The Secrets of Oak Island

Investigative Files

Joe Nickell

Volume 24.2, March / April 2000

It has been the focus of “the world's longest and most expensive treasure hunt” and “one of the world's deepest and most costly archaeological digs” (O'Connor 1988, 1, 4), as well as being “Canada's best-known mystery” (Colombo 1988, 33) and indeed one of “the great mysteries of the world.” It may even “represent an ancient artifact created by a past civilization of advanced capability” (Crooker 1978, 7, 190). The subject of these superlatives is a mysterious shaft on Oak Island in Nova Scotia's Mahone Bay. For some two centuries, greed, folly, and even death have attended the supposed “Money Pit” enigma.

The Saga

Briefly, the story is that in 1795 a young man named Daniel McInnis (or McGinnis) was roaming Oak Island when he came upon a shallow depression in the ground. Above it, hanging from the limb of a large oak was an old tackle block. McInnis returned the next day with two friends who-steeped in the local lore of pirates and treasure troves-set to work to excavate the site. They soon uncovered a layer of flagstones and, ten feet further, a tier of rotten oak logs. They proceeded another fifteen feet into what they were sure was a man-made shaft but, tired from their efforts, they decided to cease work until they could obtain assistance. However, between the skepticism and superstition of the people who lived on the mainland, they were unsuccessful.
The imagined cache continued to lie dormant until early in the next century, when the trio joined with a businessman named Simeon Lynds from the town of Onslow to form a treasure-hunting consortium called the Onslow Company. Beginning work about 1803 or 1804 (one source says 1810), they found oak platforms “at exact intervals of ten feet” (O'Connor 1978, 10), along with layers of clay, charcoal, and a fibrous material identified as coconut husks. Then, at ninety feet (or eighty feet, according to one alleged participant) they supposedly found a flat stone bearing an indecipherable inscription (see figure 1). Soon after, probing with a crowbar, they struck something hard-possibly a wooden chest!-but discontinued for the evening. Alas, the next morning the shaft was found flooded with sixty feet of water. Attempting to bail out the pit with buckets, they found the water level remained the same, and they were forced to discontinue the search. The following year, the men attempted to bypass the water by means of a parallel shaft from which they hoped to tunnel to the supposed treasure. But this shaft suffered the same fate, and the Onslow Company's expedition ended (O'Connor 1978, 9-16; Crooker 1993, 14; Harris 1958, 12-22).
Again the supposed cache lay dormant until in 1849 another group, the Truro Company, reexcavated the original shaft. Encountering water, the workers then set up a platform in the pit and used a hand-operated auger to drill and remove cores of material. They found clay, bits of wood, and three links of gold chain-supposed evidence of buried treasure. The Truro Company sank additional nearby shafts, but these, too, were inundated with water, and work ceased in the fall of 1850. Other operations continued from 1858 to 1862, during which time a workman was scalded to death by a ruptured boiler (O'Connor 1988, 17-31).
The Oak Island Association followed and attempted to intersect the “tunnel” that presumably fed water to the pit. When that 120-foot shaft missed, another was sunk and, reportedly, a three-by-four-foot tunnel was extended about eighteen feet to the “Money Pit” (as it was then known). However, water began coming in again. A massive bailing operation was then set up when suddenly there was a loud crash as the Money Pit collapsed. It was later theorized that the imagined chests had fallen into a deep void and that the pit may have been booby-trapped to protect the treasure (O'Connor 1988, 29). The Association's work was followed in 1866 by the Oak Island Eldorado Company but without significant results (Harris 1958, 203).
Decades elapsed and in 1897 the Oak Island Treasure Company (incorporated four years earlier) apparently located the long-sought “pirate tunnel” that led from Smith's Cove to the Money Pit. They drilled and dynamited to close off the tunnel. Subsequent borings were highlighted by the discovery of a fragment of parchment upon which was penned portions of two letters (possibly “ri"). They also found traces of a chalk-like stone or “cement" (Harris 1958, 91-98). In this same year Oak Island's second tragedy struck when a worker was being hoisted from one of the pits and the rope slipped from its pulley, plunging him to his death.
After that company ran out of funds, most of the moveable assets were sold at a sheriff's sale in 1900. The new century brought continued searches, with the digging of innumerable drill holes, shafts, and tunnels-so many that “The entire Money Pit area has been topographically demolished, changing completely its original appearance and rendering old maps and charts useless” (Crooker 1978, 190). In 1965 there came yet another tragedy when four men died in a shaft after being overcome either by swamp gas or engine fumes (O'Connor 1988, 143-145).
In 1966 a Florida building contractor named Dan Blankenship teamed up with MontrŽal businessman David Tobias to continue the quest. The partners began an extensive drilling operation, sinking some sixty bore-holes the following year alone, and, in 1968, enlisted a number of investors in what they named Triton Alliance. Unfortunately, mechanical problems, land disputes, the Stock Market crash of 1987, and other troubles, including the eventual falling out of the two partners, stopped their projected $10 million “big dig” (Randle 1995). Once open to tourists, the site sank into neglect.
Over the years the fabled treasure has been the target of dowsers, automatic writers, clairvoyants, channelers, tarot-card readers, dream interpreters, psychic archaeologists, and assorted other visionaries and soothsayers, as well as crank inventors of devices like a “Mineral Wave Ray” and an airplane-borne “treasure smelling” machine-not one having been successful (Preston 1988, 62; O'Connor 1988, 121-136; Finnan 1997, 166-170).

