Did a Sawpit start the Legend?

[Armchair detective]

Another
Page 3, "Borehole C", #4
"Machinery sent from New York, and from Halifax..." 1909

So the bottom line is no one has any sources that will "testify" to events between 1795 and say 1840 other than newspapers of about 1850? relating recollections from a suspect source.

Gloom. Had my hopes up there for a bit.

Got four stories about the ownership of the MP lot (John Smith bought it 1795, John Smith's father John Smith bought it 1795,
John Smith leased it for Onslow co, John Smith bought it 1809. Which story is true can be determined through the research.

The existence of the Onslow co can maybe be proven through government records.

Genealogy records show the existence of the players in this story.

Can you think of any other resources to try?

Think a teardown of the legend and a rebuilding of the history.

 

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[SSR]

Another
Page 3, "Borehole C", #4
"Machinery sent from New York, and from Halifax..." 1909

So the bottom line is no one has any sources that will "testify" to events between 1795 and say 1840 other than newspapers of about 1850? relating recollections from a suspect source.

Gloom. Had my hopes up there for a bit.

Got four stories about the ownership of the MP lot (John Smith bought it 1795, John Smith's father John Smith bought it 1795,
John Smith leased it for Onslow co, John Smith bought it 1809. Which story is true can be determined through the research.

The existence of the Onslow co can maybe be proven through government records.

Genealogy records show the existence of the players in this story.

Can you think of any other resources to try?

Think a teardown of the legend and a rebuilding of the history.

John Smith's father was named Duncan Smith. He died ca. 1784. John's mother married another man, Neil McMullen, and they lived on lot 11. They subsequently purchased lots 9,10 and 17. John Smith (the man in question) was born in 1775. He acquired lot 18 in 1795 (age 20) from Casper Wollenhaupt, a Lunenburg textile merchant who owned the business end of that island (Smith's cove area). This land was immediately adjacent to the family lots. There's no magical jaunt to an island with 2 other boys where they discovered some depression under a tree. That's a detail from another story.

There aren't any records of the alleged early company. None have ever surfaced or been produced.

 

[Armchair detective]

Nah, you see the answer lies not in what you are being told now or the version of the story as it is given now ; it is in what is NOT being said now to steer you away from learning of the existence of the 'mystery ending' secret, which was never actually a secret in the first place.

In the late 18th century there was copies of a Spanish origin 'treasure map' in circulation amongst the maritime types. Some thought it showed Oak Island some thought it showed some other island (many islands have similar geography and features).

Those who did went to search Oak Island. Those who didn't went and searched whatever other island they thought the map was showing. There were other islands searched in the region of Oak Island using copies of the same treasure map but you are steered away from learning about these also.

Smith, Mcginnis and Vaughn were given a copy of the 'treasure map' that others had been trying on Oak Island already and went to have a go themselves. They just went back to the previous excavation site that map seemed to mark: you didn't work out that the block and rope they saw in the cleared depression was them just at the site of the prior attempt? That's why this detail appears to be anomalous in the story now as it meant that what happened there was recent. This anomaly doesn't stop though the rather silly speculation the treasure was put there by the Vikings or the Romans or the Templars (or Bacon) sometime long ago,

All you need to do is ask Doug Crowell from the show, not that they are allowed to talk about it at the moment or raise the subject now when outside ears are around. Next time you visit the Museum/Interpretation Centre there ask why there is no mention of all the searchers using a treasure map: you will be told no such records exist.

If you haven't worked it out those appearing on the show with some theory are selected to appear not because of what they know, they are vetted and then allowed to appear due to what they don't know so they don't say things the team there doesn't want you to find out about.

There is an expedition that will be heading to Cocos Island March 2025 to search for the treasure there which I have been talking to. The bad news they had to find out about was the details and interpretative use of the copies of the 'treasure maps' there where found to have been used on Oak Island first. An early chart of Oak Island is drawn the same way older charts of Cocos Island are depicted: after finding no treasure on Oak someone had decided that their copy of the map might then be showing Cocos Island so off they went to search there: it's a right mess at the moment.

Your point that the oldest story is probably closest to the real story (i.e. map was the original reason for digging there) is well taken.
Some questions:
1. What are the dates and names of
newspapers you displayed?
Reason I ask is as time goes on, no one will be able to look at your sources without some identifying information.
2. Where did the idea of multiple maps.
come from?

Thank you for letting me see this information.

 

[Armchair detective]

John Smith's father was named Duncan Smith. He died ca. 1784. John's mother married another man, Neil McMullen, and they lived on lot 11. They subsequently purchased lots 9,10 and 17. John Smith (the man in question) was born in 1775. He acquired lot 18 in 1795 (age 20) from Casper Wollenhaupt, a Lunenburg textile merchant who owned the business end of that island (Smith's cove area). This land was immediately adjacent to the family lots. There's no magical jaunt to an island with 2 other boys where they discovered some depression under a tree. That's a detail from another story.

There aren't any records of the alleged early company. None have ever surfaced or been produced.

Thank you for your information.
Now to ponder what it all means.

