The 90 foot stone... The evidence (or lack of)

[gazzahk]

This topic came up in another thread and I did some research. This excellent well documented article seems to support that the inscription on the stone that was translated was fake. https://www.oakislandcompendium.ca/...lost-90-foot-stone-part-2-in-a-special-series

Time line: Reported found in 1803

80 feet was a stone cut square, two feet long and about a foot thick, with several characters on it."

First public mention was 60 years later in 1863... That really makes you wonder right there if it ever really existed with clear inscription on it..

By then it was a rock in a chimney

“…and the eighty feet mark was a stone about two feet long, cut square, which is yet to be seen in the chimney of an old house near the pit.”

The next reference was 1864

"a flag stone about two feet long and one wide, with a number of rudely cut letters and figures upon it. They were in hopes the inscription would throw some valuable light on their search, but unfortunately they could not decipher it, as it was either too badly cut or did not appear to be in their own vernacular."

This report does not have a 'code' but a few 'rudely cut letters' to bad to decipher..

another reference from that time

At the time I saw the stone I noticed that there were some rudely cut letters, figures or characters upon it. I cannot recollect which, but they appear as if they had been scraped out by a blunt instrument, rather than cut with a sharp one.

This reference states the letters appear scraped out with a blunt instrument... Not the carefully carved inscription that appears later...

The first reported translation comes in 1893.. 90 years after the stone has been allegedly found

this was from

A Prospectus is published in Boston to attract investors for a new attempt on recovering the treasure.

“The 90 Foot mark was a flat stone, about three feet long and 16 inches wide. On it marks or characters had been cut. Afterwards it was placed in the jamb of a fireplace that Mr. Smith was building in his house, and while there was viewed by thousands of people. Many years afterwards, it was taken out of the chimney and taken to Halifax to have, if possible, the characters deciphered. On expert gave his reading of the inscriptions as follows: “Ten feet below are two million pounds buried.” We give this statement for what it is worth, but by no means claim that this is the correct interpretation. Apart from this however, the fact remains that the history and description of the stone as given above has never been disputed.”

The size of the stone has now changed.. It has grown by 1 foot.. This report now has clear marked characters cut..

By 1909 the next reports all have the engravings worn away

By 1911 there is already people claiming it was a fake

“I have seen the rock found in the Money Pit, which is now in Creighton’s bookbindery in Halifax.” —Page 20

“While in Halifax we examined the stone found in the Money Pit, the characters on which were supposed to mean: “Ten feet below two million pounds lie buried.” The rock is of a basalt type hard and fine-grained.” —Page 20

“Sixth — There never were any characters on the rock found in the Money Pit. Because: (a) The rock, being hard, they could not wear off. (b) There are a few scratches, etc., made by Creighton’s employees, as they acknowledged, but there is not, and never was, a system of characters carved on the stone.” —Page 20

Thus it appears the only people that ever saw something that was capable of transcription found it on a different sized stone and were in the process of trying to raise money for a treasure search..

The evidence seems pretty convincing in my view the transcription was a fake....

Does make you wonder why the Laginas never did some basic research before embarking on their treasure search.... All they did was send there kid to the old shop where it hadn't been seen in over 100 years...

 

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[etex]

If I remember right the kid did look in the buildings basement for it, kind of like PeeWee Herman looking for the basement of the Alamo to find his bicycle.

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

I have always posted that the "90 foot stone" was a fake. It was created to draw attention away from the templar vault on Mount Saint Helens....

 

[gazzahk]

I have always posted that the "90 foot stone" was a fake.....

I now completely agree with you. The alleged translation came from a different stone... Did no one investigate the history before embarking on the search?

I suppose it is much easier to do research now. But without the stone the only even "alleged" evidence of the actual pit is the wood planks every 10 meters.. That is pretty small evidence of treasure to waste money and your life on...

