Did McCully Perpetrate a Masonic Prank?
Let me start this section by observing that Masonic pranks of the nature I suggest McCully perpetrated are not as farfetched or as uncommon as non-Masons might suppose. Being a Freemason myself, I know that Masons in the presence of non-Masons enjoy inserting Masonic allusions and bits of ritual into the conservation with a knowing nod and wink, in the certain knowledge that the Masons present will understand the significance but the non-Masons will not. Professional sceptic Joe Nickell in his article on Oak Island (3) refers to a number of apparent Masonic pranks including the Legends of the Moving Coffins of Barbados, Swifts Lost Silver Mine in Kentucky, and the Beale Treasure all of which have become part of the canon of unsolved mysteries. Nickell also notes that author and Freemason Arthur Conan Doyle was in the habit of inserting Masonic allusions into his Sherlock Holmes stories, knowing that Masons would understand the significance but his non-Masonic readers would not. Nickell