An Investigative Approach

The more elusive the treasure has proved, the more speculation it has engendered. Given the “immense amount of labor” presumably required to construct the pit and the accompanying “flooding tunnel” that served as a “booby trap,” presumption of a pirates' hoard has begun to be supplanted by such imagined prizes as the French crown jewels, Shakespeare's manuscripts, the “lost treasure" of the Knights Templar, even the Holy Grail and the imagined secrets of the “lost continent” of Atlantis (Sora 1999, 7-38, 101; Crooker 1978, 153). But is there a treasure at the bottom of the “Money Pit"? My research into the mystery of Oak Island dates back many years, and I opened a file on the case in 1982. However, except for periodic updates, I put it on hold, largely because the solution seemed to lie in the same direction as those of some other mysteries (Nickell 1980; 1982a; 1982b). However, when asked to address a forensic conference in nearby New Brunswick, I resolved to place Oak Island on my itinerary (Nickell 2000).
In planning my trip I attempted to contact Triton's David Tobias, who did not, however, return my call, but I did reach Jim Harvey at the Oak Island Inn and Marina on the nearby mainland. Harvey, a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and licensed private investigator, is in charge of security for Oak Island, and he was adamant that it is no longer open to visitors. Making not-so-veiled references to the legendary temper of Dan Blankenship, the other Triton partner who still lives on the island, Harvey suggested it would not be safe for me to trespass on the island, although he offered for hire his cabin cruiser for a guided circumnavigation.
Harvey may have had in mind an incident of many years ago, involving an altercation between Blankenship and another island resident, Frederick Nolan. According to one source: “One day Blankenship had approached with a rifle in hand and an ugly situation had begun to develop. Eventually the police were called in to calm everybody down and confiscate the gun” (Finnan 1997, 93).
So it was with some trepidation that-on the afternoon of July 1, 1991, after arriving at the village of Western Shore and checking in at the Oak Island Inn-I drove to the causeway leading to Oak Island. This land bridge connecting the island to the mainland was constructed in 1965 so that a great excavating machine could be transported to the “treasure” area. Today it is chained off and marked “Private/No Hunting or Trespassing/Danger.”

Figure 2. Offshore view of Oak Island showing site of Borehole 10X. The “Money Pit” lies just beyond.

A local fisherman responded to my proposal to walk over and talk to Mr. Blankenship, “He won't shoot you, but he will probably turn you back.” In fact, although Blankenship was at first stand-offish, having read a Canadian Press article about the “professional skeptic” who was heading to Oak Island (see Nickell 2000), I soon mollified him, and he graciously invited me to his home. I was there until nearly 11 p.m., being shown artifacts, photos, papers, and a video made by a camera lowered into a borehole-the fruits of almost thirty-five years of treasure hunting that had earned Blankenship the title of “Oak Island's most obsessive searcher" (O'Connor 1988, 145). The video reveals the interior of a “tunnel," graced with an apparent upright timber and what some imagine to be “chests,” a “scoop,” and other supposed artifacts. Blankenship (1999) told me he had located the site of the borehole by dowsing. The next day Jim Harvey took me on our prearranged boat trip, permitting me to view the remainder of the island (see figure 2).
The more I investigated the Oak Island enigma, the more skeptical I became. Others had preceded me in supplying what I came to regard as the two main pieces of the puzzle, although apparently no one had successfully fitted the pieces together. One concerned the nature of the “money pit” itself, the other the source of certain elements in the treasure saga, such as the reputed cryptogram-bearing stone.

Man-made or Natural?

Doubts begin with the reported discovery in 1795 of the treasure shaft itself. While some accounts say that the trio of youths spied an old ship's pulley hanging from a branch over a depression in the ground (Harris 1958, 6-8), that is “likely an apocryphal detail added to the story later” and based on the assumption that some sort of lowering device would have been necessary in depositing the treasure (O'Connor 1988, 4). Nevertheless some authors are remarkably specific about the features, one noting that the “old tackle block” was attached to “a large forked branch” of an oak “by means of a treenail connecting the fork in a small triangle" (Crooker 1978, 17). Another account (cited in Finnan 1997, 28) further claims there were “strange markings” carved on the tree. On the other hand, perhaps realizing that pirates or other treasure hoarders would have been unlikely to betray their secret work by leaving such an obvious indicator in place, some versions of the tale agree that the limb “had been sawed off” but that “the stump showed evidence of ropes and tackle” (Randle 1995, 75).
Similarly, the notion that there was a log platform at each ten-foot interval of the pit for a total of nine or eleven platforms, is only supported by later accounts, and those appear to have been derived by picking and choosing from earlier ones so as to create a composite version of the layers. For example the account in the Colonist (1864) mentions that the original treasure hunters found only flagstones at two feet ("evidently not formed there by nature") and “a tier of oak logs” located “ten feet lower down” (i.e., at twelve feet). They continued some “fifteen feet farther down,” whereupon-with no mention of anything further of note-they decided to stop until they could obtain assistance. James McNutt, who was a member of a group of treasure hunters working on Oak Island in 1863, described a different arrangement of layers (Crooker 1978, 24).
In 1911 an engineer, Captain Henry L. Bowdoin, who had done extensive borings on the island, concluded that the treasure was imaginary. He questioned the authenticity of various alleged findings (such as the cipher stone and piece of gold chain), and attributed the rest to natural phenomena (Bowdoin 1911). Subsequent skeptics have proposed that the legendary Money Pit was nothing more than a sinkhole caused by the ground settling over a void in the underlying rock (Atlantic 1965). The strata beneath Oak Island are basically limestone and anhydrite (Crooker 1978, 85; Blankenship 1999), which are associated with the formation of solution caverns and salt domes (Cavern 1960; Salt Dome 1960). The surface above caverns, as well as over faults and fissures, may be characterized by sinkholes.
Indeed, a sinkhole actually appeared on Oak Island in 1878. A woman named Sophia Sellers was plowing when the earth suddenly sank beneath her oxen. Ever afterward known as the “Cave-in Pit,” it was located just over a hundred yards east of the Money Pit and directly above the “flood tunnel” (O'Connor 1988, 51).
Geologist E. Rudolph Faribault found “numerous” sinkholes on the mainland opposite Oak Island, and in a geological report of 1911 concluded there was “strong evidence” to indicate that the purported artificial structures on the island were “really but natural sink holes and cavities.” Further evidence of caverns in the area came in 1975 when a sewage-disposal system was being established on the mainland. Approximately 3,000 feet north of the island, workmen excavating with heavy machinery broke through a rock layer and discovered a 52-foot-deep cavern below (Crooker 1993, 144). Fred Nolan insists that, earlier, in 1969, while drilling on Oak Island, Triton broke into a cavern near the fabled treasure shaft at a depth of 165 feet. “Blankenship and Tobias figured that the cavern was man-made,” said Nolan, “but it isn't, as far as I'm concerned” (Crooker 1993, 165). And Mark Finnan (1997, 111), writing of “the unique geological nature of Oak Island,” states as a fact that “naturally formed underground caverns are present in the island's bedrock.” These would account for the flood “booby-traps” that were supposedly placed to guard the “treasure” (Preston 1988, 63).
Today, of course, after two centuries of excavation, the island's east end is “honey combed with shafts, tunnels and drill holes running in every imaginable direction” (Crooker 1978, 190), complicating the subterranean picture and making it difficult to determine the nature of the original pit. In suggesting that it was a sinkhole, caused by the slumping of debris in a fault, one writer noted that “this filling would be softer than the surrounding ground, and give the impression that it had been dug up before" (Atlantic 1965). Fallen trees could have sunk into the pit with its collapse, or “blowdowns” could periodically have washed into the depression (Preston 1988, 63), later giving the appearance of “platforms” of rotten logs.
Just such a pit was in fact discovered in 1949 on the shore of Mahone Bay, about five miles to the south of Oak Island, when workmen were digging a well. The particular site was chosen because the earth was rather soft there. Reports O'Connor (1988, 172-173): “At about two feet down a layer of fieldstone was struck. Then logs of spruce and oak were unearthed at irregular intervals, and some of the wood was charred. The immediate suspicion was that another Money Pit had been found.”
The treasure seekers and mystery mongers are quick, however, to dismiss any thoughts that the “shaft” and “tunnels” could be nothing more than a sinkhole and natural channels. Why, the early accounts would then have to be “either gross exaggerations or outright lies,” says one writer (O'Connor 1988, 173). For example, what about the reported “pick marks found in the walls of the pit" (O'Connor 1988, 173)? We have already seen-with the oak-limb-and-pulley detail-just how undependable are such story elements. Then what about the artifacts (such as the fragment of parchment) or the coconut fiber (often carried on ships as dunnage, used to protect cargo) found at various depths? Again, the sinkhole theory would explain how such items “worked their way into deep caverns under the island” (Preston 1988, 63).

