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	<title>Comments for Treasure Stories</title>
	<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com</link>
	<description>Lost Treasure Hunting</description>
	<pubDate>Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:48:43 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Comment on Tips for Metal Detecting by Mike - Best Metal Detectors</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2007/07/28/tips-for-metal-detecting/#comment-2814</link>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:44:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2007/07/28/tips-for-metal-detecting/#comment-2814</guid>
					<description>Another good place you might want to add is the park place which is the area between the sidewalk and street in most urban areas.

I detected my backyard with a 3" coil and found a ton of clad with a few wheaties thrown in. 

I have to use the sniper coil because there are 3 overhead power lines immediately over my head, and the chatter from my 1266 and 8" coil drove me nuts.

I know there's old silver down there, but I don't think I'll find it unless there's a power outage or I break down and get a 5" coil.

I just had a few minutes this morning to try the area next to the street, and the first signal was a '54 Rosie, followed by a '36 wheatie and war nickel.

 There's a lot more there so tomorrow I'll put the 3" on and sift between the foil wrappers, pulltabs, etc..

 Happy Hunting!
 Mike</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another good place you might want to add is the park place which is the area between the sidewalk and street in most urban areas.</p>
<p>I detected my backyard with a 3&#8243; coil and found a ton of clad with a few wheaties thrown in. </p>
<p>I have to use the sniper coil because there are 3 overhead power lines immediately over my head, and the chatter from my 1266 and 8&#8243; coil drove me nuts.</p>
<p>I know there&#8217;s old silver down there, but I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll find it unless there&#8217;s a power outage or I break down and get a 5&#8243; coil.</p>
<p>I just had a few minutes this morning to try the area next to the street, and the first signal was a &#8216;54 Rosie, followed by a &#8216;36 wheatie and war nickel.</p>
<p> There&#8217;s a lot more there so tomorrow I&#8217;ll put the 3&#8243; on and sift between the foil wrappers, pulltabs, etc..</p>
<p> Happy Hunting!<br />
 Mike
</p>
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		<title>Comment on Bootlegger cache in Lake Erie Shipwreck by Katherine</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/11/02/bootlegger-cache-in-lake-erie-shipwreck/#comment-2411</link>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:12:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/11/02/bootlegger-cache-in-lake-erie-shipwreck/#comment-2411</guid>
					<description>Hi I just ran across this while doing a search for "Port Stanley" Ada Belle. I thought you might get a kick out of know that George Knaggs was my paternal Great Uncle!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi I just ran across this while doing a search for &#8220;Port Stanley&#8221; Ada Belle. I thought you might get a kick out of know that George Knaggs was my paternal Great Uncle!
</p>
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		<title>Comment on THE OAK ISLAND MYSTERY NATIVE TREASURE HUNTER by Keith Ranville</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-1883</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:32:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-1883</guid>
					<description>Mid Summer 2005 First Nations Keith Ranville set out from his Vancouver home to investigate a at the time a Oak Island's diminishing place of interest. But a new Oak Island begining emerged through Keith's traveling research studies a simple unencrypted solution was generated to resolve this elaborate now 213 year-old treasure mystery. The close examination of Oak Island clues proclaimed a interesting triangle theory' in-which was instrumental in locating the core to understanding and reviving the Oak Island treasure mystery. Please Donate to Oak Island research cont...
http://oakislandmoneypitblogspotcom.blogspot.com/</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Mid Summer 2005 First Nations Keith Ranville set out from his Vancouver home to investigate a at the time a Oak Island&#8217;s diminishing place of interest. But a new Oak Island begining emerged through Keith&#8217;s traveling research studies a simple unencrypted solution was generated to resolve this elaborate now 213 year-old treasure mystery. The close examination of Oak Island clues proclaimed a interesting triangle theory&#8217; in-which was instrumental in locating the core to understanding and reviving the Oak Island treasure mystery. Please Donate to Oak Island research cont&#8230;<br />
<a href='http://oakislandmoneypitblogspotcom.blogspot.com/' rel='nofollow'>http://oakislandmoneypitblogspotcom.blogspot.com/</a>
</p>
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		<title>Comment on Treasure Hunters by Alpine Paradise</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/11/09/treasure-hunters/#comment-511</link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2007 04:52:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/11/09/treasure-hunters/#comment-511</guid>
					<description>I have been looking for a cool Treasure Hunting Blog to read and I finally came across yours, so keep up the good work.  I am getting ready to make anouther try at the McCarty Gang Cache here on the Western Slope of Colorado, wish me luck.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have been looking for a cool Treasure Hunting Blog to read and I finally came across yours, so keep up the good work.  I am getting ready to make anouther try at the McCarty Gang Cache here on the Western Slope of Colorado, wish me luck.
</p>
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		<title>Comment on Discover Scuba Diving by 264287 Blog Verification</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2007/03/15/discover-scuba-diving/#comment-49</link>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Mar 2007 18:29:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2007/03/15/discover-scuba-diving/#comment-49</guid>
					<description>&lt;strong&gt;264287 Blog Verification...&lt;/strong&gt;

