The Craziest Things Found In Time Capsules

Someone's frozen mother!

Source: Boing BoingYou never really think, when you buy a $30 freezer from a neighbour, that the item would come with any extras. To be fair, the seller had warned the North Carolina lady that they'd previously use the freezer as a "time capsule," but in what world would that usually mean the dead remains of their own mum? "She sold me her frozen mother for $30,

" the traumatised woman told the press. "How do you do something like that?"

A Victorian pharmacy

Source: butterflyinremission.comWhen pharmacist Charles White died in 1909, his son inherited his pharmacy-come-grocery and, not being a qualified to dispense medication, he sealed that side of the business and locked the door. There it all stayed, as his father had left it, until 1987. Fascinated by this perfectly preserved shop, Flambards Theme Park bought and re-located the lot, with the exemption of a few chemicals which were confiscated by the British Home Office as they are now considered deadly. Poor Victorians.

The real Shutter Island documents

Source: VoxWhilst working on the grounds of a former mental hospital, construction workers unearthed a time capsule containing a filmed message to the future regarding the use of electroshock therapy and psychiatric drugs. Much of the audio was damaged, however the doctors mainly seemed to be discussing whether the psychiatrists watching their message  would appreciate how they "solved their treatment problems

," or whether they had progressed onto other methods. Less barbaric ones, one would hope.

A complete, Parisian apartment

Source: The Daily BeastNow that's a bit more than you'd usually expect to find in a time capsule! In 1942, Madame de Florian (an actress and socialite), was forced to flee the Nazis and left her entire apartment behind. When she died at the age of 91, her relatives discovered the place, untouched, bills paid and filled with treasures, such as a stuffed ostrich, a vintage Mickey Mouse and a painting valued at over $2.2 million!

Peter Pan children

Source: CBS NewsYou never know what you might find in apartment building basements. But what you certainly would not expect, is the mummified remains of 2 small children, accompanied by a load of Peter Pan memorabilia wrapped in 1930s LA Times newspaper clippings. The woman who discovered this hoard, which also contained an original copy of Peter Pan 

and a membership card to the Peter Pan Woodland Club, naturally handed it all over to the cops. Weirdly, the trunk they were found in was owned by one "Janet M. Barrie" and DNA proved the deceased were both her children, however she was no relative of J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. 

Sinister.

200+ things in a closet

Source: chron.comIn 2010, a complete closet of a time capsule was discovered in a former San Antonio library. During renovations to turn it into a museum, the staff found 200 documents, photos from the civil war, magazines dated for the 60s and a 1615 King James Bible. The staff, being diligent librarians, catalogued the lot and displayed it.

A brand new friendship...

Source: Littethings.comThis one is pretty sweet. When he was 14, Scotsman Raymond Davidson threw a message in a bottle into the sea. He then promptly went home and forgot all about it. Forty-four years later, in 2015, a couple in Australia were scouring the beach for hidden treasures and found it! They contacted Raymond, much to his surprise. That's quite a journey.

The Phantoms of the Opera

Source: messynessychic.comEarlier this century, an unnamed group of man gathered in the vaults below the Paris Opera House to stash 24 original operas recordings. Fearful for the future of the discipline, they wished to preserve the vocal techniques of the time. Despite half being stolen, the rest were discovered and saved by an air con crew and relocated to the National Library of France. Viva l’opéra.

A girl burying her treasures, or something more sinister?

Source: The TimesImagine, while out metal detecting, coming across a time capsule filled with photographs, clothes, a teddy, a "Girls Pee Wee" softball medallion.. Would you think innocent kid creating memories, or the stolen remains of a murder victim? Serial killers in particular have been known to take trophies such as these. The Sheriff's office were unconvinced, but the police are running DNA tests just to be sure...

The horrific secrets of Auschwitz

Source: bbcTragically few who were confined to the Nazi's notorious death camp of Auschwitz would live to tell their stories. A brave few however, managed to write down and bury their tales in the ground, which were then discovered in 1995. With them were found important scrolls and documents written by members of the Sonderkommando

(Special Squad), who were forced to work in the crematoriums. This brave act provided evidence of the brutality suffered in that place, even if the authors were not permitted to survive them.