Secrets Revealed

Assuming the “shaft” is a natural phenomenon, there still remains the other major piece of the Oak Island puzzle: How do we explain the presence of such cryptic elements as the cipher stone allegedly discovered in the pit in 1803, a large equilateral triangle (made of beach stones and measuring ten feet on each side) found in 1897, or a megalithic cross which Fred Nolan discovered on the south shore in 1981? (See figure 1; Finnan 1997, 36, 68-69, 79-82.) By the early 1980s I had become aware of parallels between Oak Island's Money Pit and the arcana of the Freemasons. Theirs is not, they insist, a “secret society” but a “society with secrets." Carried to North America in the eighteenth century, Masonry has been defined as “a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols” (Masonic Bible 1964, 26). One of the essential elements of any true Masonic group is “a legend or allegory relating to the building of King Solomon's Temple" ("Freemasonry” 1978). And an allegory of the Secret Vault, based on Solomon's fabled depository of certain great secrets, is elaborated in the seventh or Royal Arch degree. Among the ruins of the temple, three sojourners discover the subterranean chamber wherein are found three trying-squares and a chest, identified as the Ark of the Covenant (Masonic 1964, 12, 37, 63; Lester 1977, 150; Duncan 1972).
No doubt many readers have encountered Secret Vault symbolism-which pertains to lost secrets, buried treasure, and the grave (Macoy 1908, 445; Revised 1975, 64 n.22)-without recognizing it as such. For example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Freemason, not only employed Masonic allusions in several of his Sherlock Holmes stories (Bunson 1994, 84) but penned three that evoke Masonry's hidden vault itself. For instance, Holmes uncovers dark secrets in “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place.” Beneath an old chapel on the Shoscombe property, accessed by stumbling through “loose masonry” (an obvious pun) and proceeding down a steep stairway, Holmes finds himself in a crypt with an “arched . . . roof" (evoking the Royal Arch degree of Masonry). Accompanied by his client-a “Mr. Mason"!-Holmes finds the key to a series of strange mysteries. Similarly allusive Holmes stories are “The Red-Headed League” (featuring a client who sports a Masonic breastpin), and the suggestively titled “The Musgrave Ritual.”
In addition to the Sherlockian Secret Vault allegories there are several examples of the genre that many people have taken at face value, believing them true accounts. One, for example, is the tale of Swift's Lost Silver Mine of eastern Kentucky. In his alleged journal, one “Jonathan Swift” explored the region prior to Daniel Boone, marking a tree with “the symbols of a compasses, trowel and square"-Masonic emblems-and discovering and mining silver (which geologists doubt exists in the region). Leaving to seek backers, Swift says he stored the treasure in a cave and “walled it up with masonry form.” Later he became blind and unable to find his fabled treasure (although still capable of writing in his journal!). This evokes Masonic ritual wherein a candidate must enter the lodge in complete blindness (i.e. blindfolded) to begin his quest for enlightenment (Nickell 1980).
Another such lost-treasure story is found in the purported Beale Papers which tell a tale of adventure, unsolved ciphers, and fabulous treasure. This was “deposited” in a stone-lined “vault" (using language from the Select Masters' degree) in Virginia. The papers were published by a Freemason (Nickell 1982b).
Then there is the “restless coffins” enigma of the Chase Vault of Barbados. According to proliferating but historically dubious accounts, each time the vault was opened, between 1812 and 1820, the coffins were discovered in a state of confusion. After they were reordered the vault was closed by “masons.” Yet the coffins would again be found in disarray. At least two of the men involved were high-ranking Freemasons. In 1943 another restless-coffins case occurred on the island, this time specifically involving a party of Freemasons and the vault being that of the founder of Freemasonry in Barbados! (Nickell 1982a)
It now appears that another such tale is the legend of Oak Island, where again we find unmistakable evidence of Masonic involvement. There are, of course, the parallels between the Money Pit story and the Masonic Secret Vault allegory. The “strange markings” reportedly carved on the oak adjacent to the Pit suggest Masons' Marks, inscribed signs by which Masons are distinguished (Waite 1970, xx; Hunter 1996, 58). The three alleged discoverers of the Pit would seem to represent the Three Worthy Sojourners (with Daniel McInnis representing the Principal Sojourner), who discover the Secret Vault in the Royal Arch degree (Duncan 1972, 261). In that ritual the candidate is lowered on a rope through a succession of trap doors, not unlike the workmen who were on occasion hauled up and down the (allegedly platform-intersected) Oak Island shaft. The tools used by the latter-notably spades, pickaxes, and crowbar (O'Connor 1988, 2; Harris 1958, 15)-represent the three Working Tools of the Royal Arch Mason (Duncan 1972, 241). Indeed, when in 1803 workers probed the bottom of the Pit with a crowbar and struck what they thought was a treasure chest, their actions recall the Royal Arch degree in which the Secret Vault is located by a sounding blow from a crowbar (Duncan 1972, 263). The parallels go on and on. For example, the soft stone, charcoal, and clay found in the Pit (Crooker 1978, 24, 49) are consistent with the Chalk, Charcoal and Clay cited in the Masonic degree of Entered Apprentice as symbolizing the virtues of “freedom, fervency and zeal” (Lester 1977, 60; Hunter 1996, 37).
