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A Walk Among Oak Island Ghosts

Submitted by Kim on Tuesday, 26 February 20082 Comments

Oak Island Nova Scotia is home to the longest running and most famous treasure hunt in the world. The treasure hunt began in 1795 with the accidental discovery of the “Money Pit”. No one knows what treasure is buried there and no one knows who buried it. Some theories suggest that it could be Pirate plunder, Spanish gold or the lost fortunes of the holy warriors, the Templar Knights. Oak Island waits for you to solve the mystery.

These are the words of the Oak Island Tourism Society daring you to come on an adventure that has claimed lives and has fooled hundreds of treasure hunters including a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Every year the society has Explore Oak Island Days and this year (2008) it will be held June 20 – 22 at the Oak Island Resort Spa and Convention Centre in Western Shore, N.S.

Please stay tuned for the agenda as soon as we have it formalized. Book your rooms early to avoid disappointment, contact the Resort here : Oak Island Resort and scroll to the bottom on the left hand side. Special rates and package prices are listed there.

*Explore Oak Island Days Agenda

-June 19 Thursday at 5:30 PM. Special “members only” tour of Oak Island.

- June 20 Friday. Enjoy a guided walking tour of Oak Island and learn about it’s 213 year old history. As a special treat, we will be hosting a Mi’Kmaq Sweet Grass ceremony, not to be missed, read more here (Sweet Grass Ceremony). The tour starts at 6PM and lasts about 2 hours, be sure to register in advance by calling 902-275-3718 or e-mail the Society at

- June 21 Saturday.

The doors to Oak Island display, artifacts, movies and more open up at 10AM. Come and learn about the mystery at the Oak Island Resort in Western Shore.
First walking tour of the day starts at 11AM. and lasts about 2 hours, be sure to register in advance by calling 902-275-3718 or e-mail the Society at flhs@eastlink.ca<
12:30 Our first guest speaker of the day is Mr. Graham Harris.
2:30 Our second guest speaker of the day is Ms. Joanna Atherton owner of the world’s premier Oak Island Web Site
Second walking tour at 4 PM<
Dinner and entertainment at the Oak Island Resort later on. Details to be announced.

June 22 Sunday.

The doors to Oak Island display, artifacts, movies and more open up at 10AM. Come and learn about the mystery at the Oak Island Resort in Western Shore.
First walking tour of the day starts at 11AM. and lasts about 2 hours, be sure to register in advance by calling 902-275-3718 or e-mail the Society at flhs@eastlink.ca
1 PM: TBA.
4 PM: Second walking tour

* This is a tentative agenda that will change as more events become secured.

Book your rooms early to avoid disappointment, contact the Resort here : Oak Island Resort and Spa and scroll to the bottom on the left hand side. Special rates and package prices are listed there.

Sweet Grass Ceremony:

Conducted by Mi’Kmaw elder Ellen Hunt, the Sweet Grass ceremony will cleanse & purify the land. You will be taught the Sacredness Mi’kmaq Medicine, the four Direction Prayers and how we should respect the land and Nature. Smudging will be available for those who wish to receive it. Smudging a person cleanses them from negative forces around them. Following the Smudging, there will be drumming and singing.

She will conclude with a Sharing of Friendship Ceremony. Ellen wears traditional dress. As respect for women and in keeping with Mi’kmaq Culture, women can wear a skirt or dress.

The skirt can be worn over jeans or slacks during the ceremonies. Come and enjoy this special sharing event with our Mi’kmaq Friends. Its a golden opportunity to learn more about the history and culture of the First Nations in Nova Scotia.
It is a sharing of a culture that must be experienced at least once in your life. Book your spot now, call 903-275-3718 and ask for Danny or Yvonne Hennigar.

2 Comments »

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- 28 February 2008 at 1:40 am

First Nations said:

NEWS RELEASE

NEW READING OF MYSTERIOUS OAK ISLAND INSCRIPTION

Theory points to possible connection with nearby Birch Island

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia: Monday March 3rd, 2008 – -

For the past two centuries, the tunnels of Nova Scotia’s Oak Island have piqued the
imagination of historians and treasure hunters alike. Now, a new theory by First
Nations researcher Keith Ranville may add fresh speculation to the mystery. Based
on a unique reading of an inscription once found in the “Money Pit,” Mr. Ranville believes
that the answer to the riddle may be found on nearby Birch Island.