264287...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>264287 Blog Verification&#8230;</strong></p>
<p>264287&#8230;
</p>
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		<title>Comment on Treasure Hunting for Indian Peace Medals by Caza perdida del tesoro</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/10/30/treasure-hunting-for-indian-peace-medals/#comment-17</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Mar 2007 09:41:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/10/30/treasure-hunting-for-indian-peace-medals/#comment-17</guid>
					<description>&lt;strong&gt;Caza del tesoro para las medallas indias de la paz...&lt;/strong&gt;



Las medallas indias de la paz fueron hechas originalmente para los reyes británicos que comenzaban en los tiempos pre revolucionarios, entonces progresado a tener uno para cada uno de los presidentes de los E.E.U.U. hasta finales de 1860; s. vienen ...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Caza del tesoro para las medallas indias de la paz&#8230;</strong></p>
<p>Las medallas indias de la paz fueron hechas originalmente para los reyes británicos que comenzaban en los tiempos pre revolucionarios, entonces progresado a tener uno para cada uno de los presidentes de los E.E.U.U. hasta finales de 1860; s. vienen &#8230;
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		<title>Comment on THE OAK ISLAND MYSTERY NATIVE TREASURE HUNTER by Keith Ranville</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-6</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:03:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-6</guid>
					<description>LOST TREASURE MAGAZINE

April 2007 Edition
Hard Copy Version
Oak Island Update! – Cree Code Breaker Challenges 140-Year Old Cipher    

MAHONE BAY, Nova Scotia –The enigma of Oak Island has been called one of the greatest archaeological and engineering achievements of mankind. Often referred to as Canada’s best known unsolved mystery, Oak Island proudly boasts it’s title for hosting the site of the World’s longest treasure hunt in recorded history. Now in its 212th year this 10 million dollar project that has selfishly taken the lives of six young men is no closer to being solved than it was in 1795 when three teen boys discovered a shaft here and began digging for what they believed to be pirate treasure! The boys excavated down to the 30 foot mark, exhausted and unable to continue they realized the dig would be a much larger effort then they first imagined. What the boys found as they dug convinced all three that they had indeed discovered a man-made vertical shaft of sound engineering. Their only conclusion was that it had been built to hide an enormous treasure. Knowing that a proper excavation required equipment, animals and manpower the boys set out to find investment capital. It took years but they did find an investor with whom they became the founders of the Onslow Company, the first of many treasure recovery companies that would come and go on Oak Island. To date the cost of this intoxicating treasure hunt has far exceeded ten million dollars and consigned six sturdy treasure hunters to an early grave. 

