There may or may not be buried treasure or even a curse on Oak Island, but one thing is certain: the History Channel hit reality show The Curse of Oak Island is a magnificent vehicle for teaching history. As Northern Michigan brothers Rick (from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) and Marty Lagina (lives in Traverse City, Michigan) struggle to solve the mystery of what, if anything, is buried under this island off the coast of Nova Scotia, they bring viewers up close and personal with a much deeper understanding of the history of North America than the ubiquitous stories of Columbus and the Pilgrims.
Pop up some popcorn, gather the kids and tune into these history lessons that are shrouded in enough mystery to keep them interesting. One caveat, however: Before go-time, give kids your own brief explanation of the history in the storyline so they will know what to listen for.
Let’s begin our Curse of Oak Island cheat-sheet with the dudes whose names have come up since the show’s beginning two years ago: The Knights Templar.
A quick Wiki search will explain how these knights organized to protect Christians making pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the Middle Ages. The knights, who dressed in white mantles with big red crosses on the front, were both awesome fighters and very good at amassing money—both through charitable donations to them and because they set up one of the earliest forms of banking by safeguarding the money and treasures of Christian pilgrims as they trekked through the Holy Land—at a price.Â
The Knights Templar were rich with money and treasure.
The Templars’ Jerusalem headquarters was in an former mosque that was believed to be built atop Solomon’s Temple—where legend has it that the Arc of the Covenant, Solomon’s Menorah and the Holy Grail were buried. If true, the knights may have been keepers of some of the most important artifacts of Biblical history.
The Knights Templar may have found the Arc of the Covenant, Solomon’s Menorah and the Holy Grail.Â
The Knights were a powerful force in Christendom for about two hundred years. After the Holy Land was lost to the Muslims, the Knights got in hot water with the Catholic Church and the King of France. In the early 1300s the king had many of them arrested and eventually burned at the stake.
But what happened to all of their money, treasures which may have included the Arc of the Covenant, Solomon’s Menorah and the Holy Grail?Â
Legend has it that a group of knights escaped with the Templar’s treasure to Scotland. From there, it came into the possession of the nobleman Henry St. Clair who another legend says explored Greenland and North America a century before Columbus sailed to the New World.
Did Henry St. Clair hide the treasures on Oak Island?
Watch these episodes of The Curse of Oak Island and decide for yourself! The Secrets of Solomon’s Temple (Season 1) and The Trail of the Templars (Season 2). These and all of the back episodes are available on history.com if you sign in with your TV provider.
But wait! The plot thickens: On another History Channel show, Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar, underwater explorer Barry Clifford and geologist Scott Wolter claim to have found Knights Templar treasure in the Indian Ocean!!! UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has weighed into the debate on that theory, however, saying not true for a number of reasons. Which sounds to us like the best contender so far for the Knights Templar treasure is Oak Island.
Could Northern Michigan bros Rick and Marty Lagina solve the mystery of the Knights Templar treasure?
Read More About The Lagina Brothers and The Curse of Oak Island:Â
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Q & A with Oak Island’s Marty Lagina & Craig Tester
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Oak Island Update: Q & A with Rick, Marty & Alex Lagina
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Oak Island Update Part 2: Q & A with Rick, Mary & Alex Lagina
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Curse of Oak Island, Season 3: Rick Lagina Interview
#2015 #Upper_Peninsula #Traverse_City #Oak_Island
Wow! This Joe Scales guy is a real dick. Loved every word you wrote. Not hard to follow at all.
When’s the fish fry?
Nice try Angelle.
How…was whatever it is constructed if it’s so difficult for us with all of our modern technology to reverse engineer it to solve the riddle???
It may be a hoax since all I have seen is compartments, alleged passageways, a few coins tossed. I honestly do not believe the Templers had custody of the ark of the covenant. I believe it is probably carefully buried in Israel. The Jewish people were clearly the only people who should be in possession of this treasure and gift from God to them. There may be some Templar treasures buried.