Before taking an active interest in OI (Thanks Laginas) I used to think the "flood tunnels, the 90ft stone, oak platforms every 10ft, Chapels vault, evidence of manmade cavities below 190 foot" proved that something like treasure was there…

I have now learned: There never was any flood tunnels. The 90 foot stone did not have a coded inscription on it. There is little/no evidence that oak platforms existed every 10 ft. Chapels vault does not exist and the cavities below 170+ foot are natural and linked to the ocean..

How did people EVER believe a treasure was buried there? How did people believe the false story about the 90 foot stone?

It is quite stunning really…

 

[n2mini]

I admit I have not read the link in the 1st post. but, by the looks of all the quotes how are we to know what is the truth and what is not. there are quotes of people saying they have seen it in the store, but no quotes saying they ever said they were personally lying.. who saw it at the store and who is claiming it to never having been there in that quote?

“I have seen the rock found in the Money Pit, which is now in Creighton’s bookbindery in Halifax.” —Page 20

“While in Halifax we examined the stone found in the Money Pit, the characters on which were supposed to mean: “Ten feet below two million pounds lie buried.” The rock is of a basalt type hard and fine-grained.” —Page 20

“Sixth — There never were any characters on the rock found in the Money Pit. Because: (a) The rock, being hard, they could not wear off. (b) There are a few scratches, etc., made by Creighton’s employees, as they acknowledged, but there is not, and never was, a system of characters carved on the stone.” —Page 20

 

[b3y0nd3r]

Without hard evidence we can't prove either way what the truth is. I have heard that the 90 foot stone was in possession of a certain family and that they were negotiating with the Laginas, That was two years ago.

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

Without hard evidence we can't prove either way what the truth is. I have heard that the 90 foot stone was in possession of a certain family and that they were negotiating with the Laginas, That was two years ago.

They want their piece of the advertising dollars as well for producing fake artifacts...

 

[gazzahk]

I admit I have not read the link in the 1st post. but, by the looks of all the quotes how are we to know what is the truth and what is not. there are quotes of people saying they have seen it in the store, but no quotes saying they ever said they were personally lying.. who saw it at the store and who is claiming it to never having been there in that quote?

“I have seen the rock found in the Money Pit, which is now in Creighton’s bookbindery in Halifax.” —Page 20

“While in Halifax we examined the stone found in the Money Pit, the characters on which were supposed to mean: “Ten feet below two million pounds lie buried.” The rock is of a basalt type hard and fine-grained.” —Page 20

“Sixth — There never were any characters on the rock found in the Money Pit. Because: (a) The rock, being hard, they could not wear off. (b) There are a few scratches, etc., made by Creighton’s employees, as they acknowledged, but there is not, and never was, a system of characters carved on the stone.” —Page 20

I recommend reading the article. It is well researched and referenced. The people that run that website do an excellent job of researching and documenting their research.

It is very difficult not to conclude the stone with the coded writings that was translated does not fit with the earlier documented reports of the stone.

No one even bothered to write about for the first 60 years. It was used for a chimney because it was not though significant or important. If there was an obvious code that was on a stone that was pulled out of the pit at 90ft who would of thought that not significant or important.

Thus it was used for a building stone by a treasure searcher. Its pretty hard to believe this would be the case if there was a clearly readable code.

The first reference to such a code was in a prospectus to attract investors and the stone had changed size.... Really only one conclusion can be drawn

 

[ECS]

...
No one even bothered to write about for the first 60 years.
It was used for a chimney because it was not though significant or important.
If there was an obvious code that was on a stone that was pulled out of the pit at 90ft who would of thought that not significant or important.

Thus it was used for a building stone by a treasure searcher.
Its pretty hard to believe this would be the case if there was a clearly readable code.

The first reference to such a code was in a prospectus to attract investors and the stone had changed size...

Used as a chimney for blowing smoke and then in a prospectus for a similar purpose-'nuff said.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I have always posted that the "90 foot stone" was a fake. It was created to draw attention away from the templar vault on Mount Saint Helens....

