Unsolved Mysteries: Buried Treasure In The Oak Island Money Pit

I first heard about Oak Island from an old book of my father's called "This Baffling World". I remember reading it over and over again as a child and trying to figure out how I could get to the buried treasure. Obviously that hasn't happened but the fascination continues.

For those not familiar with Oak Island, here's what we know. Oak Island is a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. For some 200 years treasure hunters (including Franklin Roosevelt) have been trying to get at whatever is buried in "the money pit". Legend has it that the treasure will be found when seven people have lost their lives (six people have died thus far). Another legend says the when every Oak tree is gone from the island (there is one left) the mystery will be solved. Every time the pit is excavated, sea water rushes back into it from a number of sources.

The earliest reports indicate that in 1795 an eighteen year old went go the island and found a hole near a tree (which had a tackle block hanging from one of its limbs). He brought back some friends and they started digging but gave up around 30 feet down. They discovered layers of logs at 10 foot intervals.

In 1803 another group dug down to 90 feet. They discovered layers of charcoal and coconut at 40, 50 and 60 feet. At 80 feet they found a stone with strange symbols. Per Wikipedia, it was translated to read "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." While continuing to dig deeper, the shaft flooded. The next group dug down to 98 feet before it flooded again.

Most of the island was purchased in 1967 by the Triton Alliance. They dug down to 235 feet but the shaft later collapsed. Oak Island Tours now owns the site and is continuing to excavate.

So what's buried in the pit? Possible options are:

Pirate's buried treasure- this seems to be the most common theory. Could it be from Captain Kidd or Blackbeard?
National treasure of the Spanish, British or French.
Something buried by the Coptic Christians (ancient Egyptians)- based on the writings found on the stone.
An old ammo dump for the British designed by King George.
Marie Antoinette's jewels.
Lost writings of William Shakespeare- this one seems the most far out of the theories.
Knight's Templar dug it to hide the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.
Freemasons to hide some treasure.
Viking burial chamber for their leader and/or stolen loot.
It's just a sinkhole- well that would be a bummer after all that work.