Critical Enquiry

Updated as new works are published or discovered.

Books

Crooker, William S., The Oak Island Quest, Lancelot Press, Hantspost (N.S.), 1978.

Evans, Millie, Nova Scotia’s Oak Island: the unsolved mystery, Tantallon, N.S. : Four East, 1993

Furneaux, Rupert, The Money Pit Mystery, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1972.

Harris, Reginald V., The Oak Island Mystery, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto, 1958.

Kingston, Jeremy, Mystere’s de i’insolite, Le Livre de Paris, Hachette, Paris, 1980.

Leary, Thomas P., The Oak Island enigma : a history and inquiry into the origin of the money pit, T.P. Leary, 1953.

Marcil, Claude, Oak Island: l’Ile au Tresor, ISBN 2920176625

O’Connor, D’Arcy, The Money Pit: The Story of Oak Island, Coward & McCann, Geoghegan, New York, 1978.

O’Connor, D’Arcy, The Big Dig, Ballantine Books 1988

Young, George, Ancient Peoples and Modern Ghosts, Lunenburg County Print Ltd. Lunenburg (N.S.), 1980

Fanthorpe, Lionel and Patricia, The Oak Island Mystery… 1995.

Crooker, William W., Oak Island Gold: One of The World’s Most Baffling Mysteries. Halifax: Nimbus, 1993 (Thanks to Elyse M Cregar)

Finnan, Mark, Oak Island Secrets. Halifax: Formac Publishing Ltd. 1995. (Thanks to Ted Gammon)

Platt, Cameron, and John Wright, The Fascinating World of Pirates, Buried Treasure, and Fortune Hunters. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum 1995. (Thanks to Marci Ficht)

De Mille, James, The Treasure of the Seas, 1873 (very interesting early work presenting the legend in the context of an adventure by three boys). See Canadiana.org’s link for an online copy in PDF format. (Thanks to Dennis King)

Finnan, Mark, Oak Island Secrets (updated 1997 edition). Halifax: Formac Publishing Ltd. 1997, ISBN 0-88780-414-4. (Thanks to Mark for providing the publication notice)

Harris, G., and MacPhie, L., Oak Island and Its Lost Treasure. Halifax: Formac Publishing Company Limited 1999 (Thanks to Brent Myers)

Sora, Steven, The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar. Inner Traditions/Destiny publishers, 1999, ISBN 0-89-281-710-0 (Thanks to Neil Barron)>

Johnson, Laverne, Revealed: The Secret of Oak Island: The Untold Story of the Mystery of the Oak Island Treasure. Vancouver: Benwell-Atkins Printers 1999. ISBN 0-96-951-990-7. (Thanks to Ryan Soprovich and Dennis King)

Evans, Millie & Eric Mullen, Oak Island, Nova Scotia – The World’s Greatest Treasure Hunt, (1984) ISBN # 0-920427-01-4 (Thanks to Don McNichol)

Reynolds, Mark. The Mystery of the Oak Island Treasure: Two Hundred Years of Hope and Despair. Toronto: Lorimer, 2011. Print. (thanks to James Wadsworth)

Articles

(Author not given), “Correspondence”, Liverpool Transcript, 15 Aug., 1857 (Thanks to Linda Rafuse)

(Author not given), “The Oak Island Folly,” Nova Scotian newspaper, 29 Aug, 1861 (Thanks to Linda Rafuse)

“Patrick” (response to “The Oak Island Folly”), Nova Scotian newspaper, 30 Sept. 1861.

McCully, J.B., “The Oak Island Diggings”, Liverpool Transcript, Oct 1862 (Thanks to Linda Rafuse)

“A Member,” “A History of The Oak Island Enterprise,” British Colonist, in 3 chapters published on 2, 7, and 14 Jan., 1864 (Thanks to Linda Rafuse)

Doyle, Lynn C., “Nova Scotia’s Treasure Island”, MacLean’s, 1 June 1931.

Ellerd, Kerry, “Finding Buried Treasure: It’s an Expensive Business”, Montreal STAR (weekend magazine), Feb 6, 1971.

French, Carey, “Treasure Island? Fabled Booty Eludes the Fortune Hunters”, Globe & Mail, Toronto, 19 Nov 1983.

Howlett, A., “Mystery of Captain Kidd’s Treasure”, World Wide Magazine, Oct 1958.

MacDonald, David, “Oak Island’s Mysterious `Money Pit'”, Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1965.

Morell, Parker, “The Money Pit”, Saturday Evening Post, Toronto, Oct 14, 1939.

Morell, Virginia, “The Pit and the Perplexities”, Equinoxe, May-June 1983.

Nickell, Joe, “The Secret Of Oak Island”, Skeptical Inquirer, March 2000.

Teale, Edwin, “Captain Kidd’s Gold?”, Popular Science, vol 134 #4, April 1939.

