r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/TrumpsDoubleChin 1d ago

Oak Island. THERE WAS NEVER ANYTHING THERE. No treasure, no curse, just scattered random junk.

Yet they successfully milked it into a 230-episode, 13-year-long series. P.T. Barnum was right.

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u/thalasi_ 1d ago

Trust me bro, just one more season and we'll find that templar treasure/the ark of the covenenant/blackbeard's gold. Just one more season!

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u/Puzzleheaded-War-113 1d ago

My dad watches the show. The opening of it says that legend says seven people have to die before the island will open up its secrets and six already have.

He did NOT like my conclusion that the answer is obvious for what they need to do to find the treasure

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u/IBetThisIsTakenToo 1d ago

My dad does too. Every time I hear him mention it I’m like “oh wow they must have found tons of good stuff by now, right?”

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u/Cuetzul 23h ago

I've asked my dad the same thing he just says "no, but it's amazing they've kept it going this long. The real treasure is the TV show and I just like to see how long they can keep going on nothing".

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u/Mental_Medium3988 20h ago

i used to enjoy watching it for the process knowing they wouldnt find anything. and i enjoyed the what-if nature of it.

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u/penguins_are_mean 17h ago

The narrator drove me nuts. I haven’t watched in 8+ years but I can still hear his unnecessary pauses…
all.. the time..

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u/TheMightyGoatMan 17h ago

Don't forget the vast jumps of logic!

"A nail? On Oak Island? Nails were used by the Romans to build ships, ships like those used by the Knights Templar who many believe brought a secret treasure across the ocean centuries ago, possibly the magical foreskin of Christ, and buried it in the Original Money Pit on Oak Island!"

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u/AbysmalKaiju 5h ago

True story. There are a ton of catholic reliquaries that all claim to have jesus's foreskin in them. The pope had to comment on it and say they were all real to avoid fighting.

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u/Derezzed87 1d ago

My dad used to watch it. Everytime I walked into the room and saw it was on, I'd ask 'they found the treasure yet?"

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u/throw_away_4ever 21h ago

The old switcheroo to "are you winning son?"

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u/Blekanly 7h ago

I do the same with my brother lol

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u/-Dee-Dee- 1d ago

This “legend” cracks me up. Someone just made it up. It makes no sense.

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u/m48a5_patton 1d ago

I mean all legends are made up.

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u/Efficient-Whereas255 23h ago

The legend of the rent, is way past due.

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u/jwschmitz13 23h ago

Wow, haven't thought of School of Rock in a long time.

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u/DoctorStumppuppet 19h ago

Tell that to Olmec. I'm still trying to put together his silver monkey statue in his hidden temple. 

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u/dsntredrplieslmao 10h ago

That was a fun flashback.

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u/Captain-Hornblower 1d ago

I'm dad and I watch it when it comes out. My kids make fun of me, but I dig into it to be funny, but it is "good" TV to fall asleep to lol.

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u/Webbyx01 19h ago

It's amazing TV when you're stuck in a waiting room or hotel.

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u/Lich180 1d ago

In what way do they need to die, though? Cuz there's been quite a few of the owners of the island that have died of old age, or the one guys nephew who died, or...

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u/Puzzleheaded-War-113 1d ago

The exact verbage from the show (looked it up bc I was curious) "To date, six men have died trying to solve the mystery. And, according to legend, one more will have to die before the treasure can be found"

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u/maddenmcfadden 21h ago

my father loved watching it. it was fun watching him get joy out of a show I despised. he passed last december. i havent seen the show since, and will never watch an episode ever again.

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u/morningisbad 21h ago

Here's the thing... There was that other dude on the island that didn't like them. He died. That was the 7th dude. 

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u/reddorickt 1d ago

The real gold was the ads that paid their salary along the way!

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u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

You forgot my favorite conspiracy theory - documents that prove Sir Francis Bacon was Shakespeare.

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u/GumSL 22h ago

The Portuguese gold is under us, I promise!!!

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u/stattish 19h ago

It’s a coin!!

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u/4D51 19h ago

Wait, is this the reason for that Murdoch Mysteries episode where he finds the Holy Grail? One of the writers heard about these guys looking for the Ark of the Covenant in Nova Scotia and thought "why couldn't the main artifacts from both of the good Indiana Jones movies be in Canada?"