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10:58 pm
June 28, 2009
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Oak Island in Nova Scotia is a very special island of 360 islands in Mahone Bay. Why is this one special? The other 359 don't have a "Money-Pit." If you have ever seen a TV special on treasure hunting, then you have probably seen Oak Island.
A few centuries ago, someone found a hole. As they dug, they discovered that the hole just kept going. It "seemed" man-made. And if the hole is man-made, it must have been made for a reason; Treasure! Of course, the problems of excavating the hole are legendary. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island
So, why do I bring this up? Well…"Three civil engineering students from McGill University in Montreal were given the assignment to find a way to safely recover any treasure that could be buried at the bottom of the money pit on Oak Island." Here's how they would do it:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/9012285.html
So, will there be another go at the Money-Pit? I don't know, but if there is…they might want to get going on it. Canada's Treasure Trove Act might be changing:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1128481.html
Another stab at the Money-Pit? I first became aware of the story while watching "In Search Of…" like Wiki mentioned. At the time, I thought it was pretty cool. Of course, I was kid. I thought "Wow! There could really be treasure down there." Now…I'm thinking it's just a naturally-formed sinkhole. A really cool sinkhole, but still…just a sinkhole. One in which, unfortunately, has caused the deaths of many men. How many lives will a new attempt cost? All to explore a sinkhole…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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11:23 pm
June 28, 2009
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Stephen
| | San Jose, CA | |
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I remember that, when I was about 5 and very imaginative, I drew an "X" in the dirt in the back yard and insisted on digging for treasure there. My mother tried to convince me that there was nothing to find. "There might be!" I insisted. "It would be nice," she countered.
Oak Island seems to be an example of similar thinking. I'm with Rev: it was probably a natural sinkhole that discoverer Daniel McGinnis mistook for a burial site. The rest is hoaxing and tall tales, often by people trying to keep the project alive. Brian Dunning has a good Skeptoid writeup here.
People will continue to pour money into the hole, and I can't prove that there's nothing down there.
It would be nice.
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Stephen the Friendly Skeptic
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6:38 pm
June 30, 2009
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alicat
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| Lead Investigator | posts 1215 |
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Revenant,
Wouldn't it be nice, as Stephen said, if it was true? I remember seeing a "biography" on either Captain Kidd or Blackbeard on television recently and it included Oak Island where legend says he buried part of his treasure. They actually went to Oak Island and filmed. The stories that were told were incredible as to the lengths people have gone to in order to try to locate this treasure. At one point, they thought they were almost at the spot and it all collapsed. I also remember when the Michigan group bought a 50% stake in the place a few years back and made big news saying they were going to get to the bottom of it so to speak. However, I've not heard much about it lately. Yes, sadly, it may very well be a sinkhole but it shows what people have gone through over the years, proving one thing, the lengths people will go to in order to find their pot of gold.
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10:38 am
July 1, 2009
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Patrick
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| Investigator | posts 190 |
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Revenant said:
Oak Island in Nova Scotia is a very special island of 360 islands in Mahone Bay. Why is this one special? The other 359 don't have a "Money-Pit." If you have ever seen a TV special on treasure hunting, then you have probably seen Oak Island.
A few centuries ago, someone found a hole. As they dug, they discovered that the hole just kept going. It "seemed" man-made. And if the hole is man-made, it must have been made for a reason; Treasure! Of course, the problems of excavating the hole are legendary. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island
So, why do I bring this up? Well…"Three civil engineering students from McGill University in Montreal were given the assignment to find a way to safely recover any treasure that could be buried at the bottom of the money pit on Oak Island." Here's how they would do it:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/9012285.html
So, will there be another go at the Money-Pit? I don't know, but if there is…they might want to get going on it. Canada's Treasure Trove Act might be changing:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1128481.html
Another stab at the Money-Pit? I first became aware of the story while watching "In Search Of…" like Wiki mentioned. At the time, I thought it was pretty cool. Of course, I was kid. I thought "Wow! There could really be treasure down there." Now…I'm thinking it's just a naturally-formed sinkhole. A really cool sinkhole, but still…just a sinkhole. One in which, unfortunately, has caused the deaths of many men. How many lives will a new attempt cost? All to explore a sinkhole…
Rev,
They need to call Geraldo Rivera, he could "get to the bottom of this" (pun intended) just like he did with Al Capone's vault! :)
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12:10 pm
July 1, 2009
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Patrick,
Yes, I actually remember watching that special on Al Capone's vault. Too funny. And for those that do not remember it clearly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone's_Vault
While looking around at various stories on the Money-Pit, I found something kind of interesting. Ever wanted to know where to get your own Rock Pick or Sluice Box? Well, look no further. This site will cater to all your treasure hunting needs:
http://www.treasure-adventure.com/treasleg.html
It even has a map where you can click on any state and it pulls up the tales of treasure from that particular state. So, you know…if you're planning a road trip this summer, you may want to make some time to pick up a little treasure… 
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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3:32 pm
May 19, 2010
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Last night, I was channel-surfing and I came across "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel. Now…I promised myself that I wouldn't watch it. It's just so crazy bad that it drives me up a wall and leaves me with a migraine. Anyway, I wasn't really aware of what I was watching. I only saw Oak Island and decided to leave it on. What was the premise? Yeah…glad you asked…
One theory…the Holy Grail, which was given to mankind by aliens, might be at the bottom of the money-pit. Giorgio Tsoukalos was really optimistic about this one.
