The Mysteries of Oak Island

Trustmeman - It has been the main focus of “the world's longest and costliest treasure hunt” and “one of the world's deepest and most expensive anthropology digs” (O'Connor 1988, 1, 4), moreover as being “Canada's known mystery” (Colombo 1988, 33) and so one among “the nice mysteries of the globe.” it's going to even “represent Associate in Nursing ancient physical object created by a past civilization of advanced capability” (Crooker 1978, 7, 190). the topic of those superlatives may be a mysterious shaft on Oak Island in star Scotia's Mahone Bay. for a few 2 centuries, greed, folly, and even death have attended the supposed “Money Pit” enigma.

The Saga

Briefly, the story is that in 1795 a young man named Daniel McInnis (or McGinnis) was roaming Oak Island once he chanced on a shallow depression within the ground. Above it, hanging from the limb of an oversized oak was Associate in Nursing recent tackle block. McInnis came back consecutive day with 2 friends who-steeped within the native content of pirates and treasure troves-set to figure to excavate the positioning. They shortly uncovered a layer of flagstones and, 10 feet any, a tier of rotten oak logs. They proceeded another fifteen feet into what they were positive was a synthetic shaft however, tired from their efforts, they set to stop work till they may get help. However, between the skepticism and superstitious notion of the people that lived on the earth, they were unsuccessful.

The imaginary cache continued  to lie dormant till early within the next century, once the trio joined with a businessperson named patriarch Lynds from the city of Onslow to make a treasure-hunting pool known as the Onslow Company. starting work regarding 1803 or 1804 (one supply says 1810), they found oak platforms “at precise intervals of 10 feet” (O'Connor 1978, 10), beside layers of clay, charcoal, and a fibrous material known as coconut husks. Then, at ninety feet (or eighty feet, in keeping with one alleged participant) they purportedly found a flat stone bearing Associate in Nursing indecipherable inscription (see figure 1). Soon after, inquisitory with a wrecking bar, they affected one thing hard-possibly a picket chest!-but discontinued  for the evening. Alas, consecutive morning the shaft was found flooded with sixty feet of water. making an attempt to bail out perdition with buckets, they found the water level remained constant, and that they were forced to discontinue the search. the subsequent year, the lads tried to bypass the water by means that of a parallel shaft from that they hoped to tunnel to the supposed treasure. however this shaft suffered constant fate, and therefore the Onslow Company's expedition concluded (O'Connor 1978, 9-16; Crooker 1993, 14; Harris 1958, 12-22).

Again the supposed cache lay dormant till in 1849 another cluster, the Truro Company, reexcavated the initial shaft. Encountering water, the staff then established a platform within the pit and used a non-automatic auger to drill and take away cores of fabric. They found clay, bits of wood, and 3 links of gold chain-supposed proof of buried treasure. The Truro Company sank further near  shafts, but these, too, were inundated with water, and work ceased within the fall of 1850. alternative operations continued  from 1858 to 1862, throughout which period a working person was scalded to death by a damaged boiler (O'Connor 1988, 17-31).

The Oak Island Association followed and tried to cross the “tunnel” that presumptively fed water to perdition. once that 120-foot shaft lost, another was unsuccessful and, reportedly, a three-by-four-foot tunnel was extended regarding eighteen feet to the “Money Pit” (as it absolutely was then known). However, water began coming back in once more. a colossal bailing operation was then established once suddenly there was a loud crash because the cash Pit folded. it absolutely was later theorized that the imaginary chests had fallen into a deep void which perdition might are booby-trapped to guard the treasure (O'Connor 1988, 29). The Association's work was followed in 1866 by the Oak Island El Dorado Company however while not vital results (Harris 1958, 203).

Decades move on and in 1897 the Oak Island Treasure Company (incorporated four years earlier) apparently situated the long-sought “pirate tunnel” that junction rectifier from Smith's Cove to the cash Pit. They trained and dynamited to shut off the tunnel. consequent borings were highlighted by the invention of a fraction of parchment upon that was fenced in parts of 2 letters (possibly “ri"). They conjointly found traces of a chalk-like stone or “cement" (Harris 1958, 91-98). during this same year Oak Island's second tragedy affected once a employee was being hoisted from one among the pits and therefore the rope slipped from its pulley-block, plunging him to his death.

