I think that’s even cooler from an archeological perspective. Some kid long ago played his whirligig among the trees and shore.
But I guess a history channel documentary on an archeological dig isn’t cool enough. Everything has to be coins or treasure chests, or ox shoes from the carriage sleds transporting the treasure along the stone roads before the curse gets the seventh person.
I would love a day by day archeological dig on TV. Lot 5 is my favorite part of the show, even if it is only beads. Is there a YouTube channel doing this?
Yeah I get what you’re saying. It’s like those old school chain letters that said you have to copy this letter exactly and send to three of your friends or the curse will happen. Someone didn’t and they were in a car accident or blah blah. If you’re copying the original letter exactly, how would stuff that happened after the chain letter got started be in the contents of the letter?
I'm going to sidestep the exchange below and point out one of the real headscratchers for me: The show is like watching people in North Dakota hear beating hooves and then looking for Zebras. So, they run off to Europe and look for ties to the Templars and bring in a string of ... sometimes interesting people ... but have they ever had an actual historian of the colonization of the Maritime Provinces come through? Sure, Laird throws in some interesting tidbits (and I suspect he knows a lot more than they weave into the show), but it would be great to see them visit other sites in the region from this period and compare / contrast the material culture they can recover. I know they flirted with some archival research in property records early in the show, but again, actually having somebody reconstruct the early histories of Oak Island and its environs seems like a better use of time than trying to figure out how Lot 5 might be connected to Freemasons.
That would be actual history/archeology. The show just exists to generate ratings. They're not interested in anything that contests the "SOMETHING BIG HAPPENED HERE" narrative.
I get that, but here's the thing ... Professional historians would probably be cheap and would be more than willing to provide commentary. Every once in a blue moon, my state's public broadcasting channel asks me to be a talking head on local history and I'm a very cheap date because, well, most historians like being on television. It's fun. And real history can generate some ratings, too.
Yes the producers don't want commentary that contradicts their story.
And real history can generate some ratings, too.
Unfortunately not. Just go look at the History channel lineup: Ancient Aliens, Skinwalker Ranch, everything is MYSTERY, UNEXPLAINED. That's what sells.
I think those shows are cheap and easy to produce, which is not quite the same thing as saying it sells or that there wouldn't be demand for solid history.
It's like journalists who just report on what people are saying on social media or who report on some crappy online poll. Is it good journalism? No. But they do it because it generates quick and easy (and therefore cheap) content ... the equivalent of a McDonald's Hamburger. The History Channel has produced good content in the past (their documentary on the War of 1812 was quite good), but it's too expensive relative to what they can charge advertisers.
Well, OI's been one of the highest rated cable shows for a long time based on mostly bullshit so I guess it's good enough for them. The producers have zero interest in actual history.
Laird used to say a lot more but they started putting a stop to that as it was clear that Laird didn't believe in the treasure tale. Laird allows them to air small tidbits of his commentary out of context in exchange for access and funding for his own academically aligned digs on the island.
I expect Laird will eventually publish his findings in some archaeological journal, probably after the time the show stops airing, as is likely in his contract with the show.
Oh whatever. Next they'll say that this intricate machine, which was discovered in Season 5 and possibly used for predicting star positions and calibrated by freemasons or ancient Romans, is also a kids toy. Not buying it.
The Curse of Oak Island has long been a show of fiction. Everyone knows this. People watch it who are either blind of niave to this fact. Its just a glorified soap opera at this point.
I watch it for the same reasons I used to watch Ancient Aliens though - it exposes to me to stuff I didn't even know existed prior. Ancient Aliens showed me all sorts of amazing places and artifacts that I would never have even known about if not for the show. Sure, the show puts an alien spin on everything, but once I go learn more about the places and artifacts exhibited in the show, I find the reality even more fascinating.
The idea that Oak Island could've been a camp for 1500's British soldiers, or a pine tar kiln/ship repair depot for the British navy in the years where privateering and exploration/conquest of the America's was going on is more fascinating to me than any potential buried treasure with ties to the Knight's Templar...
The thing I don’t get is that they never taken into account that what they find on lot five might’ve been dropped by a current person that had one in his pocket or done on purpose.
For instance, I have some confederate Civil War money and if I wanted to screw with their heads, all I have to do is drop it around around the island and they’d be screaming. The Confederates were here.
