and dead cattle in 1996. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/skinwalker-ranch) [ **Carnac alignments** Rows of thousands of standing stones in Brittany, one section raised about 4500 BC. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/carnac-alignments) [ **Lost Dutchman's gold mine** A gold mine Jacob Waltz is said to have described before he died in Arizona in 1891. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-dutchman-mine) ## References 1. 1.[McCully, J. 1862. The Oak Island Diggings. Liverpool Transcript, October 1862.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WP62302N/the-oak-island-diggings)cited 21 times here**SRC** 0D52WP62302N 1. 2.[DesBrisay, M. 1895. History of the County of Lunenburg. William Briggs, Toronto (2nd ed.).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WMZ008BP/history-of-the-county-of-lunenburg)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0D52WMZ008BP 1. 3.['A Member' (anonymous) 1864. A History of the Oak Island Enterprise. British Colonist (Halifax), three parts, 1864.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WPDW5RX9/a-history-of-the-oak-island-enterprise)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WPDW5RX9 1. 4.[Wikipedia contributors n.d.. Oak Island mystery. Wikipedia.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WRW07XRG/oak-island-mystery)cited 29 times here**SRC** 0D52WRW07XRG 1. 5.[Joltes, R. 2006. History, Hoax, and Hype: The Oak Island Legend. Critical Enquiry (criticalenquiry.org).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WPXG04KS/history-hoax-and-hype-the-oak-island-legend)cited 9 times here**SRC** 0D52WPXG04KS 1. 6.[Oak Island Treasure Company 1893. Oak Island Treasure Company (prospectus). Canadiana (CIHM 34838).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WPNP5A6J/oak-island-treasure-company-prospectus)cited 9 times here**SRC** 0D52WPNP5A6J 1. 7.[Prometheus Entertainment / History (A+E Networks) 2014. The Curse of Oak Island. History channel, 2014 to present.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WS3T0R69/the-curse-of-oak-island)cited 8 times here**SRC** 0D52WS3T0R69 1. 8.[Fader, G., Courtney, R. n.d.. An Interpretation of Multibeam Bathymetry off Eastern Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), Bedford Institute of Oceanography.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WQMY1TJW/an-interpretation-of-multibeam-bathymetry-off-eastern-oak)[doi](https://doi.org/10.4095/209918)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0D52WQMY1TJW 1. 9.[Dunning, B. 2008. Skeptoid #129: The Oak Island Money Pit. Skeptoid Podcast, 25 November 2008.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WQD46NPJ/skeptoid-129-the-oak-island-money-pit)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0D52WQD46NPJ 1. 10.[Nickell, J. 2000. The Secrets of Oak Island. Skeptical Inquirer 24(2): 14-19.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WQ5A7JGY/the-secrets-of-oak-island)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0D52WQ5A7JGY 1. 11.[CBC News 2020. Money pit or sinkhole? Retired geologist digs up Oak Island's history. CBC News, Nova Scotia.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WQWR005Z/money-pit-or-sinkhole-retired-geologist-digs-up-oak-islands)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0D52WQWR005Z 1. 12.[University of New Brunswick Newsroom 2018. UNB researchers have moment in the spotlight on History Channel show. UNB Newsroom, 28 November 2018.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WR4J6TEJ/unb-researchers-have-moment-in-the-spotlight-on-history)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0D52WR4J6TEJ 1. 13.[Nova Scotia Legislature 2010. Oak Island Treasure Act, Chapter 39 of the Acts of 2010. Statutes of Nova Scotia.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WRCC7GZ4/oak-island-treasure-act-chapter-39-of-the-acts-of-2010)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WRCC7GZ4 1. 14.[anonymous 1857. Correspondence (a visitor's note on the abandoned Oak Island diggings). Liverpool Transcript (Nova Scotia).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WNEM28HE/correspondence-a-visitors-note-on-the-abandoned-oak-island)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WNEM28HE 1. 15.[anonymous 1861. The Oak Island Folly. Nova Scotian / Liverpool Transcript, 29 August 1861.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WNPE3NH7/the-oak-island-folly)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0D52WNPE3NH7 1. 16.['Patrick' (pseudonym) 1861. Reply to 'The Oak Island Folly'. Nova Scotian, 16 September 1861.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WNY87JY7/reply-to-the-oak-island-folly)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0D52WNY87JY7 1. 17.[DesBrisay, M. 1870. History of the County of Lunenburg. Halifax (1st ed.).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WN6T1AN2/history-of-the-county-of-lunenburg)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0D52WN6T1AN2 1. 18.[Lamb, L. 2006. Oak Island Obsession: The Restall Story. Dundurn Press.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WRM61GXP/oak-island-obsession-the-restall-story)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0D52WRM61GXP 1. 19.[Joltes, R. 2002. Appendix: Woods Hole Explores Oak Island. Critical Enquiry (criticalenquiry.org).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WTAW2JA6/appendix-woods-hole-explores-oak-island)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0D52WTAW2JA6 1. 20.[Simpkin, P., Fader, G. 2024. Testing of a modified Seistec seismic reflection profiler and its application to the marine geology of offshore eastern Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. Atlantic Geoscience 60: 001-014.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WSBM13Q9/testing-of-a-modified-seistec-seismic-reflection-profiler)[doi](https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2024.001)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0D52WSBM13Q9 1. 21.[Joltes, R. n.d.. A.T. Kempton's Fake Inscription. Critical Enquiry (criticalenquiry.org).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WTJP24NT/a-t-kemptons-fake-inscription)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WTJP24NT 1. 22.[Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables 2020. Karst Risk Map of Nova Scotia (DP ME 494). Nova Scotia Geoscience Online.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WW1J1EYW/karst-risk-map-of-nova-scotia-dp-me-494)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WW1J1EYW 1. 23.[Fortune, P. 2017. Oak Island Treasure: The Triumph of Hope over Reason. fortunearchive.com (PDF).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D52WSV855GG/oak-island-treasure-the-triumph-of-hope-over-reason)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D52WSV855GG Last edited 27 Oct 2026