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From Carol Livingstone's collection
Tales of buried treasure bring to the minds of the adventurous thoughts of pirates and far off battles. For the more practically minded the discovery of a treasure could mean riches and financial security. But whatever the reason, people are drawn to the mystery and promise of a buried treasure. Perhaps the most interesting segment of West Point folklore is just such a tale.
One night John Campbell, from Enmore, had a dream. He had the same dream on three successive nights. In the dream, he was told about a treasure buried behind the West Point Light. The dream instructed him to take sixteen men to the spot where three tall trees were blazed and marked with a stake. The party was not allowed to talk. Digging was only to start at midnight.
They encountered no trouble until, when digging, water and sand kept filling in the hole. But when they were making some progress, and the treasure was nearly in their grasp something happened. Legend says that from out of nowhere a full rigged sailing ship appeared, "... with sails, sloshing and chains rattling, scaring them so badly that they dropped everything and fled in terror."
Many others have tried to dig for the treasure. People have continued to search for it into the mid part of this century. Who knows, there may be individuals still searching for the cache. But tradition tells us that, "Out of every group of men who have ever dug for this treasure, someone in the group dies shortly afterwards."
There have been many attempts to explain the existence of such a treasure. Some hold that one of General Wolfe's pay ships was separated from the fleet and was wrecked on the reef. Survivors carried the pay chest a lifeboat and buried it on the point. They were planning to return later to retrieve the valuables. "They were rescued by other ships in the convoy and went on to fight in Quebec- perhaps they were killed there." With these dead men died the location of the treasure.
Over the years, some have come to regard the treasure as a legacy of the infamous Captain Kidd. Could the pirate have buried a treasure on this island?