About This Artifact
A folding iron skeleton key with a blade cut in the shape of a cross, recovered by Fred Nolan during his decades of fieldwork on Oak Island. The cross shape becomes visible when the key is folded, a design detail that the team considered significant given the longstanding connections between the island and medieval Christian orders. Tom Nolan, Fred's son, presented the key to Rick Lagina and Charles Barkhouse during Season 5 when he granted the Lagina team full access to his father's 16 acres on the island, including the area surrounding Nolan's Cross.
Fred Nolan spent more than 50 years surveying and investigating Oak Island, producing detailed maps that charted virtually every visible rock, survey line, and point of interest across his property. The skeleton key was among the artifacts he recovered during that period, though the precise location and circumstances of its discovery were not recorded in detail on the show. The key took on added significance when the team later recovered an ornate lock plate on Lot 8, one of 11 sites where Fred believed subsurface treasure had been recovered. The lock plate featured a clearly defined keyhole and a raised floral design resembling a rose, and Gary Drayton noted the handmade, asymmetrical piece was unlike anything a farmer or tradesman would possess. The pairing of a decorative lock plate and a cross-shaped skeleton key on the same property reinforced the team's suspicion that chests or strongboxes had been present on the island, a theory further supported by the two decorative iron chest hinges recovered from a dump site on Lot 12 during the same season.
Historical Context
Tom Nolan
Where It Was Found
Found at Oak Island.