Then there are the artifacts. Of course many of these-like the old branding iron found in the swamp (Crooker 1993, 175, 176)-are probably nothing more than relics of the early settlers. Some are actually suspicious, like the links of gold chain found in the Pit in 1849. One account holds that they were planted by workers to inspire continued operations (O'Connor 1988, 177-178).
Other artifacts are more suggestive, like the cipher stone (again see figure 1) which disappeared about 1919. Its text has allegedly been preserved, albeit in various forms and decipherments (Rosenbaum 1973, 83). For instance zoologist-turned-epigrapher Barry Fell thought the inscription was ancient Coptic, its message urging people to remember God lest they perish (Finnan 1997, 148-149). In fact, the text as we have it has been correctly deciphered (and redeciphered by several investigators, me included). Written in what is known as a simple-substitution cipher, it reads, “Forty Feet Below Two Million Pounds Are Buried" (Crooker 1993, 23). Most Oak Island researchers consider the text a hoax (O'Connor 1988, 14), but as Crooker (1993, 24) observes, an inscribed stone did exist, “having been mentioned in all the early accounts of the Onslow company's expedition.” Significantly, a cipher message (with key), found in the Secret Vault, is a central aspect of Freemasonry's Royal Arch degree (Duncan 1972, 248-249).
Other artifacts (Finnan 1997, 67, 80, 83) that appear to have ritualistic significance are the stone triangle and great “Christian Cross” as well as “a handworked heart-shaped stone"-Masonic symbols all. Crooker (1993, 179) notes that “a large amount of time and labor” were spent in laying out the cross, but to what end? Could it have been part of a Masonic ritual?
An “old metal set-square” found at Smith's Cove may simply be an innocent artifact, but we recall that three small squares were among the items found in the Secret Vault (Duncan 1972, 243). Indeed, the square is one of the major symbols of Freemasonry which, united with a pair of compasses, comprises the universal Masonic emblem.
Explicitly Masonic, I believe, are certain inscribed stones on the island. These include one discovered at Joudrey's Cove by Gilbert Hedden in 1936. It features a cross flanked by the letter H, said to be a modification of the Hebraic letter for Jehovah, and a prime Masonic symbol known as a Point Within a Circle, representing mankind within the compass of God's creation (Morris n.d., 47; Finnan 1997, 66, 151). Another clearly Masonic stone is a granite boulder found near the Cave-in Pit in 1967. Overturned by a bulldozer it bore on its underside the letter “G” in a rectangle (what Masons term an oblong square). G denotes the Grand Geometer of the Universe-God, the central focus of Masonic teachings-and is “the most public and familiar of all symbols in Freemasonry," observes Mark Finnan (1997, 152). He continues: “The presence of this symbol on Oak Island and its location in the east, seen as the source of light in Masonic teachings, is further indication that individuals with a fundamental knowledge of Freemasonry were likely involved.”
Indeed, the search for the Oak Island treasure “vault” has been carried out largely by prominent Nova Scotia Freemasons. I had an intimation of this years ago, but it fell to others, especially Finnan who gained access to Masonic records, to provide the evidence. Freemasonry had come to Nova Scotia in 1738 and, concludes Finnan (1997, 145), “it is almost a certainty that organizers of the first coordinated dig . . . were Masonicly associated.” Moreover, he states: “Successive treasure hunts throughout the past two hundred years often involved men who were prominent members of Masonic lodges. Some had passed through the higher levels of initiation, and a few even held the highest office possible within the Fraternity.”
They include A. O. Creighton, the Oak Island Association treasurer who helped remove the cipher-inscribed stone from the island about 1865, and Frederick Blair, whose family was involved in the quest as far back as 1863. Blair, who formed the Oak Island Treasure Company in 1893, was a “prominent member” of the lodge in Amherst, Nova Scotia. Treasure hunter William Chappell was another active Mason, and his son Mel served as Provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia from 1944 to 1946 (Finnan 1997, 145-146). Furthermore, discovered Finnan (1997, 146):

The independently wealthy Gilbert Hedden of Chatham, New Jersey, who carried out the treasure search from 1934 to 1938, and Professor Edwin Hamilton, who succeeded him and operated on the island for the next six years, were also Freemasons. Hamilton had at one time held the office of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Hedden even made it his business to inform Mason King George VI of England about developments on Oak Island in 1939, and Hamilton corresponded with President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, another famous Freemason directly associated with the mystery.