And Templar Pirate Treasure? That televised farce was disproven well before it aired. They tried to pass off a hunk of lead as silver treasure. Please. Do some real research before spreading this garbage and poisoning the well of knowledge. https://www.dw.com/en/unesco-discredits-explorers-madagascar-pirate-shipwreck-find/a-18584328
None of the above is “history”. Treasure on Oak Island is a hoax and has always been a hoax. It is wholly irresponsible to infer that young minds can learn from the lies, distortions and exaggerations brought to you by Prometheus Entertainment in the form of Curse of Oak Island. If you truly wish to learn the nature of this hoax, visit: https://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/index.shtml
If only the Laginas would dare feature Richard Joltes as a guest on their show to dispel this hoax.
Ask yourself not whether this is “real” or a “hoax” – and not whether a gold and silver was, is, or could be buried on this island.
The most valuable question to ask yourself is, why do you so desperately need to either beat down and dispel somebody else’s quest, or why do you dig …or follow?
There is real treasure in Oak Island, be it buried gold, tourism, or just the thrill of looking for old stuff, exploring stories real and imagined — or, for me, as a writer, finding myself inspired.
Knowing what I know of ancient trade routes, the ancestors of my ancestors may have played a role in what may have happened on Oak Island.
So, yes, that’s a lot of “may haves.” I’m the first to admit that I write Fiction, but man, that Island has taken me on a fun creative trip, and now, with their TV series, I get to see if any of what I imagined is either backed up or thought up by others. And I treasure that.
Gold or no gold, hoax or not, I would love to go there and walk that land, and shake hands with the brothers Lagina and the whole team.
You go for it guys!
As for the so-called hoax dispellers? What dreams do they inspire?
I love, also, the gilded zeal for ancient history that this Island unearths in those who then go read more. If that’s not a treasure, I don’t know what is.
So enjoy the mystery here or rappel into Sotano de Las Golondrinas and imagine what lies beneath the mounds of guano. Google your Earth. Sift your back yard and find 1800’s clay pipe stems, a possible Spanish cannonball. Read. Find treasure in people with curious minds who have the moxy to go look and keep digging. And all along the way, have fun.
Did you even venture to that site Angelle? Critical Enquiry? To do real research with citations rather than take the word of sensationalized television shows and the fantastical books upon which such speculation is based? Well then, I’ll try to summarize for you:
Do you know that there were absolutely no written accounts in regard to treasure on Oak Island until 1849? No diaries. No news reports. No books. 1849, a year responsible for untold number of hoaxes and treasure scams conceived to prey on those with gold fever. Did you know the original tale had those boys (who with further documentation will tell you were men at the time) finding only tilled earth with flag stones underneath. Later came the add-on of pick marks found at ten feet with wooden planks. A later generation added wooden planks at every ten feet with the fabled treasure stone down at 90 feet. Yet no one thought to photograph this stone, or even trace the mysterious markings. When did they show up, you might ask? Around 1949, in a book entirely based upon hearsay, that’s when you first see those markings. So this tale has evolved greatly.
Getting skeptical yet Angelle? Well, how about those flood tunnels. Nevermind that the Windsor Formation and naturally occurring pockets within the sandstone would more easily explain why water is struck at deeper depths. No, let’s go with flood tunnels that have lasted more than two centuries, when metal pipes beneath our cities couldn’t last a fraction of that time… and without the added corrosion of salt water to boot. But if simple geology won’t sway you, and the knowledge that each and every scientific evaluation dating back over a hundred and fifty years (yes, they had geologists and engineers then too) has dispelled flood tunnels, you still think that someone would sink the world’s greatest treasure on Oak Island… and then leave a tackle block hanging over it.
Brilliant.
Well, actually, yes, I have done all the scientific research – long before there was some dull, angry website to spoon-feed their special dispellations to those desiring instant disillusionment. That research was fun, but not nearly as much fun.
You missed the point entirely.
Look how much fun you had taking as much time as you did to reply to this? Now see? THAT’s a treasure
…and really quite entertaining in its own light.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. My advice to you (repeated only because you must be very young and idealistic indeed), is to spend more of your lifetime out in the beautiful real world, either seeking out and researching long-forgotten tales with more promise for you, or digging and finding your own treasure than on the effort of disillusioning others from theirs (or trying to).
The brothers Lagina have found the real treasure in this island in the hearts of those who want to believe and in those intent on disproving everything.