After that company ran out of funds, most of the transportable assets were sold-out at a forced sale in 1900. The new century brought continued  searches, with the dig of infinite drill holes, shafts, and tunnels-so many who “The entire cash Pit space has been topographically destroyed, dynamical utterly its original look and rendering recent maps and charts useless” (Crooker 1978, 190). In 1965 there came yet one more tragedy once four men died in a very shaft when being overcome either by swamp gas or engine fumes (O'Connor 1988, 143-145).

In 1966 a FL building contractor named Dan Blankenship teamed up with MontrŽal businessperson David Tobias to continue the hunt. The partners began an intensive drilling operation, sinking some sixty bore-holes the subsequent year alone, and, in 1968, noncommissioned variety of investors in what they named Triton Alliance. sadly, mechanical issues, land disputes, the stock exchange crash of 1987, and alternative troubles, as well as the ultimate detachment of the 2 partners, stopped their projected $10 million “big dig” (Randle 1995). Once receptive tourists, the positioning sank into neglect.

Over the years the unreal treasure has been the target of dowsers, automatic writers, clairvoyants, channelers, tarot-card readers, dream interpreters, psychic archaeologists, and diverse alternative visionaries and soothsayers, moreover as crank inventors of devices sort of a “Mineral Wave Ray” Associate in Nursingd an airplane-borne “treasure smelling” machine-not one having been winning (Preston 1988, 62; author 1988, 121-136; finnan haddock 1997, 166-170).

An investigatory Approach

The additional elusive the treasure has evidenced, the additional speculation it's engendered. Given the “immense quantity of labor” presumptively needed to construct perdition and therefore the related to “flooding tunnel” that served as a “booby entice,” presumption of a pirates' hoard has begun to be supplanted by such imaginary prizes because the French crown jewels, Shakespeare's manuscripts, the “lost treasure" of the Knights knight, even the chalice and therefore the imaginary secrets of the “lost continent” of mythical place (Sora 1999, 7-38, 101; Crooker 1978, 153).

But is there a treasure at the lowest of the “Money Pit"? My analysis into the mystery of Oak Island dates back a few years, and that i opened a file on the case in 1982. However, aside from periodic updates, I place it on hold, mostly as a result of the answer perceived to exist constant direction as those of another mysteries (Nickell 1980; 1982a; 1982b). However, once asked to handle a rhetorical conference in near  New Brunswick, I resolved to position Oak Island on my itinerary (Nickell 2000).

In coming up with my trip I tried to contact Triton's David Tobias, World Health Organization didn't, however, come my decision, however I did reach Jim Dr. at the Oak Island hostel and docking facility on the near  earth. Harvey, a retired Royal Canadian Mounted policeman and authorized  shamus, is guilty of security for Oak Island, and he was adamant that it's now not receptive guests. creating not-so-veiled references to the legendary temper of Dan Blankenship, the opposite Triton partner World Health Organization still lives on the island, Dr. prompt it might not be safe on behalf of me to trespass on the island, though he offered for rent his powerboat for a target-hunting traveling.

Harvey might have had in mind a happening of the many years agone, involving Associate in Nursing dustup between Blankenship and another island resident, Frederick Nolan. in keeping with one source: “One day Blankenship had approached with a rifle in hand and an unsightly state of affairs had begun to develop. Eventually the police were known as in to calm everyone down and confiscate the gun” (Finnan 1997, 93).

So it absolutely was with some apprehension that-on the afternoon of legal holiday, 1991, when inbound at the village of Western Shore and checking in at the Oak Island Inn-I drove to the causeway resulting in Oak Island. This land bridge connecting the island to the earth was made in 1965 in order that an excellent excavating machine might be transported to the “treasure” space. nowadays it's in chains off and marked “Private/No searching or Trespassing/Danger.”