If you're making fun of me, I don't appreciate it. Here is what I emailed to the President:

Dear sir,

My name is Dave Rishar and I've discovered a Templar treasure vault in SW Washington. I've spent numerous hours on Youtube and blogs verifying this information. Inside this vault, they've hidden the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, Bigfoot, possibly a UFO, and enough gold to pay for the wall. You want the wall, right? Here's how we pay for it. The only problem is the so-called "lava rock" blocking the entrance. I've got some people with demolition tools ready to go, so give me the word and we'll make lava tubes great again!

Respectfully,

Dave Rishar

And here's what he sent back to me:

Dave,

YOU'RE FIRED!

- The Don

And this is what the National Park Service sent me:

Mr. Rishar,

You are hereby ordered to remain at least 500 feet from the Ape Cave. Violating this order will result in your being trespassed from the premises. This order stands until further notice.

IT'S A COVERUP! THEY'RE SUPPRESSING THE TRUTH! THAT'S WHY THEY CLOSED THE ROAD, THEY KNEW I WAS COMING! (And also, several feet of snow.) BUT THEY CAN'T STOP ME!

But in all seriousness, our jokes cannot be connected. The 70/80/90 foot stone story has been around for well over a century, but the Ape Cave was not discovered until after WWII. Or was it?​

 

[gazzahk]

Here is actual photographic evidence of the pit being dug and the 90 foot stone being deposited...

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

Let’s see, stone with cryptic writing is found in a treasure hunt......secret code on stone said to lead to vast templar/shakespheare/aztec/Crown Jewels/fill in the blank treasure potentially worth billions in dollars while being one of the most important archeological finds in history. Yet it ends up being used as a foundation or chimney stone in a building somewhere. Hmmmm.....I’m still going with the, “it was a fake created by the digging company to milk more money out of investors theory”.

On another note, if all the fictional writings of amundson as well as others several members here tout to be authentic, where is the stone mentioned in the writings along with the exact same characters on the stone shown in the writings?

 

[HIO]

First Known Depiction of the 90 Foot Stone



Pirate Gold: The Buried Treasure of Mahone Bay
By: Walter Noble Burns
Illustration by: G. P. Carruthers
Year Published: 1920

 

[Mike Mercury]

kind of like PeeWee Herman looking for the basement of the Alamo to find his bicycle.

 

[Eldo]

Lets assume that the numerous old pictures of the stone itself that are around, as well as the copy that was made by the professor are at least basis for reality.

Don't just disappear this stone because you cannot solve the puzzle....it is quite literal and formed using a single ciphertext that is used to be converted through a number of Bacon's signature decryption methods. Except being his favorite subject IMO he was careful enough to warn you as well as describe the rest of the mystery surrounding the treasure's whereabouts by offering you a multi-layered cipher to decode.

It was said that Roosevelt was on the island and his family has the stone to this day.

This was a fantastic moment in my life honestly and one I will never forget....one night ...4 hours decoding the cipher on this stone, using the instructions of the Bible and Shakespeare to guide the break.

Here's another one of the original stone

So all of the hooplah around it must be real

The stone held a series of breakdowns...not just one but a compounding use of different techniques needed to break all of them.

1) Using English you got a single null in the beginning to tell you it was a fake lure.....FFORTY FEET BELOW TWO MILLION POUNDS ARE BURIED is a ffarce of a solve...signed with the Double F of the Old English usage from Francis Bacon's timeframe
2) Using the Portuguese Wheel you came up with something that told you to shove corn husks in the hole to stop the flooding of the chamber from a side channel
3) The mistakes of this Portuguese Wheel Cipher are then corrected, and using the corrections on their own form the phrase AN OCEAN QUAGMIRE meaning the pit has a tie to the ocean in some fashion as a riddle or mystery
4) My solve in the pic above TESORO ALLA TIENE UNO HALLADO NUEVO(S) DEL BIBLIO....meaning TREASURE THERE HAS A NEW DISCOVERY OF THE BIBLE.....the use of THERE in Spanish is significant as they are specific in its use.
AQUI = Here, ALLA = There, AQUELL = Over There, or A Great Distance Away
5) The final solve of the stone cipher is a drawn image of a rose compass shape that is used to point you in the right direction when you get to the next location......the use of the symbols instruct you in how to draw the shapes on paper and the placement is used on the map of the area once you completed the rest of the steps