Now for the first time since the 1860’s one man has come forward to challenge the translation of a cryptic message found etched into a stone that was discovered at the 90-foot mark in the original shaft in 1803 by the Onslow Company. The stone vanished about 1900 and no known image or text was preserved showing the cryptic message. However a Mahone Bay school teacher in 1909 claimed to have copied the two line, forty-character coded text directly from the stone hoping that he could break the code himself. He provided the only image of the codex known to exist stating the code was a simple letter-for-cipher that was accurately translated by Professor James Leitchi, a professor of languages at Dalhouse University in 1860’s. Leitchi’s translation reads… “Forty feet below two million pounds are buried.” Although Leitchi’s translation has never been directly challenged it has always been suspicious since a business relationship is known to have existed between Leitchi and the Oak Island Association, the 1860’s recovery company.  

Recently Keith Ranville, a Cree First Nations researcher announced his challenge of Leitchi’s translation stating… “Birch Island holds the secret to the meaning of the construction on Oak Island. According to the Lunenburg Progress Enterprise, Ranville claims that Leitchi’s method to break the code was flawed, citing that his translation using the First Nations tradition, sees the codex as individual abstract symbols that were never intended to be translated into a single message. Using Ranville’s method to decipher the code, which reads more like a map, Oak Island is directly linked to its sister island, nearby Birch Island by underwater man-made shafts. He cites the repeated use of the triangle from the original inscription and points to the large triangle that he discovered on Birch Island which is only visible from the air. The triangle on the 16-acre Birch Island takes up much of the Island which Ranville believes is also the ancient burial grounds for those who were involved with the complex construction found on Oak Island.    

Ranville’s work offers a completely different approach to solving the Oak Island mystery. Traveling across Canada Ranville has presented his findings to a number of scholars and groups many of whom have supported his work in principal. He has been interviewed on radio programs and his currently looking for funding to help pursue his research further. Those supporting Ranville’s research include mining engineer, Steve Zou, P.Eng.,PH.D, the Bear River First Nation of Nova Scotia, the Sault Ste. Marie Museum and to learn more you can log on to Ranville’s web site at: http://kr.mendhak.com

Interview with Mr. Ranville December-2006 

Canada's Very Own Treasure Hunter

Keith Ranville

http://kr.mendhak.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>LOST TREASURE MAGAZINE</p>
<p>April 2007 Edition<br />
Hard Copy Version<br />
Oak Island Update! – Cree Code Breaker Challenges 140-Year Old Cipher    </p>
<p>MAHONE BAY, Nova Scotia –The enigma of Oak Island has been called one of the greatest archaeological and engineering achievements of mankind. Often referred to as Canada’s best known unsolved mystery, Oak Island proudly boasts it’s title for hosting the site of the World’s longest treasure hunt in recorded history. Now in its 212th year this 10 million dollar project that has selfishly taken the lives of six young men is no closer to being solved than it was in 1795 when three teen boys discovered a shaft here and began digging for what they believed to be pirate treasure! The boys excavated down to the 30 foot mark, exhausted and unable to continue they realized the dig would be a much larger effort then they first imagined. What the boys found as they dug convinced all three that they had indeed discovered a man-made vertical shaft of sound engineering. Their only conclusion was that it had been built to hide an enormous treasure. Knowing that a proper excavation required equipment, animals and manpower the boys set out to find investment capital. It took years but they did find an investor with whom they became the founders of the Onslow Company, the first of many treasure recovery companies that would come and go on Oak Island. To date the cost of this intoxicating treasure hunt has far exceeded ten million dollars and consigned six sturdy treasure hunters to an early grave. </p>
<p>Now for the first time since the 1860’s one man has come forward to challenge the translation of a cryptic message found etched into a stone that was discovered at the 90-foot mark in the original shaft in 1803 by the Onslow Company. The stone vanished about 1900 and no known image or text was preserved showing the cryptic message. However a Mahone Bay school teacher in 1909 claimed to have copied the two line, forty-character coded text directly from the stone hoping that he could break the code himself. He provided the only image of the codex known to exist stating the code was a simple letter-for-cipher that was accurately translated by Professor James Leitchi, a professor of languages at Dalhouse University in 1860’s. Leitchi’s translation reads… “Forty feet below two million pounds are buried.” Although Leitchi’s translation has never been directly challenged it has always been suspicious since a business relationship is known to have existed between Leitchi and the Oak Island Association, the 1860’s recovery company.  </p>
<p>Recently Keith Ranville, a Cree First Nations researcher announced his challenge of Leitchi’s translation stating… “Birch Island holds the secret to the meaning of the construction on Oak Island. According to the Lunenburg Progress Enterprise, Ranville claims that Leitchi’s method to break the code was flawed, citing that his translation using the First Nations tradition, sees the codex as individual abstract symbols that were never intended to be translated into a single message. Using Ranville’s method to decipher the code, which reads more like a map, Oak Island is directly linked to its sister island, nearby Birch Island by underwater man-made shafts. He cites the repeated use of the triangle from the original inscription and points to the large triangle that he discovered on Birch Island which is only visible from the air. The triangle on the 16-acre Birch Island takes up much of the Island which Ranville believes is also the ancient burial grounds for those who were involved with the complex construction found on Oak Island.    </p>
<p>Ranville’s work offers a completely different approach to solving the Oak Island mystery. Traveling across Canada Ranville has presented his findings to a number of scholars and groups many of whom have supported his work in principal. He has been interviewed on radio programs and his currently looking for funding to help pursue his research further. Those supporting Ranville’s research include mining engineer, Steve Zou, P.Eng.,PH.D, the Bear River First Nation of Nova Scotia, the Sault Ste. Marie Museum and to learn more you can log on to Ranville’s web site at: <a href='http://kr.mendhak.com' rel='nofollow'>http://kr.mendhak.com</a></p>
<p>Interview with Mr. Ranville December-2006 </p>
<p>Canada&#8217;s Very Own Treasure Hunter</p>
<p>Keith Ranville</p>
<p><a href='http://kr.mendhak.com' rel='nofollow'>http://kr.mendhak.com</a>
</p>
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		<title>Comment on THE OAK ISLAND MYSTERY NATIVE TREASURE HUNTER by Keith Ranville</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-5</link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:37:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-5</guid>
					<description>Hi this Keith Ranville 

