The Curse of Oak Island

by Randall Sullivan

  David Tobias (r) with his partner and rival Dan Blankenship. Tobias poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Oak Island treasure hunt between the 1960s and his death in 2012, and never stopped believing something of great value was buried on the island.

  Robert Dunfield (r) shaking hands with Mel Chappell. Dunfield’s attempt to bring heavy equipment and open pit mining methods to the treasure hunt devastated Oak Island physically and made him, for many, the greatest villain in the island’s history.

  Fred Nolan conducted hundreds of surveys on Oak Island and in the process made as many discoveries as anyone who has ever hunted for treasure on the island. His acquisition of a considerable portion of Oak Island property embroiled him in a nearly ruinous legal dispute.

  Of all the surveyor’s discoveries, “Nolan’s Cross” is the most famous and, for many, the most significant.

  Dan Blankenship became the central character in the Oak Island treasure hunt back in the late 1960s and is still living on the island. His labors and discoveries, along with his outsized personality, have made him an epic character in the Oak Island story.

  Blankenship’s discovery of the “G Stone” led to many theories about the involvement of freemasons in the original work on Oak Island.

  Once a world-famous carnival daredevil, Robert Restall settled with his family on Oak Island in 1959. Convinced that the Panama Treasure of Henry Morgan was buried on Oak Island, Restall attempted to compensate for what he lacked in financial resources with intensive research and relentless physical labor during the six years he devoted to the treasure hunt.

  The August 17, 1965, deaths of Robert Restall, his son Bobbie, his worker Cyril Hiltz and his investor Karl Graeser were the greatest tragedies in the long history of the Oak Island treasure hunt.

  Robert Restall (center) with his wife Mildred and their sons Bobbie (l) and Ricky.

  Dan Henskee’s participation in the Oak Island treasure hunt began in the mid-1960s and continues to this day. He may know the island as well as anyone alive. Henskee’s experiences have also fed the narrative of Oak Island as a cursed place.

  Michigan brothers Rick and Marty Lagina have held the main control of Oak Island since 2007. As the stars of the immensely popular cable television show The Curse of Oak Island, they have drawn millions into the treasure hunt.

  Randall Sullivan visits the set of the History Channel’s television series The Curse of Oak Island.