A local trained worker older my proposal to steer over and see Mr. Blankenship, “He will not shoot you, however he can in all probability flip you back.” In fact, though Blankenship was initially stand-offish, having scan a Canadian Press article regarding the “professional skeptic” World Health Organization was heading to Oak Island (see Nickell 2000), I shortly mollified him, and he gracefully invited Maine to his home. i used to be there till nearly eleven p.m., being shown artifacts, photos, papers, and a video created by a camera lowered  into a borehole-the fruits of virtually xxxv years of treasure searching that had earned  Blankenship the title of “Oak Island's most obsessional searcher" (O'Connor 1988, 145). The video reveals the inside of a “tunnel," graced with a clear upright timber and what some imagine to be “chests,” a “scoop,” and alternative supposed artifacts. Blankenship (1999) told Maine he had situated the positioning of the borehole by fortune telling. consecutive day Jim Dr. took Maine on our planned boat trip, allowing Maine to look at the rest of the island.

The additional I investigated the Oak Island enigma, the additional skeptical I became. Others had preceded Maine in provision what I came to treat because the 2 main items of the puzzle, though apparently nobody had with success fitted the items along. One involved the character of the “money pit” itself, the opposite the supply of bound components within the treasure heroic tale, like the acknowledged cryptogram-bearing stone.

Man-made or Natural?

Doubts begin with the reported  discovery in 1795 of the treasure shaft itself. whereas some accounts say that the trio of youths spied Associate in Nursing recent ship's pulley-block hanging from a branch over a depression within the ground (Harris 1958, 6-8), that's “likely Associate in Nursing apocryphal detail additional to the story later” and supported the idea that some form of lowering device would are necessary in depositing the treasure (O'Connor 1988, 4). withal some authors ar remarkably specific regarding the options, one noting that the “old tackle block” was hooked up to “a massive forked branch” of Associate in Nursing oak “by means that of a peg connecting the fork in a very tiny triangle" (Crooker 1978, 17). Another account (cited in finnan haddock 1997, 28) any claims there have been “strange markings” inscribed on the tree. On the opposite hand, maybe realizing that pirates or alternative treasure hoarders would are unlikely to betray their secret work by going away such a visible indicator in situ, some versions of the story agree that the limb “had been sawed off” however that “the stump showed proof of ropes and tackle” (Randle 1995, 75).

Similarly, the notion that there was a log platform at every ten-foot interval of perdition for a complete of 9 or eleven platforms, is merely supported by later accounts, and people seem to possess been derived by selecting and selecting from earlier ones thus on produce a composite version of the layers. for instance the account within the settler (1864) mentions that the initial treasure hunters found solely flagstones at 2 feet ("evidently not shaped there by nature") and “a tier of oak logs” situated “ten feet lower down” (i.e., at twelve feet). They continued  some “fifteen feet farther down,” whereupon-with no mention of something any of note-they set to prevent till they may get help. James McNutt, World Health Organization was a member of a gaggle of treasure hunters performing on Oak Island in 1863, delineated  a distinct arrangement of layers (Crooker 1978, 24).

In 1911 Associate in Nursing engineer, Captain Henry L. Bowdoin, World Health Organization had done in depth borings on the island, ended that the treasure was notional. He questioned the credibleness of varied alleged findings (such because the cipher stone and piece of gold chain), and attributed the remainder to natural phenomena (Bowdoin 1911). consequent skeptics have projected that the legendary cash Pit was nothing quite a swallow hole caused by the bottom subsiding over a void within the underlying rock (Atlantic 1965). The strata below Oak Island ar essentially stone and anhydrite (Crooker 1978, 85; Blankenship 1999), that ar related to the formation of answer caverns and salt domes (Cavern 1960; Salt Dome 1960). The surface on top of caverns, moreover as over faults and fissures, could also be characterised by sinkholes.

Indeed, a swallow hole truly appeared on Oak Island in 1878. a girl named Sophia Sellers was tilling once the planet suddenly sank below her oxen. Ever afterwards called the “Cave-in Pit,” it absolutely was situated simply over 100 yards east of the cash Pit and directly on top of the “flood tunnel” (O'Connor 1988, 51).