(Roosevelt actually participated in the work on Oak Island during the summer and fall of 1909.) Other Masonic notables involved in Oak Island were polar explorer Richard E. Byrd and actor John Wayne (Sora 1999, 12; Hamill and Gilbert 1998).
Significantly, Reginald Harris, who wrote the first comprehensive book on Oak Island at the behest of Frederick Blair, was an attorney for Blair and Hedden. Himself a thirty-third-degree Mason, Harris was provincial Grand Master from 1932 to 1935. Among his extensive papers were notes on Oak Island, scribbled on the backs of Masonic documents and sheets of Masonic letterhead. The papers show that at least one Oak Island business meeting was held in the Masonic Hall in Halifax, where Harris had an office as secretary of the Grand Lodge (O'Connor 1988, 93; Harris 1958, vii; Finnan 1997, 143; Rosenbaum 1973; 154).
One investigator, Ron Rosenbaum (1973, 154), discovered that among Harris's papers were “fragments of a Masonic pageant” that were apparently “designed to accompany the rite of initiation into the thirty-second degree of the Masonic Craft.” The allegory is set in 1535 at the Abbey of Glastonsbury, where the Prime Minister is attempting to confiscate the order's fabulous treasures. But one item, the chalice used at the Last Supper-the Holy Grail itself-is missing, and secret Masons are suspected of having hidden it for safekeeping. The allegory breaks off with them being led to the Tower for torture.
Given this draft allegory by Harris, it may not be a coincidence that some recent writers attempt to link the Holy Grail to Oak Island. They speculate that the fabled chalice is among the lost treasures of the Knights Templar, precursors of the Freemasons (Sora 1999, 180, 247-251).
In any event, the evidence indicates a strong Masonic connection to the Oak Island enigma. Others have noted this link but unfortunately also believed in an actual treasure of some sort concealed in a man-made shaft or tunnel (Crooker 1993; Finnan 1997; Sora 1999; Rosenbaum 1973). Only by understanding both pieces of the puzzle and fitting them together correctly can the Oak Island mystery finally be solved.
In summary, therefore, I suggest first that the “Money Pit” and “pirate tunnels” are nothing of the sort but are instead natural formations. Secondly, I suggest that much of the Oak Island saga-certain reported actions and alleged discoveries-can best be understood in light of Freemasonry's Secret Vault allegory. Although it is difficult to know at this juncture whether the Masonic elements were opportunistically added to an existing treasure quest or whether the entire affair was a Masonic creation from the outset, I believe the mystery has been solved. The solution is perhaps an unusual one but no more so than the saga of Oak Island itself.

References

1. Atlantic Advocate. 1965. Article in October issue, cited in Crooker 1978, 85-86.
2. Blankenship, Dan. 1999. Author interview, July 1.
3. Bowdoin, H. L. 1911. Solving the mystery of Oak Island. Collier's Magazine, August 18. Cited and discussed in Harris 1958, 110-120; O'Connor 1988, 63-66.
4. Bunson, Matthew E. 1994. Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. New York: Barnes & Noble.
5. Creighton, Helen. 1957. Bluenose Ghosts. Reprinted Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus, 1994, 42-59, 118-120.
6. Crooker, William S. 1978. The Oak Island Quest. Hantsport, N.S.: Lancelot Press.
7. --. 1993. Oak Island Gold. Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus.
8. Duncan, Malcolm C. 1972. Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, 217-265.
9. Faribault, E. Rudolph. 1911. Summary Report of Geological Survey Branch of the Department of Mines. Quoted in Furneaux 1972, 110.
10. Finnan, Mark. 1997. Oak Island Secrets, rev. ed. Halifax, N.S.: Formac.
11. “Freemasonry.” 1978. Collier's Encyclopedia.
12. Furneaux, Rupert. 1972. The Money Pit Mystery. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
13. Hamill, John, and Robert Gilbert. 1998. Freemasonry. North Dighton, Mass.: J. G. Press, 228, 241, 245.
14. Harris, R. V. The Oak Island Mystery. Toronto: Ryerson.
15. Hunter, C. Bruce. 1996. Masonic Dictionary, 3rd ed. Richmond, Va.: Macoy.
16. Lester, Ralph P. ed. 1977. Look to the East! rev. ed. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook.
17. Macoy, Robert. 1908. Illustrated History and Cyclopedia of Freemasonry. New York: Macoy.
18. Masonic Heirloom Edition Holy Bible. 1964. Wichita, Kansas: Heirloom Bible Publishers.
19. Morris, W. J. Pocket Lexicon of Freemasonry. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook, n.d.
20. Nickell, Joe. 1980. Uncovered-The fabulous silver mines of Swift and Filson, Filson Club History Quarterly 54 (October): 325-3445.
21. --1982a. Barbados' restless coffins laid to rest. Fate, Part I, 35.4 (April): 50-56; Part II, 35.5 (May): 79-86.
22. --. 1982b. DISCOVERED: The secret of Beale's treasure, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 90, no. 3 (July): 310-324.
23. --. 2000. Canada's mysterious maritimes. Skeptical Inquirer 24(1), Jan./Feb.: 15-19.
24. O'Connor, D'Arcy. 1988. The Big Dig. New York: Ballantine.
25. Preston, Douglas. 1988. Death trap defies treasure seekers for two centuries. The Smithsonian. June. 53-6

 http://www.csicop.org/si/show/secrets_of_oak_island/

Oak Island in nova scotia

Oak Island is a 140-acre (57 ha) island in Lunenburg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay and rises to a maximum of 35 feet (11 m) above sea level. Located 200 metres from shore and connected to the mainland by a modern causeway, the island is privately owned, and advance permission is required for any visitation.
Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called Money Pit and the site of over 200 years of treasure hunting.^[1] Repeated excavations have reported layers of apparently man-made artifacts as deep as 31 metres (102 ft), but ended in collapsed excavations and flooding. Critics argue that there is no treasure and that the pit is a natural phenomenon, likely a sinkhole.^[2]

History of the Money Pit

Early accounts

Money Pit at Oak Island

There are many 19th-century accounts of Oak Island, but some are conflicting and/or are not impartial.^[2] Further, physical evidence from the initial excavations is absent or has been lost. A basic summary of the history of the pit is as follows:
In 1795, 18-year-old Daniel McGinnis, after observing lights coming from the island, discovered a circular depression in a clearing on the southeastern end of the island. Adjacent to the clearing was a tree with a tackle block on one of its overhanging branches.^[3] Daniel McGinnis, with the help of friends John Smith (in early accounts, Samuel Ball) and Anthony Vaughan, excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones a few feet below. On the pit walls there were visible markings from a pick. As they dug down they discovered layers of logs at about every 10 feet (3.0 m). They abandoned the excavation at 30 feet (9.1 m).^[3]
This initial discovery and excavation was first briefly mentioned in print in the Liverpool Transcript in October 1856. A more complete account followed, again in the Liverpool Transcript,^[3][4] the Novascotian,^[5][6] British Colonist,^[7] and A History Of Lunenburg County^[8] (the last source based on the Liverpool Transcript articles).
About eight years after the 1795 dig, according to the original articles and the memories of Vaughan, another company examined what was to become known as the "Money Pit." The Onslow Company sailed 300 nautical miles (560 km) from central Nova Scotia near Truro to Oak Island with the goal of recovering what they believed to be secret treasure. They continued the excavation down to approximately 90 feet (27.43 m) and found layers of logs or "marks" about every ten feet (3 m) and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre at 40, 50 and 60 feet (12, 15 and 18 m ).
According to one of the earliest written accounts, at 80–90 feet (24–27 m), they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols.^[4] Several researchers apparently attempted to decipher the symbols. One translated them as saying: "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." The symbols currently associated with the "forty feet down..." translation and seen in many books first appeared in True Tales of Buried Treasure, written by explorer and historian Edward Rowe Snow in 1951. In this book he states he was given this set of symbols by Reverend A.T. Kempton of Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[9] Nothing more is known about Kempton's involvement in the Oak Island tale. The pit subsequently flooded up to the 33-foot (10 m) level. Bailing did not reduce the water level, and the excavation was abandoned.
Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86 feet (26 m) level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet (30 m), a 12-inch (300 mm) head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet (2.1 m) without striking anything else.^[4]

