The Curse of Oak Island: PIRATE CONNECTION DISCOVERED (Season 4) | History

Oh, here, look.
Yeah.
That says “Kidd’s treasure.”

NARRATOR: At the South Shore Genealogy Center in the nearby town of Lunenburg, Charles Barkhouse and investigative journalist Randall Sullivan may have just found an important clue connecting the Oak Island mystery to the 17th century pirate Captain William Kidd.

One of the things that was kind of curious on the map is they list Kidd’s treasure. It was written in pen right there. Even back then, they believed that Captain Kidd’s treasure was buried on Oak Island. It was obviously recognized as a treasure site by the map maker even.

NARRATOR: During the late 17th century, Captain William Kidd became notorious for attacking and looting merchant ships, from the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean. In 1699, he was finally arrested and sent to England, where he stood trial for piracy and was sentenced to death.

Despite a desperate plea for clemency by offering to trade his life in exchange for a mysterious treasure, which he claimed was buried somewhere east of Boston, Kidd was hanged on May 23, 1701.

Is it possible that Captain William Kidd was really the man behind the Oak Island mystery? Are the countless legends connecting Oak Island to pirates and pirate gold really true after all?

CHARLES BARKHOUSE: You know, we’re looking in the McGinnis file for Daniel McGinnis because, you know, he’s supposedly one of the original finders of the Money Pit. Now, there’s various spellings of McGinnis, you know. So M-C– OK, here’s McGinnis. Here’s McGinnis.

Yeah. Oh, you got a McGinnis? Yeah. It’s a book, “Western Shore, Gold River, Martin’s Point Communities.” Let’s ask them if we can–

• Yeah.
  Oh, let me ask them.
  –take a look at that. There’s a listing of a book here.
  Oh, wonderful. Yes, right over here. OK.

CHARLES BARKHOUSE: There’s a story of this ancient sailor. He’s on his deathbed, and he’s relating this story of him being a member of Captain Kidd’s crew.

“It was published on December 20, 1863, and subsequently by a member of the Oak Island Association, who said that more than a century before, an old man died in what was then known as the British–” oh my god, I didn’t realize–
“as the British colony of New England, who, on his deathbed, confessed to having been one of the crew of the famous Captain Kidd and assured those who attended him in his last moments that he had many years previously assisted that noted pirate and his followers in bearing over 2 million in money beneath the soil of a secluded island east of Boston.”

NARRATOR: 2 million in buried treasure?

In 1804, while digging in the Money Pit, searchers from the Onslow Company found a large smooth stone slab at a depth of 90 feet. On it were strange carvings, which, when later translated, read “40 feet below, 2 million pounds are buried.”

Could the markings on the so-called 90-foot stone be evidence that the old sailor’s deathbed confession was true? Is Captain William Kidd’s treasure really buried at the bottom of the Oak Island Money Pit?

RANDALL SULLIVAN: One of the problems with Oak Island from a writer-researcher’s point of view is that the historical record is scant. There are bits and pieces that you can hold onto, but it’s a process of putting pieces together and try to find out whatever I can that would be worth all this work.

Well, I mean, it’s fascinating. It’s, you know– and I’m glad we made the trip, but it’s, like, added one more layer of–

• It’s fascinating–
• –what if, maybe.
  –and exasperating at the same time.

Yeah, it is. You know, so I guess you got your work cut out for you. I don’t have to solve it. I just have to tell the story.

Well.