Preston, Douglas. “Death Trap Defies Treasure Seekers for Two Centuries“, Smithsonian, June, 1988 (Vol. 19, No. 3) (Thanks to Ken Stuart and Dennis King)

“Island of controversy” Maclean’s, August 21, 1995

“Yep, they’re still digging…” Forbes, September 26, 1995

Freeman, Patricia, and Dirk Mathison. “Adventure: Writer D’Arcy O’Connor, Digging Deep into ‘Money Pit’ Lore, Unearths a Trove of Mysteries”, People, 6 Mar., 1989. Available at The Electric Library . (Thanks to Marci Ficht)

Proctor, Steve, “Island of Controversy. (Oak Island Salvage Operation)”, Maclean’s, Vol. 108, 21 August 1995. Available at The Electric Library . (Thanks to Marci Ficht)

Gomez, Linda, “Cover Story: 8 Great Buried Treasures This Lucky Man Found His, But Others Lie Unclaimed”, Life, 1 March, 1987. Available at The Electric Library . (Thanks to Marci Ficht)

(Author unknown), The Saturday Evening Post, a 7 page article in the October 14, 1939 issue. (Thanks to Don McNichol)

(Author unknown), True Treasure Magazine – summer 1967 (no further data available). According to Don, “the article has several vintage photos & drawings,some that I haven’t seen in other publications.” Copies of this article available for $2.95 at http://www.losttreasure.com/node/8159 (Thanks to Don McNichol for the reference, and Rob Westrick for the URL)

Sullivan, Randall, “The Curse of Oak Island,” Rolling Stone Magazine, 22 January, 2004 (Thanks to various folk for updating me on this one).

Wilhelm, R., The Spanish in Nova Scotia in the Sixteenth Century–A Hint in the Oak Island Treasure Mystery. Dalhousie Review Vol. 50 #4. Available online.

Driscoll, Charles B. “The Oak Island Treasure.” The North American Review. 227.6 (1929):  685-98. Print.  (thanks to James Wadsworth)

“Explore Oak Island Days Debate highlights this year’s event” (online)

Merry, Edwin D., “Oak Island Hoards Her Gold” American Mercury, May 1957

(Author unknown), “Will Oak Island Give Up Its Gold”, Canadian Magazine   May 1931 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

Bowdoin, Harry, “Solving the Mystery of Oak Island”, Collier’s, August 19, 1911 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

Major, Ralph H., “Buried Treasure of Oak Island”, Coronet, July 1954 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

(Author unknown), “Mystery of Oak Island”, Esquire, February 1973 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

(Author unknown), “Gold on a Nova Scotia Island”, Life, July 21, 1952 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

(Author unknown), “Deep the Treasure in Nova Scotia”, Newsweek, June 16, 1947 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

(Author unknown), “Hidden Treasure? Oak Island”, Newsweek, November 8, 1971 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

Driscoll, Charles B., “Oak Island Treasure” North American, June 1929 (thanks to Rob Westrick)

The following books also mention Oak Island

Des Brisay, Mather Byles, History of the County of Lunenburg, Toronto, William Briggs 1895

Finnan, Mark, The First Nova Scotian. Halifax: Formac Publishing Ltd 1997, ISBN 0-88780-410-1.

Fuller & Leslie-Melville, Pirate Harbours & Secrets. London, Stanley, Paul, & Co. 1935

Hine, Charles Gilbert, Travels in Nova Scotia in the Year Nineteen Thirteen, (publisher stats not currently available).

Driscoll, Charles B., Doubloons: The Story of Buried Treasure. London, Chapman & Hall, 1931.

Nesmith, Robert I., Dig for Pirate Treasure. New York, Bonanza Books 1958

Paine, Ralph D., The Book of Buried Treasure. New York, Macmillan & co, 1922

Platt, Cameron, and John Loright, Treasure Islands. London, Michael O’Hara Books, 1992.

Wilkins, Harold, A Modern Treasure Hunter. London, C & J Temple, 1948.

Time-Life Books, Lost Treasures, pp. 118-119 (part of the “Library of Curious & Unusual Facts”). Time-Life Books. (Thanks to John Molpus)

Titler, Dale M., Unnatural Resources: True Stories of American Treasure, (1973) Prentice-Hall Inc. has a 10 page chapter dealing with Oak island. ISBN # -0-13-938910-5 (Thanks to Don McNichol)

Barrett, T.D., True Tales of Buried Treasure, Haldeman-Julius publications, Gerard, Kansas (1946) item # B-500. It contains a 12 page story on Oak Island. (Thanks to Don McNichol)

Video/Web

“Oak Island.” Land and Sea. Dir. Jessica Brown. 29 Aug. 2010. CBC | Land and Sea. Web. 18 July 2011. Accessed at http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2010/08/oak-island.html (thanks to James Wadsworth)

Dunning, Brian. “The Oak Island Money Pit.” Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc., 25 Nov. 2008. Web. (thanks to James Wadsworth)

Verrill, A. Hyatt. Lost Treasure – True Tales of Hidden Hoards A narration on various treasures in the Americas, 1930. Accessed at http://stillwoods.blogspot.com/2011/01/oak-island-treasure.html (thanks to Doug Frizzle)

Final Note

I have been informed by several correspondents of the existence of a graduate thesis that successfully compares the basic details of the known works on the island to techniques used by British Army (or Royal Navy) units at approximately the correct period. As yet I have been unable to locate this work; I am unsure whether it simply does not exist or publication data for the work is difficult to locate. I offer much gratitude (and beer, if convenient!) to the first person who uncovers a copy and provides me with a method of obtaining same.

Please use the site contact form, since some jackass spammer (as if there’s another kind) found the form on this page and was using it to barrage me with infantile garbage, as spammers are wont to do, being low-life morons with nothing better to do in life than emit heaps of shite.