Why Fans Are Divided About The Curse Of Oak Island's 'Stone Road'

Now in its ninth season on the History Channel, the treasure-hunting adventures chronicled on "The Curse of Oak Island" follow brothers Rick and Marty Lagina's quest to solve a variety of archeological mysteries on this fabled location off the coast of Nova Scotia. A bonafide hit with fans (via Rotten Tomatoes), the long-running series has attracted a veritable army of armchair Indiana Jones wannabes eager to learn what big finds the brothers and their team have turned up every week. 

Based on a few notable historical records and references, as well as the long list of popular but unproven speculations (via History), the show attempts to sort fact from fiction but generally gives plenty of leeway to sensational interpretations of whatever is dug up or stumbled across in any given episode. Long purported to be the location for pre-Columbian landfall by various seafaring Europeans from the Vikings to the Knights Templar to gold-burying pirates (via History), Oak Island holds a special place in the imaginations of many alternate history buffs. 

In this regard, the discovery of what appears to be a human-engineered stone roadway in Season 8 has led to further excavation and examination from the "Curse of Oak Island" team in Season 9. At the time of its discovery, there was speculation that the roadway, which ran from the swamp to the Money Pit site (via Monsters and Critics), led to a pier-like structure. With this in mind, the theory there was a port on the island where goods came in and were transferred to the Money Pit was strengthened by the existence of the stone road.

The stone road has split fans into opposing camps vis-à-vis if the find is authentic. If it is, what exactly does it mean for the "Curse of Oak Island" team?

A March Reddit post written by u/AndreCostopoulos on the subreddit r/OakIsland titled titled "Oak Island Archeology Update: Is there a stone road?" kicked off a divided discussion about the key find. U/UsedDemand began the comments thread with his opinion that other viewers should simply accept the find as genuine, saying, "I appreciate people contributing to the discussion of ['Curse of Oak Island'] with blogs because I enjoy it. However, can people just stop questioning the stone road? It has been determined to be a stone road by a legitimate doctorate-level, archaeologist, who is also a professor at Acadia University ... The feature is a stone road. Period."

While other posters agreed that the discovery seemed legit to them, one Redditor gave a response that seemed to sum up the opposing position of more skeptical viewers. That post pointed out that the scientific method doesn't generally rely on the initial findings of a single scientist, but requires publication in a relevant scientific journal and validation by other authorities capable of analyzing the original finding. 

"If we're going down that route," U/MetroStateSpecops wrote, "then it should be noted that thus far his findings have not been published and have not been subjected to any peer review." Considering the divergence of opinion, however, unless more definitive evidence about the subject is unearthed, it's likely fans will continue to be divided about "The Curse of Oak Island's" alleged 'stone road.'