Please do not post any personal attacks towards my theory or my project’ any-how your positive input is very much welcome. If you have any of you own Oak Island stories of your own, I am sure many people’ and I myself as well, will enjoy hearing your experience or on any treasure hunting story you have to say. Please summit it

Thank you for your understanding’s this also a family oriented site any negative views should be kept personal. 

Sincerely 

Treasure Hunter   

http://kr.mendhak.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi this Keith Ranville </p>
<p>Please do not post any personal attacks towards my theory or my project’ any-how your positive input is very much welcome. If you have any of you own Oak Island stories of your own, I am sure many people’ and I myself as well, will enjoy hearing your experience or on any treasure hunting story you have to say. Please summit it</p>
<p>Thank you for your understanding’s this also a family oriented site any negative views should be kept personal. </p>
<p>Sincerely </p>
<p>Treasure Hunter   </p>
<p><a href='http://kr.mendhak.com' rel='nofollow'>http://kr.mendhak.com</a>
</p>
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	<item>
		<title>Comment on THE OAK ISLAND MYSTERY NATIVE TREASURE HUNTER by Keith Ranville</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-4</link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:09:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-4</guid>
					<description>NEWS RELEASE
 
NEW READING OF MYSTERIOUS OAK ISLAND INSCRIPTION 
 
Theory points to possible connection with nearby Birch Island
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia: Friday, July 14th, 2006  - - For the past two centuries, the tunnels of Nova Scotia’s Oak Island have piqued the imagination of historians and treasure hunters alike.  Now, a new theory by First Nations researcher Keith Ranville may add fresh speculation to the mystery.  Based on a unique reading of an inscription once found in the “Money Pit,” Mr. Ranville believes that the answer to the riddle may be found on nearby Birch Island.
 