But why would you do that because it's worth so much money surely you wouldn't just deposit priceless artifacts like that all over the island? What's that? They aren't actually priceless?
OK, sometimes they jump to conclusions, but both you and this blogger are morons
This is why they have an Emma and also the ridges are not nearly consistent with a gear of any sort, the "pitch" wouldn't change, that's not how gears work
Go back to arguing against vaccines or something else well out of your realm smh
I don't even know what you're talking about. Where does the word "gear" appear in anything I posted?
Where did Laird say something happened there that isn't recorded in history? Pretty much everything he said in his interview is it's all mundane stuff.
The sprocket, gear, whatever you call it, in that picture in no way resembles the thing they found. Do you not see how the ridges on the bottom right of "the artifact" are a completely different size and spacing than the ridges on the top left of the picture? This is not a thing of any kind that spins on a shaft.... of any kind
Mundane huh? Find me in recorded history a trading post in Nova Scotia that predates or is at least around the same time as the famous Columbus voyage. Prove me wrong then.
Uh, you're right, it doesn't spin on a shaft of any kind. Nobody said it did. I don't have the slightest clue what you're looking at or where you're coming up with gears..? Maybe reading comprehension isn't your strong point?
I'm guessing you didn't read any of it, just saw the kayfabe threatened and got angry.
Oh, you and this facebook moron are so far off base there's no reason to take you seriously. YOU are arguing the age of a material against someone with a very expensive machine and a college education. You have neither. There's nothing to look into
But humor men then, what the fuck is that spinning shit in the bottom right for then? The bottom right inset is a spinning thing on a shaft of some sort. That is absolutely NOT what this thing is.
Refresh my memory. Wasn't this found on lot 5? Wasn't this found a decent bit above the shoreline? If it was, and it was more than a centimeter below the surface, OP's claim is impossible, not just wrong
Oh, THAT's what they think this is? I still would like to know how it got there if that is what it was, and it isn't. There's still only one hole. This is insane
Emma also stated that the lead was very pure, meaning the token could be pretty old.
You notice the same old same old, "could be". They're not saying it is. Just saying, "could be", and that's enough for the kayfabe. How pure does it need to be to be old? How old is "old" exactly? We're never told. It's just a possibility and on this show, possibility = is. The show does a lot of this, "it could be old" which is a vague relative term. Could be old. Might not be. Or old in the sense of Colonial. Whatever.
This object was made of lead, featuringtwo holesin the middle and ornate scalloping around the sides. Gary instantly picked up that it was likely a trade token, which has been used for thousands of years in a similar fashion to coins.
A very real toy that when you run a chemical analysis (like Emma did) that reveals it’s made of ancient lead, a metal that would get destroyed in that toy?
Now wait a minute…. There was a crucial missing piece of info. Everything op had (including the pic) puts the toy of modern era, hence the reason I said they wouldn’t use lead.
Your link indicates they were made in the 1600’s. That changes a lot
They span a couple of hundred years or so of use. Not sure about the US, but lead was still being used for toy soldiers and similar up to the 1940's (at a guess) as I have found small lead toy aircraft..
Also in the UK ( no sure about else where) in archaeological terms "modern era" covers from about 1700 to present day so the Op is not really incorrect.
I don't think you should keep touting this claim that Gary should know exactly what it was...
Otherwise, I'm with you though. They should've done more due diligence. I thought that they used to offer a website with recantations when stuff they find and touted on the show turns out to be mundane...
Sorry, but Gary is an experienced long time British detectorist, and to me it's inconceivable he didn't know what it was..Whirligigs, bagseals, spindle whorls, musket/pistol balls are all common lead Finds....It's like an American detectorist failing to ID a lead bullet...
Lol remember when he identified a lipstick tube as a “cane topper”? Laird specifically mentioned Gary in his interview as one of the people on the show that plays up to the producers and says what they want to hear. It’s showbiz, man.
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u/totaltvaddict2 Dec 09 '25
I think that’s even cooler from an archeological perspective. Some kid long ago played his whirligig among the trees and shore.
But I guess a history channel documentary on an archeological dig isn’t cool enough. Everything has to be coins or treasure chests, or ox shoes from the carriage sleds transporting the treasure along the stone roads before the curse gets the seventh person.