The History Channel’s The Curse of Oak Island remains a fascinating puzzle box. The series, which began in 2014, follows Marty and Rick Lagina and their team as they attempt to solve the enduring mystery of what’s buried on that small island off the Nova Scotia coast. While the treasure hunting itself is the main focus, it’s the various theories about what that treasure actually is, and the methods used to hide it, that really capture our imaginations. Let’s take a look at some of the most well known.
Captain Kidd
The idea that Captain William Kidd buried his loot on Oak Island is a popular starting point. The story of Kidd, and his supposed treasure, is the classic pirate tale, a swashbuckling adventure and buried treasure. It’s a neat and tidy narrative and it’s easy to see why people gravitate towards it. The basic idea is that, in the late 17th century, Kidd hid a large amount of riches on the island before his capture, which is pretty romantic but sadly there’s very little evidence to back this one up. Still, the sheer thrill of a pirate’s treasure continues to draw people to the mystery.
The Knights Templar
The Knights Templar connection is one of the more popular theories that persists to this day. The theory goes that the Templars, who were a powerful religious order that controlled huge amounts of wealth, were somehow able to move all their treasures to the island sometime before their demise in 1307, maybe to keep them safe. This would require the Knights Templar to have made the perilous Atlantic crossing, well before other Europeans are known to have done so. The Templars always bring a sense of intrigue and conspiracy to any story, and their association with Oak Island certainly enhances the mystique.
Marie Antoinette
Then there’s the narrative that Marie Antoinette’s jewels were smuggled out of France and hidden on Oak Island before the French Revolution. This provides a more detailed and more organized reason for why and how the Money Pit was constructed. The jewels, supposedly, were hidden to keep them away from those who might seek them during the unrest of the time. This theory suggests a level of sophistication and planning that is more in keeping with the actual evidence than the rather more haphazard pirate narrative.
Francis Bacon
The Francis Bacon theory posits that the island holds more than just gold. It suggests that the secret cache includes the original manuscripts of the works that are attributed to William Shakespeare. The core idea here is that Francis Bacon, who some believe was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays, used Oak Island to conceal them, as well as other writings, that needed to be kept from prying eyes. This theory elevates the treasure beyond just material wealth and speaks to a much greater need to protect secrets.
The Freemasons
Many also believe that the elaborate engineering and construction of the Money Pit are a part of a secret society’s design. This theory often links the structures found on the island to the Freemasons (who also have ties to the Francis Bacon theory) or some other similar brotherhood. The thought is that these secret societies constructed the Money Pit, and the other strange features, as some sort of storage system, or possibly as part of some ritual. This theory connects the mystery to broader themes of secret societies and clandestine operations. It also implies the island has deeper symbolic meaning.
William Phipps
Finally, current favourite theory connects the island to William Phipps, a 17th-century treasure hunter and colonial governor, who, in 1687, recovered a massive haul of silver from a Spanish wreck. The idea is that Phipps, rather than taking his loot directly back to England, may have concealed some of it on Oak Island. It’s a slightly more grounded idea than some of the other theories, because there is at least some historical documentation of Phipps and his treasure hunting expeditions, which makes it more credible. It also provides a potentially reasonable explanation for the timeline of events at Oak Island.