Oak Island, located on the scenic Mahone Bay about an hour’s drive south of the provincial capital of Halifax, has been associated with buried treasure since the late 18th century.  Local settlers reportedly found a ship’s tackle block hanging from a tree branch, overhanging a large depression in the ground.  Early efforts to dig down failed when the diggers encountered layers of timber every 10 feet.  In the ensuing generations, several organized excavation attempts have drilled down nearly 200 feet, en route encountering some artifacts within the staggered layers of logs, clay, putty, charcoal, flagstones and most perplexingly, coconut husks.  Among the scores of enthusiastic treasure hunters was a young Franklin Roosevelt, one of the investors in a 1909 excavation attempt.
 
During the earlier diggings of 1800’s, the tunnel had become flooded by seawater – which many believed was the result booby trap being sprung – thus complicating further digging since then.  A drilling effort in the mid 1800’s was said to have uncovered fragments of a gold chain.  In 1971, a camera was lowered into the pit and reportedly captured images of wooden chests and human remains.
 
One of the most fascinating artifacts from the pit was said to be a flat stone recovered at the 90-foot depth, carrying a mysterious inscription.  A fragment of stone with similar symbols was found nearby in Smith’s Cove in the 1930’s.  The stone tablet itself has gone missing, but a record of its symbols remains.  Until now, the consensus is that the symbols are a code translated as “forty feet below two million pounds are buried.”  However, Keith Ranville’s theory offers a different interpretation as to the stone’s symbols, which could lead to a new explanation of the Oak Island mystery.
 
“I believe these symbols have been incorrectly assumed to stand for something else.  In the First Nations tradition that I’m a part of, we believe symbols should simply be looked at in and of themselves, rather than thinking of them as codes that have to be cracked,” Mr. Ranville explained.  “In the pictograms of Cree Salavics, for example, the images are meant to be descriptive, not abstract.”  Using this approach, Mr. Ranville examined the Oak Island symbols and found what may be a set of instructions about a tunnel system involving both Oak Island and nearby Birch Island.
 
For example, the stone inscription begins with a triangle symbol, which is repeated throughout.  Mr. Ranville believes that this represents nearby Birch Island, which has a distinctly triangular clearing on its north shore.  Likewise, a symbol showing a circle divided into two hemispheres can be thought of as representing north/south directional markers.  A series of dots in singles, pairs and triplets may be quantitative symbols.
 
Examining all the symbols in this way, Mr. Ranville believes that the symbols on the Money Pit’s stone tablet are actually technical instructions describing the location and layout of a possible underground network involving both Oak Island and Birch Island.  “There was a fragment of another stone tablet that was found on Oak Island’s Smith Cove in the 1930’s,” Mr. Ranville explained.  “It too has these types of symbols, but one in particular appears to be a Greek symbol designating ‘underwater door’.  In conjunction with the other symbols, I believe this points to underwater doors and additional shafts on Birch Island itself.”  Smith’s Cove is on the part of Oak Island that is closest to Birch Island, and is said to have yielded several artifacts itself over the years.
 
“Based on the inscribed symbols, I think we should be looking at Oak Island and Birch Island together in order to solve the mystery.  If Birch Island proves to have underwater doors and tunnels around its triangular clearing, then it would be a huge step forward in our understanding of what Oak Island is all about.”
 
There have been many, occasionally bizarre, theories as to what the Oak Island tunnels may contain: a Masonic vault containing the Holy Grail, Viking or Pirate booty, Inca treasure, the French Royal Crown Jewels, payroll for colonial British soldiers or even the secret writings of Francis Bacon.  Mr. Ranville prefers not to speculate.  “Those are interesting and sometimes funny theories, but I’d rather just look at the evidence that we do have, and go from there.”
 
Mr. Ranville is a self-taught researcher born in Manitoba.  While living in Vancouver, he became acquainted with the Oak Island mystery and began studying it.  In October 2005, he relocated to Nova Scotia to further research and advance his theories on the subject.  
 
Both Oak Island and Birch Island are private property, and access must be sought by permission of the landowners.
 
