It was a childhood dream coming true. The two brothers had waited their entire lives for this moment. A hush fell across the island and for a second, they couldn’t believe what was in their hands. The rumors and stories had all been true!
Against all odds, they had found the impossible. They had proven everyone wrong and followed their hearts! What these two brothers didn’t realize is that once the treasure was found, they were instantly in danger. Who would come forward to claim their gold, and steal the spotlight from the Lagina brothers?
The Story Begins
The rumors of treasure on Oak Island have been around for centuries. History has given many opportunities and chances for hungry explorers to strike it rich, but no one has come close to these two brothers.
With one shared goal, and the motivation with fierce determination, the treasure was so close they could taste it. It had been a long challenging road but everything had been worth it. With a final smile, the two brothers dug further and saw something that was beyond their wildest dreams.
Where Is Oak Island?
Oak Island is located off the southern shore of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. For years several teams have landed on the space in hopes of discovering the “money pit”. Explorers from across the world have come hoping to make their fortune.
Two brothers from Michigan were about to find everything the island had hidden from everyone else. As their expedition continued they found treasures greater than anticipated. The island wasn’t going to let them take without a price. The cost of discovering the riches hidden beneath the surface was too sinister for most to stomach.
In The Beginning
Rick and Martin Langina loved spending their childhood playing make-believe. The brothers were only four years apart and grew up as best friends. They loved to create treasure hunts for each other in their backyard but had no idea of the real treasure available in the world.
One day, Rick found a copy of his parent’s Readers Digest magazine. The publication always had interesting articles but one stood out specifically. It was an article written about the rumored buried treasure on Oak Island. From that day on, the brothers’ lives were never the same.
It Was A Childhood Dream
The boys loved to create treasure hunts in their backyards and their eyes grew wide imagining the possibility of finding real treasure. They excitedly spoke about what they thought the treasure might be and how they could discover it.
As the boys grew older they never stopped talking about going to Oak Island. Their friends and family thought it was a childhood fascination, but it was turning into an adult accomplishment. At a certain point, the brothers were willing to put everything on the line.
The Three Musketeers
In 1779, three teenage best friends went exploring on the southern shore of Nova Scotia. The boys’ names were John Smith, Anthony Vaughn, and Daniel McGinnis. They loved exploring the coast of their beautiful Canadian province and found an island they had never seen before.
The boys docked their small boat and began to explore the small island. They found something unexplainable, that left them with a big choice. When they landed on this island they changed their lives forever.
A Changed Landscape
When John, Anthony, and Daniel docked on the unknown island they found a huge, depression in the ground that was circular in shape. It was located beside the beach where they had docked their boat.
The boys were curious and began to dig into the soft dirt. After a short amount of time, they found something that made them drop their shovels and run back to their boat. As they sailed away they swore to never reveal what they had found. When they got back to town, they began the rumors of Oak Island.
The Onslow Company
The three young men had brought back no proof of their discovery, but the fear on their faces was enough to spread a fantastic tale. For years it was spread by word of mouth until one company decided to investigate the cold-hard facts.
The Onslow Company set out on an expedition to Oak Island in the early 1800s. They had started the company to track down the site the boys found and then find their fortunes! The lead explorers landed on the beach and couldn’t believe one detail the three men had left out of their original adventure.
The First Discovery
While the Onslow Company began to set up the area for their extraction, they uncovered a surprising detail. They found the space the boys had previously dug up and noticed that there was a separate dig site.
Before the three friends had discovered the island, someone else had quietly set up an excavation site. The Onslow Company found a separate hole that led to man-made shafts underground. The shafts were 10 feet tall, but who was the mysterious first digger?
A Message From A Different Time
The Onslow Company began to explore the mine shaft and found different platforms underground. Whoever had been here first had done a lot of work to discover the secrets of the island. The team even found a message left from a different era.
Between 30-40 feet below the ground, the Onslow Company discovered a slab of stone that had an inscription. The inscription on the stone was in characters no one recognized. They quickly took a picture and sent it back to their company office. A local newspaper shared the mysterious details, igniting even more curiosity from local residents.
Trying To Make Sense Of It
The stone slab was recorded in the local paper as “two feet long and about a foot thick, with several characters cut on it.” The characters on the stone were a variety of shapes and stumped all the local code breakers or people trained in hieroglyphics.
The Onslow Company continued to explore the island, but the message on the stone remained untranslated for a century. When the Lagina brothers began their mission, they brought with them an exciting clue to unlocking the 100-year-old secret.
Who Is Edward Rowe Snow?
Historian and author Edward Rowe Snow focused specifically on cracking the stone massage. He was well known in the Maritimes for his work on uncovering the history of his hometown and had written several books detailing the unknown history. Finally, just before his death, he realized what the message was!
This discovery was remarkable but also created more questions. While Edward Rowe Snow had deciphered the code meant, “forty feet below, million pounds are buried”, he still didn’t know who was responsible for writing the message. Would an ancient civilization reveal itself through Snow’s diligence?
