The Mystery of the Oak Island Treasure: Two Hundred Years of Hope and Despair

Clint MacNeil teaches history, geography, and world religion at St.
Charles College in Sudbury.

In just one sentence Mark Reynolds poignantly articulates the bitter
reality faced by every treasure hunter who graced the island’s shores:
“ If the history of Oak Island showed anything, it was that searchers
were never so far from the treasure as when they thought they were on
the verge of success.”

Located in Nova Scotia’s Mahone Bay, the unassuming Oak Island
captured people’s imaginations for nearly two centuries. In 1795,
three teenagers discovered a depression in the ground that would later
become the infamous “Money Pit.” Hanged for murder and piracy in
1701, Captain William Kidd was said to have buried his treasure on an
island east of Boston. Spurred by the legend of Kidd’s treasure, the
teens eagerly excavated the site and found nothing. In the following
years, Oak Island attracted prospective treasure hunters ranging from
circus performers to Franklin Roosevelt.

As early as 1802, investors poured funds and dreams into the venture,
only to be met with disappointment. Engineers believed that the Money
Pit was “booby-trapped” because it continuously filled with water
due to an underground flood tunnel believed to be linked to Smith’s
Cove. No fewer than two dozen shafts were excavated: some filled with
water, while others simply collapsed. Some feared that the island was
cursed, a claim bolstered by the deaths of six treasure hunters over the
years. Neither dynamite nor divination was able to unearth Kidd’s
treasure. Beyond a stone with a strange inscription and a small
parchment, nothing substantial was discovered. The treasure of Oak
Island remains a mystery.

Reynolds’s engaging work highlights a piece of Canada’s past that
is sure to intrigue future generations.