OAK ISLAND

[Tom_in_CA]

Tom is like most everyone who already know the outcomes of the episodes and seasons without ever watching.

You mean the outcome of : They're not going to find anything. Then yes you're right : I know that.

And if any O.I. "faithful" disagree with that, then I have a friendly wager offer : Let's do a $100 bet. If the guys find treasure, I pay you $100. If they don't, then you pay me $100.

Thus, if the skeptic is SO wrong to be skeptical, then sure : Let's each put our $$ where our mouths are, eh ? What have ya got to lose, eh ?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.....

His admission was edited out for re-runs.

.....

I still distinctly remember as a kid going through my parents old back issues of Readers Digest. And finding the one, from the 1960s, that had the O.I. article . That article was MOST RESPONSIBLE for starting the modern hoopla ! And I distinctly recall being spellbound by it.

I mean, shucks, who can walk away from that article WITHOUT believing that a fabulous treasure HAS to be there. But shucks, just a little more to the left. A little more to the right. A little deeper.

 

[Cfmct]

I still distinctly remember as a kid going through my parents old back issues of Readers Digest. And finding the one, from the 1960s, that had the O.I. article . That article was MOST RESPONSIBLE for starting the modern hoopla ! And I distinctly recall being spellbound by it.

I mean, shucks, who can walk away from that article WITHOUT believing that a fabulous treasure HAS to be there. But shucks, just a little more to the left. A little more to the right. A little deeper.

Here you go Tom 1965.... https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/treasure-hunt/

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Here you go Tom 1965.... https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/treasure-hunt/

Yup. That was it. And now, if anyone ever goes to ask "says who ?" (about the supposed boy and dig things, stone tablet, blah blah), you are merely referred back to the legend itself. Those "salacious details" are "proof of themselves". They just have to be taken as default "givens". And it is apparently simply IMPOSSIBLE to conjecture that there had EVER been "telephone game" going on at those times.

I will give an example in my next post :

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I told this story once, but it bears repeating in-lieu of the current O.I. thread. And bears repeating for if someone simply accepts all the original 1700's "boy story" (tablet, blah blah) as default "givens" :


A buddy of mine was detecting a sidewalk tearout. Each day the sidewalk tearout would progress down his oldtown district by another 1/3 block of store-fronts. And my friend was forced to hit it during the day (during their lunch hour), because he figured out that the were cementing each section back in, before 5pm !! So in order to hit the native dirt, he was forced to go @ mid-day each day.


Which, as you can imagine, presented a delicate problem. Because anyone could have said "scram", eh ? But after awhile, he solved this problem by placing well-timed bribes in the hands of the workers (passing out common Vs and a barber dime or two). So by the end of the first week, he had become a feature, that they turned a blind eye to . In fact, at the conclusion of their lunch hour each day, they would come up to him to see what his latest finds were.


One day, he found some sort of owl-shaped amulet charm thing. It was gold in color, and had some sort of red gem stones in the eyes. So when the time came for the workers to see what he'd found that day, he showed them the owl-thing. He mused "might be gold" (d/t the color). And pointed to the eyes and said "might be rubies" . And "might be from the 1800s" (since that was the date of coins he'd found during the project on other days). The workers were besides themselves in fascination. They thought that was SO cool !!

Story to be continued in next post .......

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Continued :

That night, when my friend went to clean up and study his finds, he came to the owl thing. Turns out it was only gold plate. Not gold. And the red stones in the eyes were just red glass chip. Not rubies. It was just 1920s costume jewelry junk. So he promptly threw it in the trash.


The next day, he was back on the project again. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tractor driver eyeing him intently. Every time my friend would stop to dig a target, the tractor driver would become riveted to watching him. The const. worker got off his tractor and approached my friend, from a polite distance, to get a closer look. Eventually, he got brave and came up to talk to my friend. Turns out it was a new worker, that had not been on this job on any of the previous days.