It’s a delightful nugget of human nature, and a business model to be studied by those destined to make far more money than any of us jibbering on an Internet site comments board. All of this, for me, a tickling new line of inspiration that stands holding the fort whilst I while my time in some tedious bureaucratic permit line, far from my computer and a decent moment of peace with my muse.
Oak Island thrills and enlivens the imagination whether it holds treasure or not.
My stories work whether Oak Island holds treasure or not. How ’bout yours?
(Hint: I don’t really need to know. Seriously, I’m older, and I know I’m wasting time, but you don’t. Go dig something. Use your skillful scientific discernment to direct you to something worth investing your life into. And if your “into” gets “onto” something, come back and learn how to fund it by watching the Laginas, because the well of typical grants for research and digging like this? Not anywhere near as deep or “easy” to access as 10x.)
If you do find something, come back here and enthuse us. Have fun…I have triplicate to go sign. Would rather be out in the fresh air, digging on Oak Island, or hanging around here, teaching pigs to sing…)
So you don’t counter any arguments of mine, present any evidence nor see the obvious nature of the hoax. Instead you embrace fallacy and make personal assumptions which belie your lack of both intuition and reason. Well then, did you also know the Laginas bought into “Oak Island Tourism, Inc.” well before the television show took off. Marty Lagina is an engineer, attorney and millionaire. There is no way he bought into this without having read Dunfield’s geological report and those that came before him. There is no factual, historical or rational justification to even believe Oak Island would have any sort of treasure to begin with. In the end, when ratings fail due to lack of concrete evidence, the brothers will pat themselves on the back for a job well done; but alas, the Curse beat them too. Then they’ll open up a resort…
Precisely. To great profit.
And look at all the fun they had doing it!
Look, Honey, no matter how many studies have been done, there will always be those who will swear it’s possible because of such n such, and those who won’t believe until someone actually goes and looks.
That’s called a niche.
There’s a reason the brothers are (or remain) millionaires – because they have figured out how to give paying customers what they want.
In this case, full action, living color “closure,” which is something that, for a vast population of folks, for various reasons, documents don’t do.
The other audience they cater to are the fiercely zealotous naysayers, like yourself, very full of all the facts, and rabid with desire to rid all the patently pedestrian ignoramii of their beloved delusions.
This, of course, rallies the lovers of dreams; and wherever the two collide, the static crack of electric banter amplifies the firestorm and – whether you delight in it or not – brews even more powerful (and marketable) entertainment.
Which drums up more popularity and profit.
And you thought all this treasure hunting was a farce!
So…do you actually go digging in the real world yourself? Even just field walking after a good rain? Have you ever delighted in panning for gold in impossible odds? Sought out local legends? Followed a hunch and unearthed a trove of cast away bottles in a long-since-grown over, tilled under, paved atop and forgotten 100-year-old outhouse?
This coming summer, I’ll again be on the trail of my own unlikely treasures.
Good luck with whatever you’ll be doing. Or not doing.
I’m away, there’s a legendary monster fish begging my attention.
You’ll never catch it.
I don’t see what they are doing as a hoax. “Hoax” implies willfully and knowingly deceiving people.
I see them simply exploring, as a tv drama, in an adventurous and at least self-sufficient, possibly lucrative way, all of the possibilities that have been proposed over the years.
I see Oak Island as a thing that captured the imagination of generations of folks.
Have there been hoaxers involved over the years? Yes. Their own show has explored more than one of these.
Have there been false hopes stoked by the desperations of people who could not afford to be wrong? They’ve explored these, also.
Of course they knew going in, about all the reports. But where’s the fun in that? People want to explore, want to really see for themselves – otherwise, “Ya know, those reports coulda been planted by people with an eye on the treasure. Even maybe a government coverup!”
I see the Laginas as exploring all of the things people have proposed over the years that have become part of the mystique, the popular culture of Oak Island.
As for you and your reading comprehension issues, don’t feel so bad.
I wasn’t aiming for clarity. There’s nothing more tedious than writing that can only be interpreted one way.
As for my fish?
I did, indeed, hook it – reeled it in to the shallows after a very long battle (and judicious use of webbing, hardware, and a solidly stationed pipe that sticks up out of the ground on the shore), but, of course, came unhooked. It was bigger than I am by at least two feet, and I really don’t care if you believe me. It was magnificent!