# # #
 
For further information, please contact 

Keith Ranville


http://kr.mendhak.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>NEWS RELEASE</p>
<p>NEW READING OF MYSTERIOUS OAK ISLAND INSCRIPTION </p>
<p>Theory points to possible connection with nearby Birch Island</p>
<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br />
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia: Friday, July 14th, 2006  - - For the past two centuries, the tunnels of Nova Scotia’s Oak Island have piqued the imagination of historians and treasure hunters alike.  Now, a new theory by First Nations researcher Keith Ranville may add fresh speculation to the mystery.  Based on a unique reading of an inscription once found in the “Money Pit,” Mr. Ranville believes that the answer to the riddle may be found on nearby Birch Island.</p>
<p>Oak Island, located on the scenic Mahone Bay about an hour’s drive south of the provincial capital of Halifax, has been associated with buried treasure since the late 18th century.  Local settlers reportedly found a ship’s tackle block hanging from a tree branch, overhanging a large depression in the ground.  Early efforts to dig down failed when the diggers encountered layers of timber every 10 feet.  In the ensuing generations, several organized excavation attempts have drilled down nearly 200 feet, en route encountering some artifacts within the staggered layers of logs, clay, putty, charcoal, flagstones and most perplexingly, coconut husks.  Among the scores of enthusiastic treasure hunters was a young Franklin Roosevelt, one of the investors in a 1909 excavation attempt.</p>
<p>During the earlier diggings of 1800’s, the tunnel had become flooded by seawater – which many believed was the result booby trap being sprung – thus complicating further digging since then.  A drilling effort in the mid 1800’s was said to have uncovered fragments of a gold chain.  In 1971, a camera was lowered into the pit and reportedly captured images of wooden chests and human remains.</p>
<p>One of the most fascinating artifacts from the pit was said to be a flat stone recovered at the 90-foot depth, carrying a mysterious inscription.  A fragment of stone with similar symbols was found nearby in Smith’s Cove in the 1930’s.  The stone tablet itself has gone missing, but a record of its symbols remains.  Until now, the consensus is that the symbols are a code translated as “forty feet below two million pounds are buried.”  However, Keith Ranville’s theory offers a different interpretation as to the stone’s symbols, which could lead to a new explanation of the Oak Island mystery.</p>
<p>“I believe these symbols have been incorrectly assumed to stand for something else.  In the First Nations tradition that I’m a part of, we believe symbols should simply be looked at in and of themselves, rather than thinking of them as codes that have to be cracked,” Mr. Ranville explained.  “In the pictograms of Cree Salavics, for example, the images are meant to be descriptive, not abstract.”  Using this approach, Mr. Ranville examined the Oak Island symbols and found what may be a set of instructions about a tunnel system involving both Oak Island and nearby Birch Island.</p>
<p>For example, the stone inscription begins with a triangle symbol, which is repeated throughout.  Mr. Ranville believes that this represents nearby Birch Island, which has a distinctly triangular clearing on its north shore.  Likewise, a symbol showing a circle divided into two hemispheres can be thought of as representing north/south directional markers.  A series of dots in singles, pairs and triplets may be quantitative symbols.</p>
<p>Examining all the symbols in this way, Mr. Ranville believes that the symbols on the Money Pit’s stone tablet are actually technical instructions describing the location and layout of a possible underground network involving both Oak Island and Birch Island.  “There was a fragment of another stone tablet that was found on Oak Island’s Smith Cove in the 1930’s,” Mr. Ranville explained.  “It too has these types of symbols, but one in particular appears to be a Greek symbol designating ‘underwater door’.  In conjunction with the other symbols, I believe this points to underwater doors and additional shafts on Birch Island itself.”  Smith’s Cove is on the part of Oak Island that is closest to Birch Island, and is said to have yielded several artifacts itself over the years.</p>
<p>“Based on the inscribed symbols, I think we should be looking at Oak Island and Birch Island together in order to solve the mystery.  If Birch Island proves to have underwater doors and tunnels around its triangular clearing, then it would be a huge step forward in our understanding of what Oak Island is all about.”</p>
<p>There have been many, occasionally bizarre, theories as to what the Oak Island tunnels may contain: a Masonic vault containing the Holy Grail, Viking or Pirate booty, Inca treasure, the French Royal Crown Jewels, payroll for colonial British soldiers or even the secret writings of Francis Bacon.  Mr. Ranville prefers not to speculate.  “Those are interesting and sometimes funny theories, but I’d rather just look at the evidence that we do have, and go from there.”</p>
<p>Mr. Ranville is a self-taught researcher born in Manitoba.  While living in Vancouver, he became acquainted with the Oak Island mystery and began studying it.  In October 2005, he relocated to Nova Scotia to further research and advance his theories on the subject.  </p>
<p>Both Oak Island and Birch Island are private property, and access must be sought by permission of the landowners.</p>
<p># # #</p>
<p>For further information, please contact </p>
<p>Keith Ranville</p>
<p><a href='http://kr.mendhak.com' rel='nofollow'>http://kr.mendhak.com</a>
</p>
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		<title>Comment on THE OAK ISLAND MYSTERY NATIVE TREASURE HUNTER by Keith Ranville</title>
		<link>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-3</link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:08:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://treasurestories.losttreasurehunting.com/2006/12/26/the-oak-island-mystery-native-treasure-hunter/#comment-3</guid>
					<description>Is Oak Island’s treasure really on Birch Island?
First Nations translator deciphers ancient stone as a treasure map
 