Geologist E. Rudolph Faribault found “numerous” sinkholes on the earth opposite Oak Island, and in a very earth science report of 1911 ended there was “strong evidence” to point that the acknowledged artificial structures on the island were “really however natural sink holes and cavities.” any proof of caverns within the space came in 1975 once a sewage-disposal system was being established on the earth. roughly three,000 feet north of the island, workmen excavating with significant machinery skint through a rock layer and discovered a 52-foot-deep cavern below (Crooker 1993, 144). Fred Nolan insists that, earlier, in 1969, whereas drilling on Oak Island, Triton skint into a cavern close to the unreal treasure shaft at a depth of one hundred sixty five feet. “Blankenship and Tobias patterned that the cavern was synthetic,” same Nolan, “but it's not, as way as i am concerned” (Crooker 1993, 165). And Mark finnan haddock (1997, 111), writing of “the distinctive earth science nature of Oak Island,” states as a incontrovertible fact that “naturally shaped underground caverns ar gift within the island's bedrock.” These would account for the flood “booby-traps” that were purportedly placed to protect the “treasure” (Preston 1988, 63).

Today, of course, when 2 centuries of excavation, the island's east finish is “honey combed with shafts, tunnels and drill holes running in each possible direction” (Crooker 1978, 190), complicating the subterranean image and creating it troublesome to see the character of the initial pit. In suggesting that it absolutely was a swallow hole, caused by the slumping of dust in a very fault, one author noted that “this filling would be softer than the encircling ground, and provides the impression that it had been mammary gland up before" (Atlantic 1965). Fallen trees might have unsuccessful into perdition with its collapse, or “blowdowns” might sporadically have washed into the Depression (Preston 1988, 63), later giving the looks of “platforms” of rotten logs.

Just such a pit was in truth discovered in 1949 on the shore of Mahone Bay, regarding 5 miles to the south of Oak Island, once workmen were dig a well. the actual website was chosen as a result of the planet was rather soft there. Reports author (1988, 172-173): “At regarding 2 feet down a layer of stone was affected. Then logs of spruce and oak were unearthed at irregular intervals, and a few of the wood was burn. The immediate suspicion was that another cash Pit had been found.”

The treasure seekers and mystery mongers ar fast, however, to dismiss any thoughts that the “shaft” and “tunnels” might be nothing quite a swallow hole and natural channels. Why, the first accounts would then got to be “either gross exaggerations or outright lies,” says one author (O'Connor 1988, 173). for instance, what regarding the reported  “pick marks found within the walls of the pit" (O'Connor 1988, 173)? we've already seen-with the oak-limb-and-pulley detail-just however undependable ar such story components. Then what regarding the artifacts (such because the fragment of parchment) or the coconut fiber (often carried on ships as dunnage, wont to shield cargo) found at varied depths? once more, the swallow hole theory would justify however such things “worked their approach into deep caverns underneath the island” (Preston 1988, 63).

Secrets discovered

Assuming the “shaft” may be a phenomenon, there still remains the opposite major piece of the Oak Island puzzle: however can we explain the presence of such cryptic components because the cipher stone allegedly discovered within the pit in 1803, an oversized triangle (made of beach stones and mensuration 10 feet on every side) found in 1897, or a monument cross that Fred Nolan discovered on the south shore in 1981? (See figure 1; finnan haddock 1997, 36, 68-69, 79-82.)

By the first Nineteen Eighties I had become attentive to parallels between Oak Island's cash Pit and therefore the arcana of the Freemasons. Theirs isn't, they insist, a “secret society” however a “society with secrets." Carried to North America within the eighteenth century, Masonry has been outlined as “a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols” (Masonic Bible 1964, 26). one among the essential components of any true Masonic cluster is “a legend or allegory with reference to the building of King Solomon's Temple" ("Freemasonry” 1978). And Associate in Nursing allegory of the key Vault, supported Solomon's unreal repository of bound nice secrets, is careful within the seventh or Royal Arch degree. Among the ruins of the temple, 3 sojourners discover the subterranean chamber whereby ar found 3 trying-squares and a chest, known because the Ark of the Covenant (Masonic 1964, 12, 37, 63; Lester 1977, 150; Isadora Duncan 1972).