Wouldn’t have been able to get a trophy selfie, anyway. I dropped my phone when the beast hooked; kicked it in as I got yanked forward. It was in a zip bag that caught in a current which carried it into the tangle of bushes on the bank, and I was two hours finding it.
(Should have only taken 1/2 hour, but I was soaked and that icy water sent me back to my car to warm up twice.)
Was worth it, though. Not only found my phone, but an old bottle – gorgeous crisling on it. There’s a mark on the bottom I’ll have to look up at the museum sometime
…unless they’ve put all that on line…?
Hmmm…
Sorry. Missed your postscript. I also enjoy the television show, but for its unintended humor. A serious concern however, is the poisoning of the well of knowledge with such trite, and that the production company hosts guests that seek to bilk the undiscerning public for this continued fraud. For this I implore others who might come across this to do their own research.
I do appreciate your agreement with me as to the nature of the hoax, if that truly is the case. Perhaps if you were a better writer, your intent would be more clear. I could advise you in this regard, having studied with some of the best some time ago.
I don’t see what they are doing as a hoax. “Hoax” implies willfully and knowingly deceiving people.
I see them simply exploring, as a tv drama, in an adventurous and at least self-sufficient, possibly lucrative way, all of the possibilities that have been proposed over the years.
I see Oak Island as a thing that captured the imagination of generations of folks.
Have there been hoaxers involved over the years? Yes. Their own show has explored more than one of these.
Have there been false hopes stoked by the desperations of people who could not afford to be wrong? They’ve explored these, also.
Of course they knew, going in, about all the reports. But where’s the fun in that? People want to explore, want to really see for themselves, otherwise, ya know…”those reports coulda been planted by people with an eye on the treasure. Even maybe a government coverup!”
I see the Laginas as exploring all of the things people have proposed over the years that have become part of the mystique, the popular culture of Oak Island.
As for you and your reading comprehension issues, don’t feel so bad.
I wasn’t aiming for clarity. There’s nothing more tedious than writing that can only be interpreted one way.
As for my fish?
I did, indeed, hook it – reeled it in to the shallows after a very long battle (and judicious use of a pipe that sticks up out of the ground on the shore), but it came unhooked. It was bigger than I am by at least two feet, and I really don’t care if you believe me. It was magnificent!
Wouldn’t have been able to get a trophy selfie, anyway. I dropped my phone when the beast hooked; kicked it in as I got yanked forward. It was in a zip bag that caught in a current which carried it into the tangle of bushes on the bank, and I was two hours finding it.
(Should have only taken 1/2 hour, but I was soaked and that icy water sent me back to my car to warm up twice.
Was worth it, though. Not only found my phone, but an old bottle – gorgeous crisling on it. There’s a mark on the bottom I’ll have to look up at the museum sometime
…unless they’ve put all that on line…?
Hmmm…
P.S. I love watching Oak Island, and wish I could do coffee (or tea) with the Lagina brothers to tell them how much I have enjoed their series. Period. Full stop. I don’t have to counter what you’re saying with facts, I’m a fiction writer. Besides which, I agreed with you, but you were far too busy being contrary to notice or comprehend my points. Of course, right now, I’m toying with you whilst waiting for my fish to bite. I can see him…all 7 feet of him, dark shadow in the shadows contemplating the foetid pig head I tossed down.
It occurs to me, watching my fish, and “realing” you in, we’re predators, all of us treasure enthusiasts – hyped up on the thrill of the hunt. To outsiders, just what prey tells a lot, and is often not what one would guess by our baiting because Treasure is always a mind game: you cannot separate it from what a person values most, and that can be multifaceted. Like the tiny true diamond (was checked) that my brother once found in the gravel in the street at a bus stop. I treasure it more because he found it, more still because he has passed on, and even more because in life, he didn’t give it to me (even though I whined), but I found it again in his things. The imp in me plucking it up like a win, knowing full well his grown up self would want me to have it; my grown up self, wishing he were round & about to argue over it some more. And yet deeper, in some far off African land, others went to great lengths to wrench it from the earth and cut all those facets into it. Who knows what perils surrounded its journey here – or into the sandy detritus by our feet; what larger gems we overlooked in its gleam?