Oak Island, located on the scenic Mahone Bay about an hour’s drive south of the provincial
capital of Halifax, has been associated with buried treasure since the late 18th
century. Local settlers reportedly found a ship’s tackle block hanging from a tree br
anch, overhanging a large depression in the ground. Early efforts to dig down failed
when the diggers encountered layers of timber every 10 feet. In the ensuing generations,
several organized excavation attempts have drilled down nearly 200 feet, en route
encountering some artifacts within the staggered layers of logs, clay, putty, charcoal,
flagstones and most perplexingly, coconut husks. Among the scores of enthusiastic
treasure hunters was a young Franklin Roosevelt, one of the investors in a 1909
excavation attempt.

During the earlier diggings of 1800’s, the tunnel had become flooded by seawater
– which many believed was the result booby trap being sprung – thus complicating
further digging since then. A drilling effort in the mid 1800’s was said to have
uncovered fragments of a gold chain. In 1971, a camera was lowered into the pit and reportedly
captured images of wooden chests and human remains.

One of the most fascinating artifacts from the pit was said to be a flat stone recovered
at the 90 foot depth, carrying a mysterious inscription. A fragment of stone with
similar symbols was found nearby in Smith’s Cove in the 1930’s. The stone tablet
itself has gone missing, but a record of its symbols remains. Until now, the consensus
is that the symbols are a code translated as “forty feet below two million pounds
are buried.” However, Keith Ranville’s theory offers a different interpretation as
to the stone’s symbols, which could lead to a new explanation of the Oak Island mystery.

“I believe these symbols have been incorrectly assumed to stand for something else.
In the First Nations tradition that I’m a part of, we believe symbols should simply
be looked at in and of themselves, rather than thinking of them as codes that have
to be cracked,” Mr. Ranville explained. “In the pictograms of Cree Salavics, for example,
the images are meant to be descriptive, not abstract.” Using this approach, Mr. Ranville
examined the Oak Island symbols and found what may be a set of instructions about a tunnel system
involving both Oak Island and nearby Birch Island.

For example, the stone inscription begins with a triangle symbol, which is repeated
throughout. Mr. Ranville believes that this represents nearby Birch Island, which
has a distinctly triangular clearing on its north shore. Likewise, a symbol showing
a circle divided into two hemispheres can be thought of as representing north/south
directional markers. A series of dots in singles, pairs and triplets may be quantitative
symbols.

Examining all the symbols in this way, Mr. Ranville believes that the symbols on
the Money Pit’s stone tablet are actually technical instructions describing the location
and layout of a possible underground network involving both Oak Island and Birch
Island. “There was a fragment of another stone tablet that was found on Oak Island’s
Smith Cove in the 1930’s,” Mr. Ranville explained. “It too has these types of symbols,
but one in particular appears to be a Greek symbol designating ‘underwater door’. In
conjunction with the other symbols, I believe this points to underwater doors and
additional shafts on Birch Island itself.” Smith’s Cove is on the part of Oak Island
that is closest to Birch Island, and is said to have yielded several artifacts i
tself over the years.

“Based on the inscribed symbols, I think we should be looking at Oak Island and Birch
Island together in order to solve the mystery. If Birch Island proves to have underwater
doors and tunnels around its triangular clearing, then it would be a huge step f
orward in our understanding of what Oak Island is all about.”

There have been many, occasionally bizarre, theories as to what the Oak Island tunnels
may contain: a Masonic vault containing the Holy Grail, Viking or Pirate booty, Inca
treasure, the French Royal Crown Jewels, payroll for colonial British soldiers or
even the secret writings of Francis Bacon. Mr. Ranville prefers not to speculate.
“Those are interesting and sometimes funny theories, but I’d rather just look at
the evidence that we do have, and go from there.”

Mr. Ranville is a self-taught researcher born in Manitoba. While living in Vancouver,
he became acquainted with the Oak Island mystery and began studying it. In October
2005, he relocated to Nova Scotia to further research and advance his theories on
the subject.

Both Oak Island and Birch Island are private property, and access must be sought
by permission of the landowners.

For More Information go to
http://oakislandmoneypitblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

- 3 March 2008 at 10:40 pm