Oak Island, a small remote piece of land off the southern shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, is steeped in history and legend. It may seem like an unimportant destination, and yet it has inspired over 50 books and remains a hot topic in documentaries and debates.

The island remains an important location because of the promise of wealth and treasure beneath its surface. For nearly 200 years, treasure hunters have relentlessly searched for its secrets. 

The first adventure related to Oak Island dates back to 1799. Three teenage boys named Daniel McGinnis, Anthony Vaughn, and John Smith were on a fishing trip and returned to land to restock supplies. Remembering a tale involving Scottish pirate Captain Kidd’s supposed £2 million of buried treasure – the boys thought they had hit the jackpot.

The three boys persevered for 30 feet until they were prevented from digging further. They came across a layer of flagstones and what looked like an artificial oak platform.

The stone was initially reported in 1862 by a local paper, described as “a stone cut square, two feet long and about a foot thick, with several characters cut on it.”

William Chappell became one of the island’s most famous researchers. He stumbled across the story in a newspaper and was immediately attracted to this great enigma and promise of wealth.

In the late 1920s, Chappell traveled to Canada to lead the excavations. He continued exploring and uncovered several old-looking tools that led him to conclude that he had encountered an ancient digging site.

Chappel did find a fluke anchor in a tunnel and what appeared to be a 250-year-old Acadianaxe. He also discovered a miner’s pick and sections of an oil lamp.

The stories and hopes of a secret treasure on Oak Island reached Franklin D Roosevelt – then a young man.

Roosevelt had a keen sense of adventure and eagerly joined the Old Gold Salvage Group to help them with their search. They set sail under Captain Henry Bowdoin in August 1909.

The quest continued for many years. Treasure hunters came and went, including the Restall father and son, who sadly lost their lives on Oak Island.

Tragedy struck on August 17, 1959, when Robert, alone in the shaft, was suffocated by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Knowing something was wrong, the 18-year-old son went looking for his father. Graeser, a family friend, and two additional helpers followed suit.

After years of hard toil, the Lagina brothers finally had a breakthrough. They uncovered a 17th-century Spanish copper coin.

The Money Pit was now thought to contain 17th-century Spanish coins, Roman artifacts, and even Templar secrets.

What came next honestly surprised the team – its ramifications were huge! Rick, Marty, and Gary came across a lead cross designed with an upper square hole. If this was traced back somewhere between 1200 and 1600 – what would this mean for what we knew about the discovery of America?

A more popular belief of the treasure hunters was that the lead was hiding gold beneath. 

For nearly 200 years, someone has been digging for treasure in Oak Island. The excavations have led to the discovery of some exciting artifacts – linked to many different parts of the world and at other times.

And while 2019 was a bit disappointing for finding tunnels, the excitement happened once Season 8 aired over the last few months of 2020

The crew dug up and recovered artifacts that held the secret to finding the mythical treasure. Unexpectedly, they dug up a potential ship’s slipway to transfer cargo, sand instead of soil—which indicated a hand-made flood tunnel—and century-old tools like keys and nails.

Could the ship have transferred treasure instead of cargo? Would this be the year that they’d finally discover treasure? We’ll have to wait and see!