Oak Island

Oak Island Secrets; Investigative Files (Skeptical Inquirer March 2000)
Apparently, there's this island in Nova Scotia. On this island, there's a site that we've been digging for, what, about 150 years. Apparently, we've gone down about 150 feet, maybe more. Apparently, we haven't hit the bottom of this filled-in shaft we've been slowly uncovering. Nobody knows what's at the bottom, but there are a lot of theories: Templar gold, pirate treasure, or even (oddly enough) Francis Bacon's manuscripts, proving once and for all that he, and not Shakespeare, wrote Shakespeare's plays.

This shaft, now called the Money Pit, has layer upon layer of protection. Go down ten feet, and you hit wood. Then you hit clay. Then you hit more wood. Then you hit stone. Then you hit more wood. The engineering is astonishing. A digging team accidentally triggered a booby trap within the pit, flooding it with sea water. Every effort to drain the pit fails, as it immediately fills again. It turns out that the nearby beach is artificial, designed to direct water into this pit, should the trap ever be sprung. Currently, I don't even think anyone's trying to uncover the secret of the Money Pit. They've given up. Whatever is buried down there was meant to stay buried.

Want to see what makes up each layer? Go check out The Story of Oak Island.