Announcer

Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from www.HowStuffWorks.com.

Katie Lambert

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I’m Katie Lambert.

Sarah Dowdey

And I’m Sarah Dowdey.

Katie Lambert

And we’re going to start off this episode with a little personal anecdote. When my family was in Hilton Head a couple of years ago, I told my little, little brothers that they could each pick out a present to commemorate our trip. My brother who was seven at the time picked out this bottle with a map inside, and then was heartbroken to discover that it didn’t really lead to a treasure. But of course, because he’s a kid and not jaded, he decided it might be a real map after all and was just in code.

Sarah Dowdey

Fortunately though, treasure hunting does not end with children. Grown men and women lose their heads – sometimes literally, sometimes just go crazy over it. One possible treasure that has enchanted people for centuries is the Oak Island money pit, which is our subject for today.

Katie Lambert

What’s in it? According to some people, perhaps the Holy Grail! Other think it’s Marie Antoinette’s jewels or Sir Francis Drake’s loot. Perhaps it’s Captain Kidd’s treasure, or Inca gold, or the original Shakespeare manuscripts.

Sarah Dowdey

Even the secret of Atlantis. So naturally, it’s booby-trapped, too, right?

Katie Lambert

Or is it, Sarah? Or is it? We’re going to talk a little bit about the discovery of the Oak Island money pit.

Sarah Dowdey

That came in 1775 when a farm boy named Daniel McGinnis found something strange on an island in Nova Scotia’s Mahone Bay. It was a place in the ground that looked sunken, as if something had been buried there perhaps. Above it, there was a tree with a tackle block, or maybe a sawed-off branch, depending on whose story you believe.

McGinnis wondered what had been hidden away in this spot. Was it treasure? We know people like Blackbeard dig big holes and hide their treasure in it, so it’s conceivable. He came back with some friends to try to figure out exactly was there.

Katie Lambert

Armed with shovels, they set to digging and digging, and then digging some more, but the mystery only deepened.

Sarah Dowdey

Much like the hole.

Katie Lambert

They dug down to a layer of stone, and at ten feet, they found this other layer of logs. At ten more feet, another layer of logs! So they have no idea what’s going on. As one can imagine, they got tired. When they went back, no one wanted to come help them excavate this pit, so they left it alone. Of course, the legend had begun to percolate.