A New Captain At Onslow
The Onslow Company never stopped exploring the land and in 1931, the adventure was taken over by William Chappell. When Chappell was taking over the project, he was at the height of his own interesting research on early explorers.
One of Chappell’s first discoveries was an axe. It was the first manual labor object found in the site and caused quite a stir among the local community. The axe discovery was the first of many objects that made people’s jaws drop in shock!
Beginning To Record Their Findings
After Chappell found the axe, his team went deeper and were amazed at what else they brought to the surface. The axe was traced back at least 250 years. The team also discovered an oil lamp and a miner’s pick. These items originated from Great Britain.
Due to the discoveries having different origins, historians and researchers were trying to understand who had buried items in the catchy new nickname for the island, “the money pit”. Theories ran wild from royalty to criminal, but only one person would discover the truth.
Who Was Burying Treasure On The Island
The Onslow Company led by researcher William Chappell tried to find different theories for who the items could belong to. The team theorized that Marie Antoinette had managed to store her jewels on the island during her flight from France and the french revolution. Another theory pointed towards a famous wordsmith.
The identity of the real author behind several Shakespeare plays pointed towards aristocrat Francis Bacon. What is Bacon had hidden his connection to the works on the island? While the team constantly disagreed, there was one theory that stood out to the rest.
Pirate Captain William Kidd
From 1675 to his death in 1701, Pirate Captain Kidd ruled the Scottish seas. He was feared along several coasts and was traced back to the Seven Years War and French-Indian War. The island was the perfect location for Kidd to hide his buried treasure and remain inconspicuous to his enemies.
After discovering the axe and the other items, it seems the trail went dry. Eventually, the Onslow Company packed up and was replaced by the Triton Alliance Company. When the company first purchased the rights to the island in 1980 they had high hopes, and instead found themselves a laughing joke.
From Bankruptcy To Brothers
After holding the rights and controlling access to the island for 25 years. The Triton Alliance Company filed for bankruptcy. Their digs had been unsuccessful and the company had squandered their resources on a dream.
Lagina brothers, Rick and Martin, had been closely following the Triton Alliance Company and their Oak Island activity. When they saw the island was available, they pooled their resources and made a purchase that had dreamed about since they were little boys.
A Trio Of Investors
The brothers teamed up with the Blankenship Clan and paid a cool 7 million to own the island they had dreamed about during their childhood. They decided instead of just focusing on digging for treasure they would open the Oak Island Tour Company.
Rick and Martin childhood’s dreams were all coming true. They now held in their hands the deed to the infamous Oak Island. The brothers didn’t realize this deed was also the ticket to changing their lives forever.
Danger Lurked Around Every Corner
When the brothers moved onto the island to run their tour company and find the buried treasure, they had no idea of the local reputation. Oak Island had claimed the lives of 6 explorers over the past 300 years, and residents began to feel the island was cursed.
The town closest to the island warned the brothers that they were walking a dangerous path and that they wouldn’t leave the island alive. The brothers knew they were playing with fire, but they were so close there was no turning back now.
A Reality Show Unlike Any Other
The brother’s purchase of the island attracted local news stations and also cable corporations. They were surprised when the History channel reached out with a lucrative offer. The History Channel knew the brothers had paid a steep price to own the island, and they wanted to help ease the burden.
The History Channel would help finance their treasure hunting if the brothers agreed to film a reality television show. The brothers were unsure, but in the end, agreed to film their adventure. Instead of being alone in this process, the brothers would now be watched by thousands of viewers at home.
The Curse Of Oak Island
In 2014, the reality series, ‘The Curse Of Oak Island’ debuted on the history channel. One of the first massive finds was a Spanish coin found underwater. Audiences were automatically hooked with this big discovery and couldn’t wait to see what else the brothers would uncover.
The Spanish coin was traced back over 3,000 years and its journey to Oak Island fueled the mystery and excitement to keep uncovering the island’s secrets. The next item the brothers discover could also be their last.
Who Else Was On Their Team?
Due to the reality show budget, the brothers were not digging on the island alone. They welcomed aboard, Archeologist Miriam Amirault and Earth Scientist Craig Tester. When Tester joined the brother’s team he already had something in common with them.
Tester told Standard magazine that Oak Island was a big fixture in his childhood. “I remember reading about pirate treasure as a boy growing up in the Lincolnshire countryside. Dreaming about Canadian islands and Spanish treasure, I never imagined in my wildest dreams I would eventually become a treasure hunter on Oak Island.”
Recreating A Safe Space
The brother’s biggest task was actually making the island safe to excavate. In previous years, old dig sites had become death traps and become filled with water, debris, and mud. It was extremely difficult to even enter the sites.
As the brothers started the tough task of making the space safe, they realized it wasn’t just nature they had to worry about. The team had uncovered booby traps that they couldn’t trace back to a previous explorer. Whatever was beneath these traps was going to change the brothers’ lives, but it might also cut them short.
A Roman Sword
The brothers continued to drain water and figure out the booby traps when they discovered something truly remarkable. Their team took out a sword that was dated back to the Roman Empire.