By Angie Zinck- Lunenburg Progress Enterprise – October 18, 2006
 WESTERN SHORE – You many have heard about the Da Vinci code, but the Ranville code could be what solves the longest running treasure hunt in recorded history.
 Keith Ranville, a First Nations man, has traveled from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia in hopes of unlocking the secret codes on Oak Island.  He says he has done so by re-translating one of the stones found on the island over 200 years ago.
 The stone was first found in 1803 by the Onslow Company.  Found 90 feet down the Money Pit, the stone was believed to be two feet long and 15 inches wide, weighing approximately 175 lb.
 Since that time, it has been said that the inscription on the stone read, “forty feet below two million pounds are buried,” as translated by James Leitchi, a professor of languages at Dalhousie University.  Some researchers have questioned this translation, as Mr. Leitchi was involved in a treasure hunting company trying to sell stocks.
 Today, the actual stone is lost.  It was used as a hearthstone in two homes on Oak Island, but it was moved to a Halifax store front where it went missing when the building was torn down.  Its last known location was around the Centennial Pool area.
 Mr. Ranville used pictures of the stone to decipher its series of shapes, lines and dots to reveal a new translation that reads more like a map.
 “I’ve brought some new stuff to the table,” he says, adding that the stone’s etchings could be used to figure out the mystery of Oak Island.
 By his translation, much of the digging in the Money Pit area has been a waste of time and money.
 “I believe the pit wasn’t meant to go beyond 100 feet,” he says.  “I believe it wasn’t meant to go beyond these symbols.”
 If one were to take Mr. Ranville’s code and follow it, it would lead you off Oak Island the site of all the treasure hunting for the past 211 years, under the water of the bay and onto the neighboring Birch Island via man-made shafts.
 “The instructions at the bottom of the pit tell you about where and how to locate these shafts and I believe they’re in Mahone Bay,” he says.
 Mr. Ranville believes the two islands are connected by these shafts.  He said that aerial shots of Birch Island prove the island has been touched by human hands.  These aerial shots of the 16-acre Birch Island do show a large triangle which takes up a good portion of the island landscape.
 “What I want to do is investigate this island where I think these symbols lead to,” he says.
 Mr. Ranville has contacted the owner, Christopher Ondaatje, to inquire about doing some soil testing and exploring on the island.
 In addition to being the home of the famous treasure, Mr. Ranville believes Birch Island may also be an ancient burial site of those who were involved in the original treasure hiding scheme.
 “This is a significant Nova Scotia heritage discovery and that is Canada’s national treasure brought here for our guardianship long before Canada was established,” he says.  “We should respect the civilization that is responsible for the makings of these structures.
 “They were a very unique culture and may hold the secret to many ancient structures.”
 Although he doesn’t know who actually buried the treasure, Mr. Ranville believes Oak Island and Birch Island need to be protected from further change to unlock their true history.
 At the time of this interview, Mr. Ranville had yet to hear from Mr. Ondaatje regarding the island.  He says he will continue to research the island and its tales of mystery and treasure.  Check out Google Earth on the World Wide Web to see satellite photos of Birch Island and its triangle.

