After I arrived in Canada’s lesser-known province of Nova Scotia, I used to be anticipating tranquil seafronts – as an alternative, I found a TV empire hinged on a 200-year-old thriller.
For hundreds of thousands in North America and around the globe, the province of Nova Scotia conjures up simply two phrases – Oak Island.
As I quickly came upon, the oft-whispered-about landmass within the japanese Canadian province is believed to be residence to an as-yet undiscovered trove of treasure, following the invention of a man-made community off the shorefront in 1795.
Over the previous two centuries, tons of have flocked to the island, particularly to the realm often called the ‘Cash Pit’, to see if they’ll uncover the mysteries that lie inside.
In 2012, brothers Rick and Marty Lagina determined to televise their makes an attempt to search out this mythological treasure, backed by machine-powered drills, a metallic detectorist named Gary Drayton, and numerous historians, in a present known as The Curse of Oak Island.
At its peak throughout season seven, it was commonly watched by over 4 million viewers within the US and was touted because the primary present on cable throughout that point, though it has declined in viewership since then.
Nonetheless now it attracts in a tidy two million or so, remaining a TV powerhouse in a saturated panorama.
So there I used to be, after a frantic Google, piling onto a small boat able to be shepherded across the island by one of many present’s skilled divers, Tony Sampson, who regaled us with the entire mystical story.
‘Some say it’s the misplaced King’s ransom of George II, some say it’s a French treasure destined for the American Revolution, and clearly you possibly can’t have a thriller like this with out some saying it was the aliens that did it,’ Tony recounted to us Oak Island rookies.
‘We even have bats*** loopy people who come up right here. They are saying they’ve acquired a map of Oak Island from the 1600s [not possible] trigger they wish to get their face on TV,’ he added, revealing that the frenzy round this treasure is so nice that six individuals have even tragically died in pursuit of it over time.
In 2018, Tony arrange Salty Canine Sea Excursions as a ‘part-time gig’, however the sheer reputation of the present has drawn 1000’s of individuals to his door (and launched three spin-off exhibits).
‘Now my entire life is speaking to individuals about pirates and shipwrecks and treasure, which I like,’ he added.
The ocean across the island even has its personal model of the Bermuda Triangle the place unusual happenings happen, from failed radio communications to individuals washing up half-drowned.
Now, 12 seasons in, one native who watches the present joked that the phrase ‘May it’s?’ adopted by dramatic music (duh duh duh) has develop into its defining takeaway.
Evidently, up to now it hasn’t been.
Though the precise existence of the treasure is up within the air, and buried beneath layers of sand and folklore, the realm has a number of shipwrecks littering the seabed from which loads of gadgets has been procured.
On the boat, we had been proven cash from centuries in the past nonetheless in salvageable situation, tobacco pipes, pot lids and extra.
As such, for a lot of viewers, the present has offered invaluable perception into Nova Scotian and Canadian historical past, which has created a permanent enchantment.
‘This [show] is tons of and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in tourism and promotion for Nova Scotia with 4.5 million viewers within the US alone,’ Tony defined.
‘Wherever we go now on this planet, you say Nova Scotia, they are saying Oak Island. I can’t go right down to the States. If we get off at an airport, any person will come up and say, “Oh my god, are you able to signal my T-shirt?”,’ he added with a smile.
In some ways, discovering this present in such an surprising and hands-on manner felt like stepping via the wanting glass into a very completely different world.
The sheer funding into this (in my view, doomed) treasure hunt is fascinating and baffling in equal measure. Though there’s something reasonably candy within the sentiment that the actual treasure was the buddies you made alongside the best way.
As I delved right into a season 10 episode on YouTube to see what all of the fuss was about (the clip has accrued virtually 70,000 views in simply the three days because it was posted), the ethos of the present was made clear.
After a tense 10 minutes discovering little or no beneath a drill (accompanied by a heart-pounding soundtrack and sweeping digital camera photographs), Rick makes a rousing (and teary) speech to his crew in ‘the conflict room’.
‘Each journey is a shared expertise and we now have been on a decades-long journey collectively and that’s fairly exceptional… consider all of the others who’ve come earlier than us, it’s unimaginable,’ he says.
‘Simply give your self a second and say, “You already know what, I used to be a part of one thing a lot greater than myself.”’
The feedback beneath the YouTube video replicate simply how a lot this present means to the viewers as nicely, with one consumer, susancouder, writing: ‘I get fed up with all of the nails and bull exhibits they discover however we nonetheless love this present and love these guys.’
Dasha shared: ‘If there was any treasure they’d’ve discovered it by now however hope is a robust factor.’
There’s little doubt the brothers have tapped into an awesome market, a pocket of historical past fuelled by an unsolvable puzzle – and as Tony advised us, there are hopes it would go on for a lot of extra years.
And who is aware of… simply perhaps I’ll be tuning in for that thirteenth season to tag alongside for the trip.
The Curse of Oak Island is on the market to stream on Sky Historical past and Now within the UK.
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