Hmmm…if Jason and Grant are "masters of crazy theories"…then Tsoukalos is a deity. He would literally be the God of Krazy (yeah…so crazy that you'd spell it with a "K"…maybe even backwards). He is champion of pseudo-science and defender of revisionist history. In the scientific community we have a name for people such as this guy. It's called…an idiot. Yeah, we're not all that creative…we're more about what can be proven to be true.
I mean…the Holy Grail…given to us by aliens…at the bottom of the Money-Pit…wow…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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7:39 am
May 20, 2010
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HollyDolly
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Some think it is the treasure of Captin Kidd as one theory.The other is in regarding the Knights Templar.
That maybe they buried their wealth on the island. Some think maybe the Holy grail is perhasp hidden some place at Rossyln Chapel, or that there is Templar treasure or treasures from the sack of Jerusalem hidden in Rennes-le-chataeu in France.The Romans in Ad 70 or so, sacked Jerusalem and carried off various treasures.
Later Aleric and his bunch sacked Rome, and some believe he and his band of merry men carried
the stuff off to this part of France.There is evidence the Visogoths were in the area, and of course most have read the story of Father Sauniere and his coming in to an awful lot of money far more than he earned as a parish priest, the mysterious parchments he found in the church,etc.
It is possible that there could be a treasure,someone just decided the natural sink hole might save them some work.Would I think be awesome if they did find something,regardless of what it was.
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9:39 am
May 20, 2010
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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HollyDolly said: "It is possible that there could be a treasure,someone just decided the natural sink hole might save them some work.Would I think be awesome if they did find something,regardless of what it was."
I will acknowledge that there is a "possibility" that there is treasure somewhere within the "Money-Pit." However, I would rank that possibility somewhere between the Loch Ness Monster and myself meeting, dating and eventually marrying Kate Beckinsale and having seven children.
I do agree…it would be "awesome" if there was treasure. But…here's why I reject that notion:
First, let's just get it out there…I believe that the hole is a natural sink-hole and not man-made. So, there's that.
Next, I just can't buy someone throwing something very valuable into a hole that they just happened upon by sheer luck. This is an interesting and important aspect. For some reason, we (today's society) has this nasty habit of thinking that people of the past (going back centuries) aren't smart. Funny how that works out. And really, it doesn't make sense. So…someone can be smart enough to design a ship to travel across the seas. Someone can be smart enough to build it. Someone can be smart enough to navigate it. And then someone is stupid enough to throw gold or whatever into a sinkhole? Really?
When you think about it, it really doesn't make sense. People of that time were aware of the concept of a "bottomless" hole or pit. This has been in literature for centuries. So throwing something into a hole may mean that you're not getting it back. And…even if you could see the bottom…say it's only 30 feet down…they would know how much physical labor that it would take to get it back. They would be keenly aware of the difficulties because machinery wasn't even remotely considered at that point in time. If they wanted it back…they would have to take a shovel and go get it. They would be smart enough to know what a monumental task that would be.
And, I guess I should throw this in too…we're talking a couple of centuries ago. A couple of centuries ago…the center of the Earth wasn't a spinning sphere of iron…it was literally hell. Many religions viewed "under the ground" as a bad deal (hell, death, whatever) and a hole in the ground was a gateway to a very bad place. Sooooo…you're throwing the Holy Grail….into a possible gateway to Hell? Or…you're throwing your gold and rubies and whatever into a path to the land of the dead? Really?
So…throwing something very valuable into an unknown hole…would have been an unbelievably stupid move. So much so, it's hard for me to swallow.
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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7:41 pm
May 22, 2010
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Eintopy
| | eintopy | |
| Investigator in Training | posts 8 |
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There was an all-day marathon of "Ancient Aliens" on today. I watched a few hours of it. I have my degree in Anthropology and my main focus was on archaeology and ancient civilizations, etc.. So, just out of curiousity, I watched this. And, I laughed my way though most of it.