Finding this sword meant that treasure had been buried on Oak Island even longer than people suspected. Was it possible the ancient Roman civilization had walked this very soil? The brothers were amazed at their discovery and then received an astonishing phone call.
Author Zena Halpern
With the success of the History channel reality show ‘The Curse of Oak Island,’ the brothers were receiving more attention than they anticipated. They received a phone call from author Zena Halpern who found something in her research the brothers might find useful.
Halpern had been doing research for her upcoming novel when she discovered a map from 1340. The map detailed Oak Island, but even more interesting it gave clues on who had been on the island. The brother’s eyes widened in shock as they began to understand the clues from the map.
Knights Of Templar
The map from author Zena Halpern linked the Knights of Templar and the french government to Oak Island. It gave the brothers an exact time frame when people would have started burying treasure beneath the surface.
At the bottom of the map was an interesting note. It was written in French and translated too, “the Indians from the south work well”. The brothers were seeing their first physical footprint and previous settlers on the island. Could they learn anything from their previous mistakes to save their own lives?
What Else Would The Island Reveal?
With the donation of the map, the brothers were hungry for more physical proof of who had been on the island in the previous centuries. They began to search for more clues in the mysterious “money pit”. They would not be disappointed with what they found next.
The first thing they found was a piece of parchment. It was made from animal skin and looked like it had been used to take notes. It didn’t have any words on it but historians were able to trace it back to the same period of the map. What else could link the Knights Of Templar to the island’s buried secrets?
The Traps Were Deeper Than Anyone Knew
The brothers continued to go further down and uncovered more booby traps along the way. The work was slow because they had to constantly drain the water and slow down to ensure everyone remained safe.
They found the occasional artifact to keep their interest piqued but eventually they went months without finding anything. After a particularly tough period, the brother’s team found an artifact they wished they had never seen. The implications of this one item could shut down the rest of their operation.
A Human Bone
The Lagina brothers could not believe what their crew uncovered. It was a human bone that had managed to stay preserved. Instantly all digging ceased and the brothers called in the authorities. They didn’t know who or what could have met their fate on the island, but they didn’t want to tamper with any evidence.
With the authorities, they also had the bone studied by archaeologists. The scientists confirmed this bone belonged to a human being of Middle Eastern origin. Now the brothers were truly stumped. How had someone from the other side of the world been buried on Oak Island?
A Medieval Twist
When the authorities gave the all-clear, the Lagina team was even more anxious to see what else they would find. It was only a matter of days before their team member, Gary Drayton, discovered a groundbreaking piece of metal.
Everything that was happening was a dream come true for Rick and Martin, but would they ever make back their initial deposit of 7 million? The brothers were struggling to keep the journey alive, but would this one discovery take their dig to a new level?
A Medieval Cross
Gary Drayton was an expert in identifying metal objects. His discovery was the oldest artifact the team had uncovered and blew aside their preconceived notions of Oak Island heritage. They were starting from zero and began to examine the possibility of people being on Oak Island during the medieval ages.
When Drayton correctly identified the metal cross he was in disbelief. On camera, Drayton said, “That’s really old. This is the type of thing I’d expect to find in Europe. When I first saw it I thought, that looks Medieval — a Medieval cross. I mean, this is old…we might have just made history here.” Was the audience at home believing everything they were watching?
You Couldn’t Look Away
After the discovery of the cross, the brothers were eager to see if they would find anything else from that time period. They didn’t have to wait long and the team dug up a particular piece of jewelry. It was purple in color and Marty Lagina also told the audience what he had learned.
The ring was dated back over 400 years and was popular with African cultures. It originated from ancient Rome and Egyptian royalty. With this discovery, the brothers felt like they had revealed the final clue to Oak Island. It was time to reveal who had buried all this treasure.
It Was Someone No One Expected
With the evidence of the bone, the cross, and the latest ring, it was confirmed by historians that the Knights of Templar had been using the island for their treasure. The Knights of Templar are famously credited in movies like the Da Vinci Code and National Treasure.
The Knights are an organization started by an unknown pope and the knight Hugues de Payens. The organization traces its roots back to 1118. The Knights had stolen treasures across the world, but there was still one thing the brothers couldn’t figure out.
The Show Is Only Getting More Popular
At the time of finding the link to the knights of templar ‘The Curse of Oak Island’ was only becoming more popular. Now heading into its ninth season, there is still so much the brothers and crew are learning from the land.
In 2017, the brothers found proof that there was a secret tunnel connecting the island to a location only known as “Smith’s Cove”. A member of their team, Doug Crowed, discovered a ship’s log that detailed a treacherous underground walk. Was this the final piece of the Oak Island treasure hunt?
The Island Will Remain A Mystery
While Rick and Martin have gone further than any previous explorer, they still do not have all the answers. The island has been used by many different people across history, and each one found a different way to leave a little treasure behind.
The brothers did find one piece of gold in 2018, but to them every day is priceless. They can’t believe they started as children planning treasure hunts, and now live every day searching to uncover more about this mysterious and beautiful island.