He asked what my friend had found. As it turns out, my friend had ZERO coins , so far, that day. So he told the guy that he had only found some junk so far. When the worker heard that, he broke out into a story about how, the previous day, someone had found gold coins there ! My friend was shattered !! Because he'd left right after mid-day, so ... he figured that someone must have come along after him, and found "gold coins" !


So he began to pepper the fellow for details. Ie.: What did the guy look like ? (so that he could tell if it was someone he knew). And "where were the coins found" and "how many ", etc... The worker poured out the story of the "gold coins" found the "previous day" by this mysterious md'r ! But a curious word came forth during this description : "OWL" !!

Thus my friend busted up laughing, when he realized that the worker was talking about HIM ! So he told the fellow : Hey, that was ME ! And no, no gold coins were found. And no, the owl wasn't "solid gold". And no, it was not 1800s, nor rubies. Just costume jewelry junk.


But the worker would NOT BE DISSUADED . Because he had gotten it on good authority that morning, by his fellow workers, around the water cooler. They had seen the gold and the coins, and owl thing , with their own eyes ! So the worker assumed that it must be someone else that "found gold coins". Even though my friend could put 2+2 together, and realize that this was all just telephone game gone awry.


So the point being is this : Notice how quickly (over a single night !) a story can get embellished. So go figure what can happen to this O.I. thing in the 200 yrs. leading up to the Readers Digest article ? So I have been accused of "calling these boys liars " (or... the persons who wrote down their recollections of what they figured was said or seen). And I always say : No. I have NO DOUBT that the persons passing on the original 1700s story were TOTALLY SINCERE ! Just as the const. worker in my story was NOTHING LESS THAN 100% sincere. I mean, shucks, he was talking to eye-witnesses. They were duly appointed to be on-that-job. Yet you can see how things can easily be construed .


So too do I put no stock in the O.I. story. Barring evidence to the contrary, it has more plausible explanations. Just as my friend's demo. story turned out to have the "more plausible" explanation.

 

[james45]

That program is the equivalent of a soap opera on TV.... they are never going to find anything unless they plant it... it amazes me how some believe that show... I guess if you have nothing else to so with your time, you can throw it on

Amen to that been there for years never found anything .Big soap opera .

 

[Tom_in_CA]

..... never found anything ....

Which merely means : Didn't dig deep enough. Didn't dig enough to the right. Didn't dig enough to the left. And so forth to infinity.

 

[Jose159]

I think the show is entertaining but I do get tired of the "could it be" and the "is it possible" scenarios. I honestly think that if they ever found any significant treasure or religious artifacts ....it wouldn't be shown on the show for various reasons. I also think that Matty Blakes fake enthusiasm cheapens the show and the show has probably made Gary Drayton the most recognizable metal detector in the word. I do like learning about the Templar history and seeing the various Templar sites in France and Portugal among other historical sites. Also...the Templar cross they found on the beach is intriguing, unless it was planted there.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

...... I do get tired of the "could it be" and the "is it possible" scenarios.....

Those "... could it be..." and "...is it possible..." are the cliff-hangers that sell. And they are also the same catch-phrases that would allow me to develop a "fabulous treasure legend" in my own back-yard.

And : Why do you think this :

I honestly think that if they ever found any significant treasure or religious artifacts ....it wouldn't be shown on the show for various reasons.

Why ? What "reasons" ? But, whatever the reasons are, then shucks, I'll bite : SO TOO have I found "significant treasure" in my backyard too. But I'm simply not showing it, for "various reasons". Ok. How can anyone in the general public deny that there was a fabulous treasure in my backyard ? THEY CAN'T ! After all, I have "various reasons" for not showing it off. Tsk tsk.

This is nothing more than an argument from silence. This does not logically hold. It would equally allow anyone to assert fabulous treasures anywhere. That ... are presumably beyond question.