No doubt several readers have encountered Secret Vault symbolism-which pertains to lost secrets, buried treasure, and therefore the grave (Macoy 1908, 445; Revised 1975, 64 n.22)-without recognizing it in and of itself. for instance, Sir Arthur A. Conan Doyle, a Mason, not solely used Masonic allusions in many of his fictional character stories (Bunson 1994, 84) however fenced in 3 that evoke Masonry's hidden vault itself. as an example, Holmes uncovers dark secrets in “The journey of Shoscombe recent Place.” below Associate in Nursing recent chapel on the Shoscombe property, accessed by staggering through “loose masonry” (an obvious pun) and continuing down a steep steps, Holmes finds himself {in a|during a|in Associate in Nursing exceedingly|in a very} sepulture with an “arched . . . roof" (evoking the Royal Arch degree of Masonry). in the course of his client-a “Mr. Mason"!-Holmes finds the key to a series of strange mysteries. equally indirect Holmes stories ar “The Red-Headed League” (featuring a consumer World Health Organization sports a Masonic breastpin), and therefore the suggestively titled “The Musgrave Ritual.”

In addition to the Sherlockian Secret Vault allegories there ar many samples of the genre that several folks have taken at face worth, basic cognitive process them true accounts. One, for instance, is that the tale of Swift's Lost mine of jap Kentucky. In his alleged journal, one “Jonathan Swift” explored the region before Daniel Boone, marking a tree with “the symbols of a compasses, trowel and square"-Masonic emblems-and discovering and mining silver (which geologists doubt exists within the region). going away to hunt backers, Swift says he hold on the treasure in a very cave and “walled it up with masonry kind.” Later he became blind and unable to seek out his unreal treasure (although still capable of writing in his journal!). This evokes Masonic ritual whereby a candidate should enter the live complete vision defect (i.e. blindfolded) to start his look for enlightenment (Nickell 1980).

Another such lost-treasure story is found within the acknowledged Beale Papers that tell a tale of journey, unresolved ciphers, and fabulous treasure. This was “deposited” in a very stone-lined “vault" (using language from the choose Masters' degree) in Virginia. The papers were revealed by a Mason (Nickell 1982b).

Then there's the “restless coffins” enigma of the Chase Vault of Barbados. in keeping with proliferating however traditionally dubious accounts, anytime the vault was opened, between 1812 and 1820, the coffins were discovered in a very state of confusion. when they were reordered the vault was closed by “masons.” however the coffins would once more be found in disarray. a minimum of 2 of the lads concerned were high-level Freemasons. In 1943 another restless-coffins case occurred on the island, this point specifically involving a celebration of Freemasons and therefore the vault being that of the founding father of Freemasonry in Barbados! (Nickell 1982a)

It currently seems that another such tale is that the legend of Oak Island, wherever once more we discover clear proof of Masonic involvement. There are, of course, the parallels between the cash Pit story and therefore the Masonic Secret Vault allegory. The “strange markings” reportedly inscribed on the oak adjacent to perdition counsel Masons' Marks, inscribed signs by that Masons ar distinguished (Waite 1970, xx; Hunter 1996, 58). The 3 alleged discoverers of perdition would appear to represent the 3 Worthy Sojourners (with Daniel McInnis representing the Principal Sojourner), World Health Organization discover the key Vault within the Royal Arch degree (Duncan 1972, 261). therein ritual the candidate is lowered  on a rope through a succession of entice doors, not in contrast to the workmen World Health Organization were occasionally hauled up and down the (allegedly platform-intersected) Oak Island shaft. The tools employed by the latter-notably spades, pickaxes, and wrecking bar (O'Connor 1988, 2; Harris 1958, 15)-represent the 3 operating Tools of the Royal Arch Mason (Duncan 1972, 241). Indeed, once in 1803 staff probed the lowest of perdition with a wrecking bar and affected what they thought was a chest, their actions recall the Royal Arch degree during which the key Vault is found by a sounding blow from a wrecking bar (Duncan 1972, 263). The parallels endure and on. for instance, the soft stone, charcoal, and clay found within the Pit (Crooker 1978, 24, 49) ar in step with the Chalk, Charcoal and Clay cited within the Masonic degree of Entered Apprentice as symbolising the virtues of “freedom, passion and zeal” (Lester 1977, 60; Hunter 1996, 37).

