New additions to the Oak Island Archive

A collection of newspaper articles from 1971 which debate the existence of human hand in Borehole 10X. These articles were written shortly after Triton lowered cameras in to shaft and include interviews with those who have worked on Oak Island over the years. Read more

A collection of documents spanning Fred Blair's life (1867-1951) and in particular his sixty years involvement with Oak Island. Read more

Documents from Peter Beamish, an employee of The Institute of Oceanography in the 1960's. Includes letters relating to this establishment's findings on Oak Island. Read more

Oak Island Treasure Archive

New additions to the Oak Island Treasure Archive this week include photos of Dan Blankenship being lowered down into Borehole 10X in 1976, and some amazing photos of treasure hunters at work on Oak Island.


Dan Blankenship in the original Money Pit, Oak Island 1976



Dan Blankenship - Oak Island September 1976

Treasure Hunting

To view these images and many more, please use the following links:


Borehole 10X Gallery I

Borehole 10X Gallery II


Blankenship excavations

Oak Island engineering images

Oak Island Treasure - Borehole 10X Video

Oak Island Treasure is pleased to share with you a selection of images which have been added to our main website this week.

Firstly the following image was taken from the famous Borehole 10X video. In this piece of film shot when a camera was lowered deep into the flooded caverns of Borehole 10X, many believed they were seeing what they thought to be a collection of chests.

Other images in this collection include what some have interpreted to be wooden beams supporting a roof - similar to a mine shaft, and intriguing of all, a photo of what has been identified as a body.

These photos were taken of the TV monitor displaying the video, and as a result are not the best quality. Coupled with sediment strewn waters, and it is easy to understand the ambiguity which surrounds these controversial pictures.

One must be wary when viewing such 'evidence', as for anyone passionate about the Oak Island mystery, the temptation is to see what you wish to see, much like forming shapes out of the clouds in the sky. However, these photos undoubtedly remain a fascinating chapter in the history of Oak Island.

Visit Oak Island Treasure now to view these new images.

*NEW* images of Oak Island treasure hunting

As part of the ongoing project to digitise Oak Island material and get it online for you all to enjoy, (and also protect it from inevitable deterioration), I bring you a sneak peak of some of the images which will be added to Oak Island Treasure resources over the coming weeks.

The following images are of exploration taking place on Oak Island during the 1960s/70s (actual date to be confirmed soon).

Oak Island - the year ahead

Looking ahead to 2008, exciting times are promised for Oak Island.

With excavations planned, the biggest Explore Oak Island Weekend to date and the some amazing resources set to appear online available to the public for the first time, Oak Island has something for everyone in 2008.

Exploration

Oak Island Tours will be embarking on new excavations of the island, for the first time in many years. This new team of explorers comprises long time treasure hunter Dan Blankenship, now in his 80s with over 30 years experience of treasure hunting on the island. He has joined forces with four Americans who will be investing $200,000 into drilling and research on Oak Island.

We can assure you that reports of excavations, as and when they occur will be posted on Oak Island Treasure. Oak Island Tours have assured us they will report all they can, as and when exploration gets under way in the very near future. For the past seven years we have been keeping the world up to date with all thelatest Oak Island news and will endeavour to do so at this exciting time - it's what we've been waiting for!

2008 will promise announcements not to be missed. To be sure you stay informed about the world's greatest treasure hunt, why not join the Oak Island Treasure mailing list

Explore Oak Island Days 2008

On 20-22 June, Western Shore will once again play host to the Oak Island Tourism Society's annual Explore Oak Island Days. This year, the event will be taking place at the Oak Island Resort and Spa, with walking tours of the island. Normally closed to the public, this is the only opportunity you have to actually set foot on the island and hopefully see signs of the new excavations.

In the past, visitors have enjoyed guided walks around the island and seeing venerated points of interest, such as the original Money Pit, Borehole 10X and Smith's Cove.

The agenda, although tentative at this stage, is shaping up as follows:

Explore Oak Island Days Agenda - June 20 - 22/08

- June 19 Thursday at 5:30 PM. Special "members only" tour of Oak Island.

- June 20 Friday. Enjoy a guided walking tour of Oak Island and learn about it’s 213 year old history. The tour starts at 6PM and lasts about 2 hours, be sure to register in advance by calling 902-275-3718 or e-mail the Society at flhs@eastlink.ca

- June 21 Saturday. The doors to Oak Island display, artifacts, movies and more open up at 10AM. Come and learn about the mystery at the Oak Island Resort in Western Shore.

- 12:30 Our first guest speaker of the day is Mr. Graham Harris.

- 2:30 Our second guest speaker of the day is Ms. Joanna Atherton owner of the world’s premier Oak Island web site at http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/

- Dinner and entertainment at the Oak Island Resort later on. Details to be announced.

- June 22 Sunday. The doors to Oak Island display, artifacts, movies and more open up at 10AM. Come and learn about the mystery at the Oak Island Resort in Western Shore.