Cake

Source: memeThis one is just a waste if you ask us. When funeral home owners were renovating their building in Niagara Falls, they came across a time capsule from 1948. Inside was the standard newspaper clippings, postcards, letters etc, but also, a slice of cake. The only explanation they could think of was that it was perhaps the cake from the opening party for the building? None for us, thanks.

Albert Einstein summarises humanity

In this, more formal time capsule, Einstein himself was invited to contribute a message. While he spoke of "inventive minds" and predicted that our lives would be considerably facilitated by furtive inventions, he also spoke to the darker side of humanity. He lamented how we suffer from a "want of everything," trapping us in an "economic cycle." He also lamented how we have a tendency to kill each other at "irregular time intervals... across countries." Almost 100 years have passed, and we've clearly leaned nothing.

Predictions don't often come true, but...

Source: history.comIn 2016, stone masons discovered what appeared to be an ordinary lemonade bottle in their work at Southampton Guildhall in the UK. A message inside, written in pencil on the back of a cigarette carton, gave dire warnings citing the names “Stanley Jeffery, George Groves,” and “Fred Pearce," and predicted that “Mussolini threatens war.” The note appeared to have been written the day after Mussolini rejected a peace offering from the League of Nations and correctly predicted his rise to power. Spooky.

The Boston State House lion's head

Source: Portland Press HeraldFor years, rumours had been circulating that there was a time capsule hidden away in the lion's head at The Boston State House. Very unusually, when a conservator decided to investigate in 2014, the whispers turned out to be true. Inside, he found a box containing the usual photographs, newspaper cuttings, a Roosevelt McKinley button, of all things. Also, a chunk of the original, wooden lion, dating back to 1901.

Discovered twice

Source: Gizmodo.comFor years the American Legion Post in Washington had displayed an artillery shell in the lobby. Deciding it would be more secure if it were glued down, when they went to do so, they discovered a treasure trove of items inside: a menu from a local hotel, magazines, a trove of documents, a trench lighter from World War I and a rather cheeky note. It would appear they were not the first ones to open the capsule, as the note read "thanks for the brandy." Rude.

The Lisa Mouse

Source: oddee.comAfter his presentation to an Aspen Colorado conference in 1983, Steve Jobs (Apple's legendary founder) used the Apple Lisa mouse, which he then donated to a local time capsule project. Awkwardly, when the allotted time came for it to be retrieved in 2000, construction and landscaping work seemed to have confused its precise location. National Geographic were finally able to locate it in 2013. Doubt that mouse is compatible with our office Macs mind...

Too old to open

Source: oddee.comNo one has any idea who put this time capsule in the Washington Monument 100 years ago. We are unlikely to find out any time soon either, as the box is so old, conservationists fear destroying the contents if they did try and open it. We do know the date of its instillation, September 12, 1915, thanks to a nearby plaque.

Grandpa's note

Source: Therichest.comWhen a chap discovered a false bottom in one of his grandmother's cabinets, they were both excited to discover a safe inside. At her insistence, he forced it open with a chisel, only to find a time capsule left by his late grandfather. He would have rummaged through the contents with his grandma, had the box not been tabled with the infamous line from Dante's Inferno "

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here," which freaked him out so much he left her to it.

A piece of optics history

Source: pastfactory.comWhile working on demolishing the Brashear Telescope Factory in Pittsburgh in 2015, the crew unearthed a 19th century time capsule. Inside, they discovered what was claimed to be “one of the first pieces of optical glass made in America." Before WWII, when it was commissioned to make bombsights, the factory manufactured a variety of scientific equipment and was run by Dr. Brashear, a former astronomer, so, figures.

Forgotten shop

Source: oddee.comIt's a bit like walking into an old episode of Are You Being Served?

or Open All Hours

in the UK (check them out - absolute classics.) This shop was frozen in time and became its own capsule until an American family inherited the abandoned building containing it. Lining the shelves were hundreds of mint-condition vintage footwear from the 40-60s, worth thousands of dollars. Cha-ching.