Oak Island Association and Old Gold Salvage group

The next excavation attempt was made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association which resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into either a natural cavern or booby trap underneath. The first fatality during excavations occurred when the boiler of a pumping engine burst.^[10] (Six people have been killed in accidents during various excavations.) The company gave up when their funds were exhausted in 1864.
Further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which was successful. Excavators did however pour red paint into the flooded pit which revealed three separate exit holes around the island. Another fatality occurred in 1887, when a worker fell to his death.^[10] Franklin Roosevelt was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up with news and developments for most of his life.

Gilbert Hedden and William Chappell

In 1928, a New York newspaper printed a feature story about the strange history of the island. Gilbert Hedden, operator of a steel fabricating concern, saw the article and was fascinated by the engineering problems involved in recovering the putative treasure. Hedden collected books and articles on the island and made six trips there. He even ventured to England to converse with Harold Tom Wilkins, the author of Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island, believing he had found a link between Oak Island and a map in Wilkins's book.^[11]
Hedden purchased the southeast end of the island. He began digging in the summer of 1935, following excavations by William Chappell in 1931. In 1939, he even informed King George VI about developments on Oak Island.
The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163-foot (50 m) shaft 12 × 14 feet to the southwest of what he believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet (39 m), a number of artifacts, including an axe, an anchor fluke, and a pick were found. The pick has been identified as a Cornish miner's poll pick. By this time, the entire area around the Money Pit was littered with the debris and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts. So, exactly to whom the pick belonged is unverifiable.

Restall family and Robert Dunfield

Excavation by the Restall family in the early 1960s ended tragically when four men died after being overcome by fumes in a shaft near the beach. In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased the island and, using a 70-ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 134 feet (41 m) and width of 100 feet (30 m). The removed soil was carefully inspected for artifacts. Transportation of the crane to the island required the construction of a causeway (which still exists) from the western end of the island to Crandall's Point on the mainland two hundred metres away.^[10]

Triton Alliance

Around 1967, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235 foot shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images were unclear, and none of these claims have been independently confirmed. The shaft subsequently collapsed, and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully re-dug to 181 feet (55 m), reaching bedrock; work was halted because of lack of funds and the collapse of the partnership.^[12]
In the mid 1960s, an account of an excavation of the "Money Pit" appeared in Reader's Digest magazine.^[13] Over a decade later, the Money Pit mystery was the subject of an episode of the television series In Search of..., which first aired January 18, 1979, bringing the legend of Oak Island to a wider audience.
During the 1990s, further exploration was stalled because of legal battles between the Triton partners. As of 2005, a portion of the island was for sale for an estimated US$7 million. A group called the Oak Island Tourism Society had hoped the Government of Canada would purchase the island, but a group of American businessmen in the drilling industry did so instead.^[1]

Oak Island Tours Inc.

It was announced in April 2006 that partners from Michigan had purchased a 50% stake in Oak Island Tours Inc., for an undisclosed amount of money. The shares sold to the Michigan partners were previously owned by David Tobias; remaining shares are owned by Blankenship. Center Road Developments, in conjunction with Allan Kostrzewa, a member of the Michigan group, had purchased Lot 25 from David Tobias for a reported $230,000 one year previous to Tobias selling the rest of his share. The Michigan group, working with Blankenship, has said it will resume operations on Oak Island in the hope of discovering buried treasure and the mystery of Oak Island.
In July 2010, Blankenship and the other stakeholders in Oak Island Tours Inc. announced on their website that the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources/Tourism, Culture and Heritage had granted them a temporary Treasure Trove License, allowing them to resume activities until December 31, 2010.^[14] After December 2010, the department repealed the former Treasure Trove Act and replaced it with a new "Oak Island Act".^[15] The new Oak Island Treasure Act came into effect as of January 1, 2011 and allows for treasure hunting to continue on the island under the terms of a licence issued by the Minister of Natural Resources.

Treasure theories

There has been wide-ranging speculation amongst enthusiasts as to who originally dug the pit and what it might contain. Later accounts say that oak platforms were discovered every 10 feet (3.0 m),^[16] but the earliest accounts simply say that "marks" of some type were found at these places.^[16] They also say there were "tool marks" or pick scrapes on the walls of the money pit and that the dirt was noticeably loose and not as hard packed as the surrounding soil.^[16] One expedition said they found the flood tunnel at 90 feet, and that it was lined with flat stones.^[16] However, Robert Dunfield (a trained geologist) wrote that he carefully examined the walls of the re-excavated pit and was unable to locate any evidence of this tunnel.^[16]
The cipher stone, which one researcher is said to have translated to read "Forty feet below two million pounds is buried",^[17] was allegedly last seen in the early 20th century (exact dates are a topic of controversy). Some accounts state that Smith used it as a fireback in his fireplace,^[16] while others claim it was last seen as a doorstep in a Halifax bookbinder's shop.^[16] The accuracy of the translation, whether the symbols as commonly depicted are accurate, or if they meant anything at all, remains disputed. Barry Fell, the author of the controversial^[18][19] books America B.C. and Saga America, was sent a copy of the inscription by the chief archivist of the Nova Scotia Archives in the late 1970s.^{[citation needed]} Fell, whose publications consisted largely of alleged translations of inscriptions on stones found elsewhere in North America, concluded that the symbols were similar to the Coptic alphabet and when translated implied that the people needed to remember their God or else they would perish.^[20]
Man-made structures under Oak Island do in fact exist as discussed in many books, including a book written by Lee Lamb, daughter of Robert Restall.^[21] Whether these structures were constructed by people hiding a treasure, or are the remains of prior excavation attempts, is unknown.