CANADIAN
Native Treasure Hunter
Keith Ranville

http://kr.mendhak.com</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Is Oak Island’s treasure really on Birch Island?<br />
First Nations translator deciphers ancient stone as a treasure map</p>
<p>By Angie Zinck- Lunenburg Progress Enterprise – October 18, 2006<br />
 WESTERN SHORE – You many have heard about the Da Vinci code, but the Ranville code could be what solves the longest running treasure hunt in recorded history.<br />
 Keith Ranville, a First Nations man, has traveled from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia in hopes of unlocking the secret codes on Oak Island.  He says he has done so by re-translating one of the stones found on the island over 200 years ago.<br />
 The stone was first found in 1803 by the Onslow Company.  Found 90 feet down the Money Pit, the stone was believed to be two feet long and 15 inches wide, weighing approximately 175 lb.<br />
 Since that time, it has been said that the inscription on the stone read, “forty feet below two million pounds are buried,” as translated by James Leitchi, a professor of languages at Dalhousie University.  Some researchers have questioned this translation, as Mr. Leitchi was involved in a treasure hunting company trying to sell stocks.<br />
 Today, the actual stone is lost.  It was used as a hearthstone in two homes on Oak Island, but it was moved to a Halifax store front where it went missing when the building was torn down.  Its last known location was around the Centennial Pool area.<br />
 Mr. Ranville used pictures of the stone to decipher its series of shapes, lines and dots to reveal a new translation that reads more like a map.<br />
 “I’ve brought some new stuff to the table,” he says, adding that the stone’s etchings could be used to figure out the mystery of Oak Island.<br />
 By his translation, much of the digging in the Money Pit area has been a waste of time and money.<br />
 “I believe the pit wasn’t meant to go beyond 100 feet,” he says.  “I believe it wasn’t meant to go beyond these symbols.”<br />
 If one were to take Mr. Ranville’s code and follow it, it would lead you off Oak Island the site of all the treasure hunting for the past 211 years, under the water of the bay and onto the neighboring Birch Island via man-made shafts.<br />
 “The instructions at the bottom of the pit tell you about where and how to locate these shafts and I believe they’re in Mahone Bay,” he says.<br />
 Mr. Ranville believes the two islands are connected by these shafts.  He said that aerial shots of Birch Island prove the island has been touched by human hands.  These aerial shots of the 16-acre Birch Island do show a large triangle which takes up a good portion of the island landscape.<br />
 “What I want to do is investigate this island where I think these symbols lead to,” he says.<br />
 Mr. Ranville has contacted the owner, Christopher Ondaatje, to inquire about doing some soil testing and exploring on the island.<br />
 In addition to being the home of the famous treasure, Mr. Ranville believes Birch Island may also be an ancient burial site of those who were involved in the original treasure hiding scheme.<br />
 “This is a significant Nova Scotia heritage discovery and that is Canada’s national treasure brought here for our guardianship long before Canada was established,” he says.  “We should respect the civilization that is responsible for the makings of these structures.<br />
 “They were a very unique culture and may hold the secret to many ancient structures.”<br />
 Although he doesn’t know who actually buried the treasure, Mr. Ranville believes Oak Island and Birch Island need to be protected from further change to unlock their true history.<br />
 At the time of this interview, Mr. Ranville had yet to hear from Mr. Ondaatje regarding the island.  He says he will continue to research the island and its tales of mystery and treasure.  Check out Google Earth on the World Wide Web to see satellite photos of Birch Island and its triangle.</p>
<p>CANADIAN<br />
Native Treasure Hunter<br />
Keith Ranville</p>
<p><a href='http://kr.mendhak.com' rel='nofollow'>http://kr.mendhak.com</a>
</p>
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