 

[SSR]

Thank you for your information.
Now to ponder what it all means.

Can I suggest something based on what Haliburton wrote in and around 1847? He obviously knew something about the popular currents of this day from living in this period. At this time North America had just gone through a wild frenzy relating to a popular prognostication that was alleged to inform of the Second Coming of Christ in 1843. This had come out of the study of interpreted Biblically numerology and "clues" in the book of Daniel, among other places. An arithmetic had been produced and hotly debated. That, of course never occurred. The entire episode was called the Great Millerite Disappointment.

There exists the possibility that the OI story is just trying to exploit the same sort of Biblically inspired delusion using recognizable numerology. 1843, being what it was alleged to be, is 80 years after the settling there which started in 1763 with the arrival of the Planter settlers from Rhode Island. Smack dab in the middle of this period, 1803, is the alleged discovery of a stone. This divides the first 80 years of British colonial settlement there in two forty year periods (a parallel with the Israelites' story). The stone, if one bothers to read Reginal Harris' description of it, is rectangular and roughly 5:8 in dimension. On it there are 40 illegible characters in 8 groupings. It was later said to have been translated to read words to the effect that something (a great treasure) was 40 feet below. The discovery of a polished stone with illegible characters (associated with a shaft and a vault) happens to be a detail from a pre Christian era legend which treats such a stone as an omen for the end times. This makes this legend neatly fit into the popular End Times lore of the 1840s. The shaft associated with it is said to contain a vault that is unattainable (an allegorical suggestion). The shaft flooded when approached, and later would sink into the abyss when re-approached after being drained. This, surprisingly is also part of the unsubstantiated OI legend. To me that looks borrowed.

Additionally we eventually are given Nolan's cross which repeats the 5 by 8 proportion. On its stem there is a stone location that forms an angle of exactly 40 degrees with the "arm" end stones. This feature appears to relate very well to the surveying of 1762 that was produced by an individual who was associated with the first Masonic lodge in Nova Scotia present in the 40th regiment of foot. The 1762 survey date is 33 years prior the non-historical origin story of the "money pit". 33 in this context is a number which has a historically significant tradition of being a symbol of the ultimate mystery. For us, and in this case, we need to think of it as 3x3, three threes or 3^3=27. This, we get from the numeric mystery traditions (Chaldean and Pythagorean numerology which hold 9 as a symbol of the culmination of cycle). Nolan's Cross also gets presented to us in some aspect of the story telling as a pointer which is retelling the early 17th century folklore about the Northern Cross in Cygnus being the great celestial pointer that aligns with the Milky way (galactic plane). Cygnus' has traditionally been assigned the overall declination value of 40 degree N (an average value for the declination of its stars). As a pointer Nolan's Cross points via great circle to Jerusalem (if only approximately). That's an interesting sympathetic detail

As far as the pit dimensions are concerned those are also indicative of something that appears to be inspired. We are dealing with something that is given to us in "levels of 10". This, again, is the basis for a numerological treatment of decads (something that the Chaldeans exploited in their numbering which employed 10 digits ). At the 9h level we were given a stone which has the attribute of being an omen for the end of the cycle (of time). That is consistent with the numerological meaning of 9. Events are said to unfold when 111 feet in depth is reached in the pit which is 33 feet above sea level. Then, in what can only be seen as more of the same retelling of allegories, we are told that a vault is ultimately reached at 153 feet. Aside from being a most significant number symbolizing "plentifulness" in Biblical parlance, it is the number of occasions of 40 in early versions of the Bible. For the record, it is the most prolific number symbol used in the Bible. It is said represents a period of great change, tribulation or probation. Example of that are seen in Moses' life story (40 years in Egypt, 40 years leading the Israelites to the promised land, 40 years wandering), a great flood lasting 40 days, reappearance of God to his disciples 40 days after he died on the cross...It's always a period of time leading to period of "reward".

Haliburton noticed all this when it was developing. I suspect he smelled a Masonic rat. In his work that lampoons the Oak Island mystery the second chapter is titled: "How many fins has a cod? or Forty years ago". That's quite clever, because the cod has 8 fins and a "fin" is a popular expression for the number 5. Two (2) 40 year periods? Not to leave too much doubt as to his thinking about the relevance of the numbers used , the chapter he uses to focus on the OI story in this work is Chapter 9. It's called "the Hecke Thaler". HT, IMHO, is a slick allusion to Hiram of Tyre, the subject of much of the Masonic allegory). A thaler is of course a German silver coin. "Hecke" is a German word too, for bush, hedge or row of trees. This may strike us a pun about there being a treasure under a tree pointed to by alignments.

Anyway, not to repeat myself too much. Someone who was very interested in the shenanigans at OI bothered to write about it is a clever way to belittle it in the period it was happening. Halliburton also happened to know the men in question. As a NS judge he would have been quite aware of the suggestions of impropriety there surrounding the sale of shares to unsuspecting marks.

One has to be realistic about this story. It' s been embellished in so many recognizable ways. I would put much less emphasis on the modern speculations which try and evolve the story away from its decayed roots and concentrate on everything that doesn't compute historically and what matches known fictions.