Getting the Know the Cast of The Curse of Oak Island

Reality television knows no bounds; and that’s why we have The Curse of Oak Island on The History Channel. Of course, this is a show that’s probably a lot more reasonable and even entertaining than some of the other reality television we rot our brains with, and it does come with an interesting back story. This is a story that’s more than 200 years old, and it’s one that might capture your attention the way that it did the men who are part of this new reality series.

Oak Island is a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. It’s only about 140-acres and it’s privately owned, and it belongs to one of 360 islands that are all small and very much unknown to most people. This island has been the subject of a number of stories, mysteries and conspiracy theories over the course of the past several hundred years.

The curse is that 7 people must come to the island and die before they will ever find a buried treasure. No one has any idea what it might be that’s allegedly buried on this island, but they have theories that it could be anything from a pirate’s booty to Roman artifacts to Spanish treasure to anything in between. It might be anything; and it might be nothing. Since no one has found anything on this island in the 200 years since it became a famous legend, we are going with nothing.

The mystery goes back decades, with men seeing lights coming from the island only to discover a large pit that was filled with ancient artifacts. Though modern science believes that this might be a natural occurrence such as a sinkhole that ate up an early colony many years ago, there are those who believe that this pit, called the Money Pit, might be something else. Just a small part of the mystery, this is just one of the many stories that has manage to make people very interested in what might be found on this island, though nothing really important has been found to date.

The History Channel now follows the lives of a group of men who know one another either because they are family or they are business partners, as they live and work on the island in an attempt to find these treasures. They are digging so that they can see what might be below the earth’s surface on the island, hoping that they might one day hit it big and go down in history as finally being the people to solve the mystery that has long since been known as the Curse of Oak Island. Naturally, they hope that the curse that states 7 men must die first is not one that they have to encounter, but they do work hard to see what they can find, analyzing soil and time, going over historical records and just digging so that they might one day hit pay dirt (bad joke, I know).

We are taking the time to get to know this cast as they embark on their private journey toward riches and wealth as they dig along this island in hopes that they will be the people who finally solve this centuries-old mystery.

Rick Lagina

Retired from the U.S. Postal Service, Rick Lagina is a Michigan-native. His family is very close and they are a very modest crew. He was raised in a household in which honesty, integrity and values are held at a very high standard, and he is not someone who backs down from his word or says anything he does not mean. He has been enthralled by the history, the curse and the story of this interesting island since he was a child. He first heard of the curse at the age of 11 when he was reading his parent’s Reader’s Digest and came across a story about the island. His obsession with Oak Island began then and has not subsided over the years. After retirement, he knew that he would head to the island and work on unraveling its mysteries.

Marty Lagina

A millionaire in the energy business, he is the man who is financing his older brother’s dream of finding a buried treasure on Oak Island. He was raised, along with this brother, in Michigan and has known about the curse of the island almost his entire life. However, he’s not nearly as much a believer as his brother, but he wants his brother to realize his dream, so here he is helping him out physically and financially.

Craig Tester

He looks like the kind of man who is calm and always with it, but he’s a former wrestler who is not afraid to get down and dirty when he has to. He is the business partner of Marty Lagina in the energy business and a very successful man. He likes to dig and he likes to enjoy some adventure from time to time, and that has caused him to join his business partner and his partner’s brother on this adventure.

Dan Blankenship

This is a man of 91 who decided to leave behind his successful business and move his wife and kids to a deserted island after reading an article about it back in 1965. He’s left his life behind and has spent the past several decades digging, drilling and hoping to strike it rich here by uncovering a big time mystery. He’s partnered with the Lagina brothers to make his dreams come true, and he believes it’s far too late for him to turn back now and try to lead a normal life once again.

David Blankenship   

His father is Dan Blankenship, and he has followed in his father’s footsteps living and working on the island for most of his life. He was in an accident many years ago – almost 30, in fact – that left him without much of his mobility. However, he has managed to find a way around that and has no let it get to him at all.

Photo Credit – YouTube