T. GAMBLE: Could it be a treasure hunt?

My daughter and I have recently become addicted to watching the History Channel’s “Oak Island.”

My wife doesn’t watch it and my son makes fun of it, and us, for watching it. You know you are on thin ice when the 12-year-old Hurricane boy is making fun of you.

In case you do not know, “Oak Island” is about, well, of course, Oak Island. This island is near Nova Scotia and it is believed treasure was buried there by pirates, or the Knights Templar, various famous French and English figures, or maybe Uncle Scotty, for all I know.

This treasure could be gold coins, the Ark of the Covenant, Shakespeare’s lost manuscripts or gold bars. Treasure hunters have searched the island for at least the last 200 years without success, although discovering tiny clues every now and then.

The show follows the Laginas brothers, Marty and Rick, as they drill holes on damn near every acre of the island trying to find the treasure. They have elaborate equipment and bring in all type experts to evaluate strange rock carvings and ancient symbols, and to carbon date everything from old wood to Marty’s tennis shoes.

A narrator often says upon the discovery of some small artifact, “Could it be?” Then he will say concerning a small white cloth item found, “Could it be the lost handkerchief of one of the wives of the Knights Templar? Could it be an ancient parchment from the original Ten Commandments? Could it be the only known original of the Magna Carta?”

Or could it be a napkin from Wendy’s that one of the film crew dropped out of the truck yesterday?

It is safe to say that the narrator is perhaps the master of the overstatement.

You see, the show is full of dramatic moments as they find an artifact and then, without question, a big letdown occurs, as they do not find what they thought they found. But this week, they promise they may have finally found the “money pit” treasure.

They call it the money pit because so many explorers have poured a fortune in the area where they think the treasure is located. Marty and Rick have spent a small fortune digging holes looking. I guess they don’t really need to find the treasure, as anybody who has enough money to look for the treasure already has enough money that they don’t need the treasure.

But by the time you read this article, the show will have already broadcast its two-hour season finale. My guess is Rick will not have found the Ark of the Covenant nor any real pirates’ treasure, but I’ll still come back next year just to make sure he doesn’t find it then either.

My wife says the show is but a repeat of every other show from the weeks past. They dig holes. They find a small clue, such as a 1778 coin or old wooden plank that carbon dates to about the birth of Christ, but then nothing else. Each week the narrator says, “Could it be?” and off to the races we go.

The lead-in to the show says legend says six people have died looking for the treasure, but seven must die before it is found. At the rate they are going, I may actually become No. 7.

I don’t know if, or when, they find the treasure, but until then I’ll live by the motto, Could it Be?

Email columnist T. Gamble at wtg@collier gamble.com.