The Curse of Oak Island

I have to admit some of the personalities on the show are very interesting and good at keeping me interested. Gary Drayton, the metal detection expert,  is one of the most interesting characters on the show. He is either one of the best actors I have ever seen, or one of the most enthusiastic people about his work. Every tiny thing he finds send him into a fit of euphoria. Lately he has seemed to already had detected areas and put up flags to locate the objects for later digs. I see nothing wrong with this but it is different from what he used to do.

If I were to pick the person who has the rock solid belief there is a treasure on the island it would be Rick Lagina. Rick is the older brother of Martin Lagina one of his partners on the project. The story goes the boys read a story about a treasure on Oak Island which was sought after for hundreds of years and became hooked on the idea of looking for it someday. Rick never seems to get discouraged when things don’t turn out very well.

Marty is a successful engineer, and as I said the younger brother. It is never mentioned, but I have the feeling Marty financed the project in the beginning to get it on to television. I say this because Rick was an employee of the Post Office and unless they inherited a large amount of cash, I don’t see how he could have done this. Both Rick and Marty both seem to be very nice people. It  does seem Marty relies on Rick to make many of the decisions. Marty is in business with a partner who is Craig Tester.

Craig Tester used to allow his son to come to the island and help. Craig’s son had become part of the show when he suddenly died. It was a heart breaking moment  on the show. I know I felt as if I knew them personally and having also suffered the loss of a child, it was even that more emotional. Craig seems to be part of the decision making process and at times has issue orders to others who were hired to perform different tasks on the island.

Alex Lagina is Martin Lagina’s son and of course the nephew of Rick Lagina. As the show progressed he seems to have gotten a bigger part in it. He gives his opinions on things a lot more now than he did in the beginning. Everyone seems to get along on camera, but it would be interesting to know if they all did off camera.

Jack Begley is what has been called a member of the Oak Island Fellowship. His role seems to be a helpful one and he is available to assist where needed. He often helps a team of archaeologists on the island and also helps with metal detecting and sorting the spoils which are dug up for hidden objects, among other tasks. He seems to relish his roll and is very enthusiastic.

It turns out there is a lot of fascinating areas on Oak Island. There is the swamp, the stone road, the garden shaft, the well and others. The swamp seems to be an artificial structure and there is a legend that a ship was sunk in it to hide it. It seems that every time the swamp is searched pieces of wood which look like they came from an old sailing ship are discovered. One piece looked very much like a ship’s railing. During metal detecting in the area, many spikes which seem to have been used on ships to hold boards together have been found. Other objects which could have come off a ship were also found.

Holes are being dug in an area on the island where there a search being conducted for a tunnel. It seems there have been searcher tunnels dug over the years which were dug to find the original tunnel which is said to hold the treasure. As evidence of a tunnel is found, the wood has to be dated to see if it is from the original tunnel or it is newer.

The island is said to be cursed and six people have died looking for the treasure, but the curse says seven must die before the treasure is found. This curse certainly has not stopped the search for treasure. I look at this show and I wonder about all the digging with huge machines, the drilling, the construction of a deep shaft and all the experts which have been hired. The reason I wonder is the cost must be phenomenal and the treasure would have to be incredibly huge to just cover that cost. Is the treasure really what the producers reap from the advertisers?

The stone road which was uncovered is interesting because it looks just like an ancient stone road in Portugal. There is said to be a connection with the Knights Templer, Portugal and Oak Island. One theory is the treasure was buried by them and could consist of ancient religious treasures and maybe even the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. Others believe it could be pirate treasure. Still others think at least part of it was dug up in the 1700s by a man who became a cabbage farmer on the island.

Today most of the activity is in the Garden Shaft. A construction company is constructing a shaft to a certain depth and then will be able to construct horizontal shafts at depth as needed, to hopefully intercept the original tunnel. This will probably be good enough for the rest of the season of shows. There are a lot of other things going on with the archaeologists and no doubt more interesting finds will be made. Objects have been found which date from before Christ up to maybe the early 1800s. Some of them are coins, another is a lead cross in the style of the Knights Templer which is believed to have been made in France in the 1100s. 

I guess I am so hooked I will just keep watching.