 

[Cfmct]

I think the show is entertaining but I do get tired of the "could it be" and the "is it possible" scenarios. I honestly think that if they ever found any significant treasure or religious artifacts ....it wouldn't be shown on the show for various reasons. I also think that Matty Blakes fake enthusiasm cheapens the show and the show has probably made Gary Drayton the most recognizable metal detector in the word. I do like learning about the Templar history and seeing the various Templar sites in France and Portugal among other historical sites. Also...the Templar cross they found on the beach is intriguing, unless it was planted there.

Why didn't that cross come out white like most old lead does in dirt or at the beach? Fishing weights I find at the beach on my old spots come out white... this cross comes out like it was a year old.... I can't say what I really think about the show... I don't want to break anyone's feelings... Maybe this thread will get as long as Dents Run the other make believe story

 

[SS_Wonder]

The fake lead cross was part of the scripted storyline.

Gary finds cross….teams travels to Europe to castle where templars were held prisoner. One of the team finds a carving on the wall made by templar teeth (or fingernails) according to the script, that matches the lead fishing weight.

 

[SS_Wonder]

The oak island fable has been going on for 200+ years yet no one has ever presented a single piece of evidence that anything other than remnants of common human habitation was ever buried/hidden on the island.

I believe the McGinnis brothers partied too late and had to create a tale to avoid getting in trouble with dad for coming home late.

 

[SS_Wonder]

Ever notice on the show the actors faces while they are attempting to not bust out laughing when the team is in the “war room” and somebody makes a fantastical claim about an item?

 

[robby4570]

I think the show is entertaining but I do get tired of the "could it be" and the "is it possible" scenarios. I honestly think that if they ever found any significant treasure or religious artifacts ....it wouldn't be shown on the show for various reasons. I also think that Matty Blakes fake enthusiasm cheapens the show and the show has probably made Gary Drayton the most recognizable metal detector in the word. I do like learning about the Templar history and seeing the various Templar sites in France and Portugal among other historical sites. Also...the Templar cross they found on the beach is intriguing, unless it was planted there.

metal detectorIST

 

[robby4570]

The fake lead cross was part of the scripted storyline.

Gary finds cross….teams travels to Europe to castle where templars were held prisoner. One of the team finds a carving on the wall made by templar teeth (or fingernails) according to the script, that matches the lead fishing weight.

And isnt it uncanny how closely it resembles the one drawn in France???

 

[SS_Wonder]

And isnt it uncanny how closely it resembles the one drawn in France???

That's the one I was referring to.

 

[robby4570]

That's the one I was referring to.

Yeah, I know, and my point was that it was just remarkable that it matched so closely, kinda like they went to France FIRST and then "found" it... my wife who cares nothing about detecting (but indulges my passion for it) has spotted how "pre-dug" some of the holes (you sure can't call 'em plugs!) look when gary's shovel boy goes after a "dig just here mate" target...

 

[Pete e]

I enjoyed the show for many years, not because I honestly thought there was a massive treasure there but because I enjoyed the search itself and listening to some of the outlandish theories. Plus, regardless of the ney sayers, I think the Island does have an interesting history and various things have gone on there..

The only time I thought they might find "Treasure" was when they were searching the cellar pit associated with Ball...I was hoping they may come across a cache of coins in an old mason jar or perhaps a hidden weapon or two...

All that said, my interest in the show has really dropped off over the last season or so....finding bits of wood and scraps of iron wears a bit thin after a while..

The new season started here in the UK about three weeks ago, and I am afraid I did even get half way through the first episode without thinking: "same old, same old" and haven't bothered with further episodes since...

 

[robby4570]

Oh, and I must add... the wife and I use the show as a drinking game each week.

The way it works is, each episode we choose a word (like Templar) or a phrase (like Let's Call Rick) or an action (like every time gary giggles like a little girl) and each time that happens we take a drink/shot whatever the flavor of the night is... one night we chose "Garden Shaft" and they used that phrase like 30 times!

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