Pirate treasure

One theory is that the pit holds a pirate treasure hoard buried by Captain Kidd or possibly Edward Teach (Blackbeard), who claimed he buried his treasure "where none but Satan and myself can find it."^[17] Some also hold to the theory that Kidd conspired with Henry Every and Oak Island was used as a pseudo community bank between the two.

Naval treasure

Another theory proposes it was dug to hold treasure but that this was done by someone other than pirates, such as Spanish sailors from a wrecked galleon or British troops during the American Revolution. John Godwin argued that, given the apparent size and complexity of the pit, it was likely dug by French army engineers hoping to hide the contents of the treasury of the Fortress of Louisbourg after it fell to the British during the Seven Years' War.^[22]

Marie Antoinette's jewels

There is a story that, like most others regarding the island, lacks adequate archival sources, or any quoted sources at all, which places the priceless jewels of Marie Antoinette (which are historically missing, save for some specimens in the collections of museums worldwide) on Oak Island^{[citation needed]}. During the French Revolution, when the Palace of Versailles was stormed by revolutionaries in 1789, Marie Antoinette instructed her maid or a lady-in-waiting to take her prized possessions and flee. Supposedly, this maid fled to London with such royal items as Antoinette's jewels and perhaps other treasures, such as important artwork or documents, secreted away either on her person (one variation suggests sewn into her underskirts in the case of the jewels, though fails to mention artwork) or as her luggage; it is even said she was perhaps assisted by the remaining officers of the French navy during the uprising at the queen's behest.
The story then goes on to say that this woman fled further afield from London to Nova Scotia.^{[citation needed]} Through the royal connections she would have had during her service to the queen at Versailles, she managed to contract the French navy to help construct the famed 'pit' on the island. This theory (as noted) lacks recognized documentation other than that which is folkloric in nature, involves the French navy, which (during the Revolution) had an uncertain level of authority, and would place the construction of the Oak Island structure very close to its initial discovery by Daniel McGinnis in 1795. Whether such a complex engineering effort could have been completed in that small space of time is questionable, though no official date of its construction exists. However, other theories do suggest the structure is French and naval in style.^{[citation needed]}

Exotic treasure

Still others have speculated that the Oak Island pit was dug to hold treasure much more exotic than gold or silver. In his 1953 book, The Oak Island Enigma: A History and Inquiry Into the Origin of the Money Pit, Penn Leary believed that English philosopher Francis Bacon used the pit to hide documents proving him to be the author of William Shakespeare's plays.^[23] Author and researcher Mark Finnan^[24] elaborated upon this theory. The theory was also used in the Norwegian book Organisten (The Organ Player) by Erlend Loe and Petter Amundsen.^[25] It has also been asserted that the pit may have been dug by exiled Knights Templar and that it is the last resting place of the Holy Grail or even the holy Ark of the Covenant.^[26]

Freemasonry

Mark Finnan in his book Oak Island Secrets^[27] noted that many Masonic markings were found on Oak Island and pointed out that the shaft or pit and its mysterious contents seemed to replicate aspects of a Masonic initiation rite involving a hidden vault containing a sacred treasure. Joe Nickell identifies parallels between the accounts of Oak Island and the allegory of the "Secret Vault" in York Rite Freemasonry, similar to the Chase Vault, identifies many prominent excavators as Freemasons, and suggests that the accounts explicitly include Masonic imagery.^[2]

Natural sinkhole theory

Critics argue that there is no treasure and that the apparent pit is a natural phenomenon, likely a sinkhole and natural caverns.^[2] Suggestions that the pit is a natural phenomenon, specifically a sinkhole or debris in a fault, date to at least 1911.^{[28][29][30][31]} There are numerous sinkholes on the mainland near the island, together with underground caves (to which the apparent booby traps are attributed).
The appearance of a man-made pit has been attributed partly to the texture of sinkholes: "this filling would be softer than the surrounding ground, and give the impression that it had been dug up before",^[31] and the appearance of "platforms" of rotten logs has been attributed to trees or "blowdowns" falling or washing into the depression.^[32] An undetermined pit similar to the description of the early Money Pit had been discovered in the area. In 1949, workmen digging a well on the shore of Mahone Bay, at a point where the earth was soft, found a pit of the following description: "At about two feet down a layer of fieldstone was struck. Then logs of spruce and oak were unearthed at irregular intervals, and some of the wood was charred. The immediate suspicion was that another Money Pit had been found."^[33]

Pit flooding issues

In 1851, treasure hunters discovered fibres beneath the surface of one beach called Smith's Cove. This led to the theory that the beach had been converted into a giant siphon, feeding water from the ocean into the pit via a manmade tunnel.
The purpose of these fibres has been a source of heated debate among Oak Island researchers since Coconut trees are not natural to Canada; a sample of this material was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in the early 20th century, where it was concluded that the material was coconut fibre.^[34] Carbon dating was conducted on a sample in the 1960s and returned a date of 1200–1400 CE.^[34] However, this testing method reveals only when the material was harvested, not when it was deposited at the site. Furthermore it is now known that carbon dating is less reliable for marine organisms and objects long immersed in seawater, due to the marine reservoir effect. For marine organisms, typically the dated object appears about 450 years older than its true age (a correction first estimated in 1975, although the exact value would have to be determined for the waters in which it was found.^[35])
Oak Island lies on a glacial tumulus system and is underlain by a series of water-filled anhydrite cavities, which may be responsible for the repeated flooding of the pit. This type of limestone easily dissolves when exposed to water, forming caves and natural voids. Bedrock lies at a depth of 130–150 feet in the Money Pit area.
Upon the invitation of Boston-area businessman David Mugar, a two-week survey was conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1995. This is the only known scientific study that has been conducted on the site. After running dye tests in the bore hole, they concluded that the flooding was caused by a natural interaction between the island's freshwater lens and tidal pressures in the underlying geology, refuting the idea of artificially constructed flood tunnels. The Woods Hole scientists who viewed the videos taken in 1971 concluded that nothing conclusive could be determined from the murky images.^[36]