Next was the Keystone....it had the word HOP on it....in HOPE that you would HOP to the East

H + O
P -->

Pretty easy to see when there was a series of 3 rocks....two with sighting rod holes in them in straight line from the Money Pit to the 3rd....a domed rock in the water.....pointed in a straight line you got to find one of the other fine treasures of their order and it was even winking at you with an alchemaic symbol on the face in place of the Eagle's Eye

There is a ton of evidence there as well showing a path and pieces that were intended to be fit together

 

[Singlestack Wonder]

LOL.....the person promoting the fake, “ I found a Templar vault” story with photoshopped images is now promoting the fake 90 foot stone carved by previous hoaxers in an attempt to gain more investor money.

If the 90 foot stone was real and contained clues to a vast treasure why was it thrown away after investor money stopped coming in.

Unbelievable that folks keep promoting this nonsense.

 

[n2mini]

Just playing devils advocate here.. If the stone is/was real how long did you really think anyone was ever going to keep it.. It got passed around, some believed in it some didn't I'd imagine as now. It ended up somewhere and sat and as the story didn't get told for years and the person who had it died, family or whoever came in didn't know what it was and tossed it out as an ole rock... If no one thought to document the exact spot of the MP, I see no reason to believe they'd keep the rock for 100's of years either... assuming it was real to begin with..

 

[gazzahk]

What I find most amazing is how the legend has grown out of so little actual evidence. The "Stone" was first reported with a few shallow scratches and then become a decipherable code ninety years later... There is no actual evidence of anyone ever seeing the code that Eldo displayed in the pics on the previous page. That code just came from a newspaper report. No first hand account of that particular code on the "alleged" stone has ever been found.

I suppose that given this "alleged stone" is really the only ever offered evidence that man had dug to 90 foot deep is behind the ongoing legend.

Eldo is not the only one being "loose with the truth" regarding the stone. The Laginas pretense of finding the stone in the Basement of the bookstore even though it was widely known/reported/discussed they had purchased that piece of rock from a private collector is just one more example of people making things up about the stone without it there is nothing to support humans dug down 90+ feet before treasure searchers started digging their holes...

Oak Island continues to not only be a fascinating story of treasure hunting but also a great story of people twisting the truth to support their narrative and raise interest in funding their endeavours...

I suppose that is just human nature to tell lies when the truth does not get us what we want...

 

[KANACKI]

What I find most amazing is how the legend has grown out of so little actual evidence. The "Stone" was first reported with a few shallow scratches and then become a decipherable code ninety years later... There is no actual evidence of anyone ever seeing the code that Eldo displayed in the pics on the previous page. That code just came from a newspaper report. No first hand account of that particular code on the "alleged" stone has ever been found.

I suppose that given this "alleged stone" is really the only ever offered evidence that man had dug to 90 foot deep is behind the ongoing legend.

Eldo is not the only one being "loose with the truth" regarding the stone. The Laginas pretense of finding the stone in the Basement of the bookstore even though it was widely known/reported/discussed they had purchased that piece of rock from a private collector is just one more example of people making things up about the stone without it there is nothing to support humans dug down 90+ feet before treasure searchers started digging their holes...

Oak Island continues to not only be a fascinating story of treasure hunting but also a great story of people twisting the truth to support their narrative and raise interest in funding their endeavours...

I suppose that is just human nature to tell lies when the truth does not get us what we want...

Excellent post amigo.

Oak Island continues to not only be a fascinating story of treasure hunting but also a great story of people twisting the truth to support their narrative and raise interest in funding their endeavours...

That cannot be said any better.


kanacki

 

[AcuteEnigma]

I believe, if there was a "90-foot stone", that it relayed the message "Don't dig any deeper or you will hit water." lol