Stories of Treasure Capture Imagination

MAHONE BAY, Nova Scotia — Stories of pirates and buried treasure have long captured the imagination of the people on a small island off the coast here, 40 miles from Halifax.

In 1975, evidence of buried treasure was found on Oak Island but no one has ever been able to retrieve it or even prove it exists.

A group of Canadian and American businessmen hope to change that by investing $10 million to dig up the original “money pit.” The pit, complete with booby traps and false passages, is reputed to have been put there by Capt. William Kidd, who was hanged.