The
other day, as I was cruising through the various news feeds, I saw a story that
mentioned that the Lagina boys had solved the mystery of Oak Island. It was
another story saying the same things that had been said before with no real
information in it. Besides, we here have already found the true solution. Joy
Steele, in her book told us exactly what had been happened on Oak Island. You
can read that information here:
and
here:
And,
for good measure, I interviewed her on my radio show/podcast, so you can hear
her talk about her theory here:
For
those who want the short version, Steele basically suggested that during the 18th
century, the British had built some sort of ship repair facility on Oak Island.
There is nothing that the Laginas have found that would negate that theory.
Everything they have uncovered in the last two years of the show support that
idea. The remains of buildings and piers suggest just that sort of thing. The
surface debris, the coins, the nails and everything else suggest that. It also
suggests a long occupation on the island by the British. Had it been used to
hide a treasure, that occupation would have been of much shorter duration.
One of the Lagina boys. |
Sure,
you can say that the pirates, the Knights Templar, or whoever hide the treasure
came back to claim it only to find the British on the island in such numbers
that they had to give up on retrieving the treasure. But then, I would say that
nothing found there by all those treasure hunters suggests a treasure was ever
buried there.
And
remember, there were stories of “strange” lights on the island in the years
prior to the boys beginning their quest for treasure in 1795. But by that time,
with better and more “modern” repair and port facilities up and down the coast,
Oak Island became irrelevant. It was clearly abandoned before 1795.
Joy Steele |
I
believe that deep down the Laginas and many of those in the production company
know this absolute truth. Their job isn’t really finding a treasure but in making
a TV show, which is quite popular, and you say is a source of treasure. If the
ratings begin to slip, then I suspect they will begin to shift the emphasis
from a search for the treasure to creating a historical context for what has
been found on the island. That might be more interesting but I do wonder if the
revenue from the TV show covers all the expenses of the search.
I
just tune in now and again to see what they are doing, but see nothing to
suggest that there is a treasure. There is much evidence that the search for a
treasure that has lasted for centuries without much in the way of results. Most
of what they find deep underground can be explained by all those searches and
not someone trying to hide a treasure more than a hundred feet underground. If
you think about it, this doesn’t make much sense. Modern technology is having a
tough time… just think about how hard it would have been more than two
centuries ago with picks and shovels.
All
this makes me rather sad. I had hoped there was a treasure and that they would
find it. As I have said, I’ve been interested in Oak Island for more years than
I care to admit. But, on the bright side, we do have answer and that can’t be
all bad.
That's it, Kevin. We don't need to like the answer, it's still great to have one. Some of my favourite former beliefs, (before I read the online 'Skeptics Dictionary' from cover to cover), have been shown quite wayward from what the good evidence points towards. But that's part of the beauty of skepticism isn't it? Sometimes we learn different from what we would prefer to believe. Sometimes we learn that new tecniques have not come closer to explaining an old mystery and we can still entertain our favourite magical theories, no?
ReplyDeleteK Randle..."Besides, we here have already found the true solution."
ReplyDeleteNot exactly. Joy Steele comes up with a vaguely feasible theory...not a solution.
Britain's Royal and Merchant Navy fleets have always been meticulous record keepers, well before the 18th Century.
If there was some kind of "ship repair facility" on Oak Island, then I'd expect it to be logged somewhere. Unless, the English, at the time, knew Oak Island by a different name, and a repair dock or pontoon is recorded under that other name...and researchers have simply been looking in the wrong file.
(And yes...I'm clutching at straws here.)