I can't believe people actually believe aliens were responsible for constructing the Pyramids of Giza .. and that the Arc of the Covenant is sitting at the bottom of a big hole. Or that the Easter Island Moai were modeled after alien visitors.
They suggested at one point that certain carvings (I forget what they were talking about at the time – I think I was too irritated at the time to focus …) were so accurate and so precise that no tool made by humans could have possibly made them .. thus, aliens were responsible. And some of the "experts" on there seriously believed that the ancient egyptians created some kind of alien-human hybrid.
They suggested that the Saqqara bird wasn't modeled after a bird at all, but rather was modeled after an airplane. (wikipedia has a short article on the Saqqara bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara_Bird). On the show, someone created a larger version of the bird, saying that they didn't add or remove any parts of the original carving .. the only thing they said they did was essentially create a larger scale version of the bird. Then they attached some kind of motor to it, controlled it with a remote control, and attempted to see if it could fly. Surprise, surprise .. it flew. And of course, the only explanation: aliens visited the egyptians and gave them the knowledge of flying aircraft. Nevermind the fact that it's a carving of a BIRD … and, you know, birds ARE known to fly every so often ….but let's not think about that.
I could go on and on with more ridiculous claims. Don't get me wrong, I do believe 100% there is life outside of Earth, somewhere. What form of life it is, I don't know. It would be very egotistical of us to believe that our planet is the only one in the entire universe with intelligent life (coincidentally, this is what my college entry-essay was about …:0). But saying that aliens were responsible for all of these things? Don't buy it.
I always wonder what future civilizations would think of US if, by some crazy natural disaster, we were all wiped off the face of the earth. Would they look at the skyscapers in NY and across the country and wonder .. how the HELL did those people build buildings so high?!?! Or look at our cemetaries and think, people of great importance must have been buried here for them to go through all the trouble of making these strange carvings of names and dates on stone …. It sounds so dumb, yet that's what most of us do today to people of the past.
I agree with Revenant 100%. People today have a great tendency to think that people of ancient cultures were stupid. I feel sorry for anyone that watched this show and actually believed a word of what they had to say.
The human race is as clever today as it was 4000 or 5000 years ago. They did manage to chisel and move several million pounds of rocks to build the pyramids. I can't tell you how annoyed I was watching this show. So-called experts of today still cannot figure out exactly how the pyramids were built… the only explanation according to this show is that aliens helped. And who's the dumb one here?
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7:53 pm
May 22, 2010
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Mollyscribbles
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| Investigator in Training | posts 7 |
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I actually live in Nova Scotia, so I've heard about this now and then over the years . . . the log layers near the top do indicate that something was buried there, back in the day — but now the general thinking is that, if there ever was a treasure there, it was recovered before this whole mess started, after which the logs (likely put in place initially to ensure the treasure wasn't lost in the sinkhole) were reburied and the site abandoned by anyone who knew about the actual treasure. Now it's just a big hole that people keep digging in for no reason and Oak Island is as much of a niche tourist trap as Green Gables.
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10:02 am
June 10, 2010
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Nosfer
| | Rotaredom | |
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Eintopy said:
They suggested that the Saqqara bird wasn't modeled after a bird at all, but rather was modeled after an airplane. (wikipedia has a short article on the Saqqara bird: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara_Bird). On the show, someone created a larger version of the bird, saying that they didn't add or remove any parts of the original carving .. the only thing they said they did was essentially create a larger scale version of the bird. Then they attached some kind of motor to it, controlled it with a remote control, and attempted to see if it could fly. Surprise, surprise .. it flew. And of course, the only explanation: aliens visited the egyptians and gave them the knowledge of flying aircraft. Nevermind the fact that it's a carving of a BIRD … and, you know, birds ARE known to fly every so often ….but let's not think about that.
The object modeled after the bird that flew (ie the Saqqara you mention), well, yes, birds fly, it pretty much looks like a bird, I don't see any excitement.
One of slightly more interest, though, was the non-ornithologically correct gold object with the vertical tail stabilizer. I believe they also made a model of that one, outfitted it with an engine, and it flew. Whether or not if flew is not really the point, give me a powerful enough engine and I can make pretty much any shape "fly" :) Why would they design it the way they did? I'm sure there are a number of natural reasons that have nothing to do with the possibility of them mimicking some Alien fighter that landed near them. But when such objects are found I think they deserve a bit more scrutiny. For example, did the translation of those glyphs on the wing say "Mattel"?
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