Then there ar the artifacts. after all several of these-like the recent implement found within the swamp (Crooker 1993, 175, 176)-are in all probability nothing quite relics of the first settlers. Some are literally suspicious, just like the links of gold chain found within the Pit in 1849. One account holds that they were planted by staff to inspire continued  operations (O'Connor 1988, 177-178).

Other artifacts ar additional suggestive, just like the cipher stone (again see figure 1) that disappeared regarding 1919. Its text has allegedly been preserved, albeit in varied forms and decipherments (Rosenbaum 1973, 83). as an example zoologist-turned-epigrapher Barry Fell thought the inscription was ancient Coptic, its message urging folks to recollect God lest they die (Finnan 1997, 148-149). In fact, the text as we've it's been properly deciphered (and redeciphered by many investigators, Maine included). Written in what's called a simple-substitution cipher, it reads, “Forty Feet Below 2 Million Pounds ar Buried" (Crooker 1993, 23). Most Oak Island researchers contemplate the text a hoax (O'Connor 1988, 14), however as Crooker (1993, 24) observes, Associate in Nursing inscribed stone did exist, “having been mentioned all told the first accounts of the Onslow company's expedition.” considerably, a cipher message (with key), found within the Secret Vault, may be a central facet of Freemasonry's Royal Arch degree (Duncan 1972, 248-249).

Other artifacts (Finnan 1997, 67, 80, 83) that seem to possess practice significance ar the stone triangle and nice “Christian Cross” moreover as “a handworked cordate stone"-Masonic symbols all. Crooker (1993, 179) notes that “a great amount of your time and labor” were spent in birthing out the cross, however to what end? might it are a part of a Masonic ritual?

An “old metal set-square” found at Smith's Cove might merely be Associate in Nursing innocent physical object, however we tend to recall that 3 tiny squares were among the things found within the Secret Vault (Duncan 1972, 243). Indeed, the sq. is one among the most important symbols of Freemasonry that, united with a try of compasses, includes the universal Masonic emblem.

Explicitly Masonic, I believe, ar bound inscribed stones on the island. These embody one discovered at Joudrey's Cove by Gilbert Hedden in 1936. It options a cross flanked by the letter H, same to be a modification of the Hebraic letter for Jehovah, and a main Masonic image called a degree among a Circle, representing human race among the compass of God's creation (Morris n.d., 47; finnan haddock 1997, 66, 151). Another clearly Masonic stone may be a granite boulder found close to the Cave-in Pit in 1967. turned by a tractor it bore on its undersurface the letter “G” {in a|during a|in Associate in Nursing exceedingly|in a very} parallelogram (what Masons term an rectangular square). G denotes the Grand geometrician of the Universe-God, the central focus of Masonic teachings-and is “the most public and acquainted of all symbols in Freemasonry," observes Mark finnan haddock (1997, 152). He continues: “The presence of this image on Oak Island and its location within the east, seen because the supply of sunshine in Masonic teachings, is any indication that people with a basic information of Freemasonry were seemingly concerned.”

Indeed, the rummage around for the Oak Island treasure “vault” has been distributed mostly by outstanding star Scotia Freemasons. I had Associate in Nursing intimation of this years agone, however it fell to others, particularly finnan haddock World Health Organization gained access to Masonic records, to supply the proof. Freemasonry had come back to star Scotia in 1738 and, concludes finnan haddock (1997, 145), “it is nearly a certainty that organizers of the primary coordinated dig . . . were Masonicly associated.” Moreover, he states: “Successive treasure hunts throughout the past 200 years typically concerned men World Health Organization were outstanding members of Masonic lodges. Some had versed the upper levels of initiation, and a couple of even control the best workplace doable among the Fraternity.”