- First walking tour of the day starts at 11AM. and lasts about 2 hours, be sure to register in advance by calling 902-275-3718 or e-mail the Society at flhs@eastlink.ca

- 1 PM. TBA.

- Second walking tour at 4 PM

Exclusive Oak Island photos from 50s and 60s - soon to be made available

During 2007, we established Oak Island Treasure Resources - a growing archive for key documents and images relating to the Oak Island mystery. We are pleased to announce some exciting additions to this section over the next couple of months.

A collection of around 50 photographs from author D'Arcy O'Connor's private collection will soon be made available online. This is part of Oak Island Treasure's long digitisation project bringing many photos and documents into the public domain for the first time.

Never before has there been such an ambitious undertaking to display this huge repository of historical documents and primary sources online, and we are most grateful to D'Arcy for kindly sharing this material.

Digging to resume for long-rumoured Oak Island treasure

Four Americans to launch $200,000 treasure hunt in N.S.

Appeared on page C1

HALIFAX - The hunt for buried treasure on Nova Scotia's Oak Island is about to resume for the first time in more than a decade.

Four Americans plan to spend at least $200,000 to drill next month at a spot they believe holds the key to unlocking a mystery that has foiled treasure hunters for more than 200 years.
Local partner Dan Blankenship says he and his four associates will focus their efforts on an underground shaft called Borehole 10X.

"I made some very, very important discoveries that were not followed diligently," Blankenship said of earlier exploration efforts.

For two centuries, treasure hunters have been drawn to the tiny windswept island by stories of pirate treasure buried in a booby-trapped shaft known as the Money Pit.

Theories suggest the pit is home to everything from Captain Kidd's pirate booty and the Holy Grail, to the lost jewels of Marie Antoinette and treasure plundered by Sir Francis Drake from French and Spanish ships.

At least six people have died trying to find treasure there since 1795, when three boys found a concealed shaft beneath a big oak tree.

Blankenship said he's found evidence of wire, chain and low-carbon steel in bedrock 60 metres below the surface.

He wouldn't say if he has a specific schedule of work to be done.

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you," he said with a chuckle.

The company is starting out by spending $200,000 on drilling "and other things." The results of that initial work will determine what happens next.

"We'll play it by ear," Blankenship said.

Oak Island has been the scene of excavations going back to 1795, when a local boy supposedly found an unusual depression in the ground.

Digging in the following decades reportedly turned up a series of platforms going down to at least 18 metres. Strange objects including a gold chain, a human hand and a stone inscribed with runes are said to have appeared in the pit.

But water flooded in and frustrated further excavations.

Source: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/141132

Treasure hunters again probe island

Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service

HALIFAX, N.S. - So far the island has refused to yield its secret. But in the next few weeks a team of five men will try once again to uncover the treasure believed to be buried on Nova Scotia's Oak Island.

The 43-hectare island in Mahone Bay is rumoured to hold everything from a wealth of Spanish gold and silver to the lost manuscripts of William Shakespeare, but years of searching has confounded any and all treasure-hunters to date, including Franklin Roosevelt and John Wayne.

The most tenacious of the Oak Island treasure hunters, Dan Blankenship, has teamed up with four Americans and they are prepared to sink $200,000 into drilling and research. Now in his early 80s, Blankenship -- a former Miami construction contractor-- lives on the island which he has explored for more than 30 years.

Craig Tester, a partner in a Michigan-based oil and gas drilling firm and one of the consortium members, said in a phone interview Wednesday he believes the island holds gold and silver that came from the Inca or Mayan empires. Tester figures Spanish or British ships raided the fabled empires and buried it on the island.

Tester compared treasure hunting on Oak Island to prospecting or wildcatting for oil wells.
Tester said he didn't have a clue what the treasure might be worth since he wasn't certain what might be buried on Oak Island. However, when Blankenship tried to sell the island for $7-million in 2004, he said the price tag should really be $50-million to take into account the legendary riches.

The consortium plans to focus some of the work on the so-called Borehole 10-X, a 235-foot-deep hole which Blankenship drilled in the 1970s and which nearly took his life. The hole nearly became the treasure hunter's grave one year when, just as he began climbing out, the shaft collapsed beneath him.

The group hopes to carbon date some of the material excavated. Tester said they'd like to get a good scientific analysis on some of the material, something not done previously. Anywhere from 50 to 100 holes have been drilled to date.

The belief Oak Island harbours treasure began in 1795 when a teenager discovered a man-made underground shaft, since infamously called the Money Pit. It is believed Captain William Kidd or other pirates stashed their treasure there, although new theories hold that undiscovered manuscripts of Shakespeare are in the shaft which regularly floods.

Claire Campbell, a historian at Halifax's Dalhousie University, said she thinks the greatest treasure of Oak Island is the place itself.