Yet Another Tragedy
Still, even without knowing what the parchment meant, they still wanted to continue digging. Just as they were getting close to their mission, Maynard Kaiser, one of the team’s explorers, met his tragic death.
It all happened when they tried to lift him back to the surface. As he was being hoisted up, his rope untangled from the pulley and, tragically, Maynard fell to his death down the shaft. Was this just an accident? Or maybe a part of some island curse?
The First Loss
In 1861, the Oak Island Association tried their luck at cracking the case. They poured their hearts and time into reaching an 88-foot depth in the Money Pit. They made a new shaft to stop the water from entering.
Unfortunately, the team had a devastating tragedy when the entire bottom part of the pit fell. When the pump burst, one of their members was killed. Rumors started circulating, saying that ghost pirates were acting as guards of the hidden treasure.
A Strange, Sheepskin Artifact
As the 18th century was about to come to an end, another team of explorers decided to risk their lives to try and find gold and glory. As they were in the process of investigating the mysteries that covered the Money Pit and Oak Island, they discovered a sheepskin parchment with letters printed on it, a scary artifact in itself.
But, even more, disturbing and frustrating was the fact they could not understand what it said.
President Roosevelt's Involvement
At some point, even the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt got himself involved in the mysteries of Oak Island. Stirred by his family’s sailing stories, he continued following the island’s treasure mystery until his death, in 1945.
Roosevelt was a member of The Old Savage Group. Even though the crew of explorers didn’t make much progress on their hunt for the island’s treasure, he continued to monitor the Oak Island attempts and developments. In 1939, he planned to secretly visit the island but it didn’t materialize due to weather and certain international issues.
A Businessman's Attempt
In 1928, a New York businessman, Gilbert Hedden, got captivated by the strangeness of the mystery following the island after reading an article about it. As an operator of a steel fabricating firm, he was curious about the engineering issues that the previous explorers encountered.
Determined to apply his engineering skills and, of course, try his luck in finding the controversial treasure, he arrived on the island with his business partner, Fred Blair. They drilled some of the shafts and discovered something more intriguing than had ever been found before. Could this pair be the key to solving the mystery?