They embody A. O. Creighton, the Oak Island Association money dealer World Health Organization helped take away the cipher-inscribed stone from the island regarding 1865, and Frederick Tony Blair, whose family was concerned within the quest as way back as 1863. Blair, World Health Organization shaped the Oak Island Treasure Company in 1893, was a “prominent member” of the live Amherst, star Scotia. Treasure hunter William Chappell was another active Mason, and his son Mel served as Provincial Grand Master for star Scotia from 1944 to 1946 (Finnan 1997, 145-146). moreover, discovered finnan haddock (1997, 146):

The severally loaded Gilbert Hedden of Chatham, New Jersey, World Health Organization distributed the treasure search from 1934 to 1938, and faculty member male monarch Hamilton, World Health Organization succeeded him and operated on the island for consecutive six years, were conjointly Freemasons. Hamilton had at just once control the workplace of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Hedden even created it his business to tell Mason King England|King of Great Britain} of England regarding developments on Oak Island in 1939, and Hamilton corresponded with President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, another renowned Mason directly related to the mystery.

(Roosevelt truly participated within the work on Oak Island throughout the summer and fall of 1909.) alternative Masonic notables concerned in Oak Island were polar soul Richard E. Byrd and actor John Wayne (Sora 1999, 12; Hamill and Gilbert 1998).

Significantly, Reginald Harris, World Health Organization wrote the primary comprehensive book on Oak Island at the bidding of Frederick Tony Blair, was Associate in Nursing professional person for Tony Blair and Hedden. Himself a thirty-third-degree Mason, Harris was provincial Grand Master from 1932 to 1935. Among his in depth papers were notes on Oak Island, scribbled on the backs of Masonic documents and sheets of Masonic letter paper. The papers show that a minimum of one Oak Island business meeting was control within the Masonic Hall in provincial capital, wherever Harris had Associate in Nursing workplace as secretary of the Grand Lodge (O'Connor 1988, 93; Harris 1958, vii; finnan haddock 1997, 143; Rosenbaum 1973; 154).

One investigator, Ron Rosenbaum (1973, 154), discovered that among Harris's papers were “fragments of a Masonic pageant” that were apparently “designed to accompany the ceremony of initiation into the ordinal degree of the Masonic Craft.” The allegory is about in 1535 at the Abbey of Glastonsbury, wherever the Prime Minister is making an attempt to confiscate the order's fabulous treasures. however one item, the cup used at the Last Supper-the chalice itself-is missing, and secret Masons ar suspected of getting hidden it for responsibility. The allegory breaks off with them being junction rectifier to the Tower for torture.

Given this draft allegory by Harris, it's going to not be a coincidence that some recent writers decide to link the chalice to Oak Island. They speculate that the unreal cup is among the lost treasures of the Knights knight, precursors of the Freemasons (Sora 1999, 180, 247-251).

In any event, the proof indicates a robust Masonic affiliation to the Oak Island enigma. Others have noted this link however sadly conjointly believed in a veryn actual treasure of some kind hid in a synthetic shaft or tunnel (Crooker 1993; finnan haddock 1997; Sora 1999; Rosenbaum 1973). solely by understanding each items of the puzzle and fitting them along properly will the Oak Island mystery finally be solved .

In summary, therefore, I counsel 1st that the “Money Pit” and “pirate tunnels” ar nothing of the kind however ar instead natural formations. Secondly, I counsel that a lot of of the Oak Island saga-certain reported  actions and alleged discoveries-can best be understood in lightweight of Freemasonry's Secret Vault allegory. though it's troublesome to understand at this juncture whether or not the Masonic components were opportunistically additional to Associate in Nursing existing treasure quest or whether or not the complete affair was a Masonic creation from the showtime, i feel the mystery has been solved . {the thuslution|the Associate in Nursingswer} is maybe an uncommon one however no additional so than the heroic tale of Oak Island itself.