The Untold Forces Behind Oak Island: Who Are the People Still Chasing the 230-Year Mystery?

For 12-plus seasons, the History program “The Curse of Oak Island” has shared the story behind a Nova Scotia treasure hunt that goes back more than 230 years. As legend has it, in 1795, three teenaged boys noticed a strange depression in the ground while exploring a small island just off the coast. The curious trio began to dig, and about 10 feet down they came across a platform of oak logs. After pulling up the logs and continuing to dig, they came upon more platforms at each 10-foot interval.

They also reportedly unearthed a rectangular stone with a coded message on it, but the tunnel flooded with seawater at about 90 feet and they gave up. In the decades since, the island has attracted interest from dozens of curious entrepreneurs, including a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who backed the Old Gold Salvage and Wrecking Company’s efforts to find the treasure in 1909.

The series began in 2014 and is now one of History’s most popular programs, although some viewers think the show is less than honest. Five members of the “Oak Island” cast have died since the series began, but the current group is soldiering on despite the island’s many dangers. Here are the important people you’ll see on “The Curse of Oak Island.”

Rick Lagina

Michigander Rick Lagina was just 11 years old when he first read about Oak Island in a 1965 issue of Reader’s Digest. He went on to a career with the United States Postal Service in Northern Michigan, but has since retired. His fascination with the mystery stuck with him, though, and in 2006 he joined up with two other Michigan residents to purchase land on the island and begin their own treasure hunt.

Lagina is the de facto leader of activities on the island today, which are conducted by a company known as Oak Island Tours. He remains steadfast in his belief that someone went to extraordinary lengths to hide something of value on Oak Island, and is the expedition’s resident head coach and cheerleader all in one.

Lagina told My North in 2015 that “the mystery is a 1000-piece puzzle with 400 of the pieces missing,” adding that the anxiety viewers see on the show is genuine and well-justified. “Oh no, we’re not actors,” he said. “We aren’t capable of acting even if we wanted to … The island has an aura — something I can’t really articulate. Strange, inexplicable things happen, especially as far as equipment malfunctions and especially on the eastern corner of the swamp.”

Marty Lagina

Rick Lagina’s younger brother Marty has been part of the show since the beginning, although he is the more skeptical of the two siblings. While Rick was working for the Postal Service, Marty earned an undergraduate engineering degree and a law degree. He finished the latter in 1982 with a specialization in energy and environmental law. “People always said I should be a lawyer because I loved to talk with people,” he told the Michigan Law School Quadrangle in 2018. He was more interested in the natural gas deposits he was drilling, however, and established Terra Energy two years after finishing law school.

He later sold the company for $60 million and shifted his focus to renewable energy. “When you’re in oil and gas, you’re branded by many as a villain,” he said, “so I got into wind energy.” Marty still owns that company, Heritage Sustainable Energy, and the money he earned in the energy industry helped with initial real estate purchases on Oak Island. He and his wife Olivia  also own and operate Mari Vineyards in Traverse City and named the vineyard after his grandmother, Teresa Mari. Marty and Olivia have two children: their daughter Maggie is a physician and University of Michigan medical school professor, and their son Alex can be seen on “The Curse of Oak Island.”

Alex Lagina

Alex Lagina earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan in 2008 and explained to Michigan Today in 2017 that his background in that field comes in handy on Oak Island. “It’s a really complicated engineering problem,” he said. “The theory is great, but when you try to implement something in the real world, it gets complicated quickly.”

Lagina also has a scuba diving certification and has taken dives in the waters around the island in search of clues. But joining his father and Uncle Rick on Oak Island isn’t Lagina’s only family enterprise. He serves as general manager of Mari Vineyards, working alongside his parents. He also shares his father’s general skepticism regarding their doings on Oak Island, although he told Michigan Today they “wanted to do the search justice and honor the people who came before us in this adventure. We wanted to give them the fullest respect and honor their commitment.”

Craig Tester

Craig Tester helped Marty Lagina found Terra Energy and Heritage Sustainable Energy, so it’s only natural that he would join his old college roommate on Oak Island as well. Tester brings his experience as an engineer and oil drilling expert to the show, and is instrumental in planning the projects in the Money Pit area. He rarely allows himself to get caught up in treasure mania, and his calm nature is a grounding presence on the busy island.

Tester’s son Drake appeared on the show in Seasons 2 through 4, but died in 2017 due to complications from a seizure disorder. Craig briefly left the show after his son’s death, but returned the following season. Monsters and Critics quoted Craig as saying, “I wish he could be here helping us, so it’s been a tough year. It’s time for me to head on home and help my wife who’s struggling through this too.” Craig’s stepson from his wife’s previous marriage, Jack Begley, is now also part of the show.

Jack Begley

Jack Begley, Craig Tester’s stepson, is credited as an associate producer on “The Curse of Oak Island” to go along with his frequent on-camera appearances. Begley is unabashedly enthusiastic, and is always willing to grab a shovel or pickaxe and get himself dirty in pursuit of the Oak Island treasure. He has spent countless hours sifting through the dirt and rock spoils unearthed from various excavations, and has been part of many important discoveries.

Although Begley doesn’t have the engineering or drilling background of some other cast members, his sharp eyes detected a piece of centuries-old parchment in a pile of wet rocks a couple of seasons back.  Off the island, Begley supports the energy industry with his drone photography business, Remote Energy Solutions. He frequently is seen digging for artifacts with the next cast member on our list.

Gary Drayton

Metal detection expert Gary Drayton was an occasional part of “The Curse of Oak Island” for the first few seasons, but his infectious enthusiasm and ability to track down fascinating finds made him a quick fan favorite. He has appeared on 176 episodes of the show as of this writing, and in Season 5 he made perhaps the most compelling find of the series.

In Episode 10, “The Signs of a Cross,” Drayton and Rick Lagina unearth a lead cross with origins in Medieval Europe. The similarity between the cross and art created by the Knights Templar has fueled seasons of on-air speculation that the ancient religious order may have deposited other valuable artifacts on Oak Island. Meanwhile, Drayton continues to scour the island for more clues, and in Season 12 he was joined on the show by his daughter and metal detection protege, Katya.