Non fiction and fictional accounts

Oak Island has been a staple of treasure literature with the first published account appearing in 1863 and new books appearing on regular basis. Over 50 books have been published recounting the island's history and exploring competing theories.^[37]
Several works of fiction have been based upon the Money Pit, including The Money Pit Mystery, Riptide and The Hand of Robin Squires. It was also a major plot device in the episode "The Man with the Bone" of the fictional crime drama series Bones. Additionally, the Oak Island/Money Pit Mystery led to the ill-fated Cork Graham/Richard Knight hunt for Captain Kidd's treasure off western Vietnam in 1983, documented in The Bamboo Chest.
In 2007, the island was featured in a museum display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which displayed many artifacts from various eras of treasure hunting as part of the museum's exhibit Pirates: Myth and Reality.
In 2012, the island is featured in the video game Assassin's Creed 3 by Ubisoft. The player gets to Oak Island by completing quests related to Captain Kidd.

Television

The Money Pit mystery was the subject of a January 18, 1979, episode of the television series In Search of.... It was also featured on an episode of the television documentary series Northern Mysteries and covered extensively in the Ancient Aliens television series on the History Channel.
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Stargates on Earth?

THE last few years has seen a lot of speculation regarding the existence of possible “stargates” around the planet. Most of the internet theories and conspiracy site information has been published by people with their own agendas at heart. People seeking attention utilising incredulous claims of alien transportation artefacts. Saying that, research has been on-going into unusual magnetic and electrical activities in a number of sites around the globe.
First off we have the famous Bermuda Triangle in the Caribbean, and its lesser-known sister anomaly, The Dragon’s Triangle, near Japan. A number of researchers have discovered strange magnetic readings in the Bermuda Triangle. When combined with the numerous missing aircraft and ships, and the apparent effect the area has on some electronic equipment, there’s definitely a cause for further investigation. Some have claimed there is a submerged stargate on the ocean’s floor, and it may be that this gate is operating randomly, which may explain the unpredictable disappearance of many aircraft and ships. The area around the triangle has been host to a number of UFO sightings also, particularly claims of unidentified craft emerging from the sea. The concept of the triangle has been attributed, by a handful of researchers, as a possible mini black hole, with the corresponding “white hole” being in the Dragon’s Triangle. It would be interesting to search the area near Japan for downed aircraft and ships which didn’t originate in south-east Asia. It may be that the ships are pulled into the black hole on one side of the world, and re-appear on the other side, albeit under the sea. It is also possible that the suggested black and white holes are indeed stargates, operating as portals to other parts of the world. It could have been a network of incredibly fast travel between continents, and perhaps the stargates were originally on land but fell into disrepair thousands of years ago and somehow ended up on the bottom of the ocean. The Bimini Steps or Bimini Road, seemingly manmade structures found under the ocean, may originally have been the departure/arrivals dock to the Bermuda Stargate. There could be similar underwater structures near the other alleged stargates around the planet. The famous mythical Atlantis may have been a reality after all, albeit maybe not on Earth. Perhaps the land surrounding Bimini and the Bahamas may have been the site of the stargate which connected to Atlantis, which  could be another planet or moon. The information about the location of Atlantis may have been misconstrued throughout the ages, and when it was finally written about by Plato, the knowledge was garbled. Instead of it being an island west of the “Pillars of Hercules”, it was only the stargate to Atlantis that was on Earth. When sea levels rose millennia ago, the area surrounding the stargate could have been submerged and the gate lost. The mythical continent didn’t sink, but the access gate to it did.
Secondly, there is a supposed gate near Yemen, in the Gulf of Aden, according to some reports. There has been an apparent massive naval build-up in the area by many nations, and supposedly up to 300 warships have been stationed there since January of 2010. There has also been a lot of seismic activity in the area, with reports of many earthquakes of varying magnitude throughout the region. Could something have been located in the Gulf of Aden which is now under international guard? Perhaps the earthquake activity is from the gate activating or maybe it’s a side-effect of efforts to retrieve the gate from the sea floor.
It is possible that the other theorised gates across the globe are positioned strategically to allow access to every ancient major area of human civilisation. Hypothetically, we have one located close to the Americas - Central America and North. Another near Yemen, serving east Africa and some of the Middle East. One near Japan, co-incidentally on the same longitude as the Bermuda Triangle, serving the Far East. There could be more, including a possible gate in modern-day Iraq. If there are gates in these locations, it could be assumed that there wouldn’t be a need for two gates in the Middle East. Possibly the Yemen gate was originally located in Egypt or what is now modern-day Iraq and later moved to the Gulf, maybe as a way to bury it. There are links to structures that have similar traits as stargates, particularly Enki’s palace. The Sumerian God Enki had a floating palace, the “Abzu”, in the city of Eridu, a bottomless pit which was known as “the deep”, or “abyss”. This was later built upon, and became the legendary Tower of Babel which was known as the “stairway to heaven”. Could the abyss be the portal through which the ancients travelled?
If these stargates still exist and are currently partially active, then what is powering them? Perhaps the electrical and magnetic interference in these “triangles” is caused by the power source for the gates. Could it be some type of nuclear reactor or zero-point energy device? Our ancient ancestors may have had encounters with this technology. I surmise that Sodom and Gommorah were destroyed by a blast from an exploding power device. It is possible that the power source was being moved to a new location, malfunctioned near these cities and exploded, creating a blast with the equivalent level of destruction as modern nuclear weapons. The power devices may have been venerated by states and rulers long after their function was forgotten. The reactors and the containers that housed them were looked upon as incarnations of God’s power. Wonders that could cause untold damage on those who opened the containers. Could the Ark of the Covenant be a power source of some kind that was originally linked to the stargate in the Middle East? Perhaps it was hidden in the dessert, far away from the gate, and later found by Moses and his followers. The Ark has been seen as an incredibly powerful device throughout history, and many have claimed ownership. I believe one of these power devices is buried at the bottom of the “Money Pit” on Oak Island. It may or may not be that actual Ark of the Covenant, but a very similar device.
 http://theannunakiwillreturn.tumblr.com/