Memories of Hiroshima

Source: The National WWII MuseumTwo matching time capsules were buried at the Japan World Expo in 1970: one destined to be opened in 2000, the other not for 5000 years. Both contained remnants from the devastated city of Hiroshima (which was attacked by the Allies with the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.) The contents include a glass eyes, a slinky and the blackened fingernails of a survivor of the attack. Interestingly, even though the capsule dated for 2000 will be reopened every 200 years, and the fingernails will remain intact, as keratin does not decompose under those conditions.

Whoops, wrong year

Source: pastfactory.comYou must feel slightly guilty as a construction crew if you accidentally crack a time capsule in the course of your work which the creator did not mean to be opened for another 942 years, but oh well. MIT students had secretly buried this particular capsule in 1957, and had included the usual clippings, but also some more interesting additions such as a vial of penicillin.

A 62 year old purse

Source: newsner.comIsn't it just the worst, losing your purse? Assuming it's not been pinched, it usually turns up in a day or so, right? Not for Patti Rumfola. While she was enrolled at Hoover High School in Ohio in 1957, she misplaced her purse and there it remained until 2019 until it was found by the custodian. Sadly, she had died 6 years previously, but it was a nice surprise for her daughter and contained pristine tickets to her school’s football games,  library cards and a photograph of her friends. She shared the coins amongst her siblings in memory of their mom. Cute.

Dear future,

Source: Contested HistoriesDuring the Soviet era, if you were going to bury a time capsule, it was in vogue to do so under a statue of Lenin. So it's hardly a surprise that one was discovered under this one in 2012. Oddly however, it was discovered exactly 33 years after being buried. It contained a letter to the “Socialist Society of 2024," as the actor was convinced the readers would still be communist. They were also hopeful their situation would be "better" than their current reality and, as a result, they did not "feel sorry" for themselves.

Nazi memorabilia

Source: WikipediaThis array of Nazi memorabilia was unearthed at the Ordensburg Krossinsee in Poland, a former Nazi training camp. Chillingly addressed to the followers of Hitler, the copper cylinder (buried in 1934) contained an original Nazi party badge, too volumes of Hitler's Mein Kampf, 

coins, letters and photos, in, surprisingly, near perfect condition.

The original contents

Source: pastfactory.comJust one for the history buffs amongst us. One of the first, deliberate, US time capsule that we know of, was buried in the Capitol in 1876 (100 years after America was founded.) Anna Deihm from NY filled the safe with photos of President U.S. Grant, a gold fountain pen and a book about temperance. It almost got forgotten about, but was luckily unearthed just before it was intended to be in 1976.

A joke whiskey bottle

Source: Gizomodo.comWhat do you do when you're a bored, tipsy city surveyor and you finish a bottle of whiskey? Fill it a single penny, some newspaper clippings and a note apologising that there's no liquor left and bury it under the steps to City Hall of course. That is, assuming your name is Samuel Stevens and you live in New Hampshire in 1944. He also claimed to have buried similar bottles all over town, but, as they're most likely empty too, we won't be rushing to dig them up.

Another super old one

Source: pastfactory.com

Another golden oldie (even older in fact.) In 2015, construction crews working on the Massachusetts State House found a capsule placed in a corner stone laid by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams in 1795. The contained coins and newspaper cuttings so old, they now rest in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Just kids being kids...right?

Source: paleofuture.comIn Albuquerque, New Mexico, a building crew dug up a time capsule from the 60s near an elementary school. Nothing weird there. It was filled, naturally, with silly notes, cartoon drawings and TV show quotes, but one message stood out. This child claimed to be 10 years old, but that he was also born in 1900. He then wrote the chilling words "I am dead.

" His favourite subject was "spooking the police

" and ended by saying "see you later, savages

." Shiver.

Yahoooooo!

Source: listverse.comHailed as one of the largest digital completions of its time, Yahoo!'s time capsule project from 2006 contains 170,857 contributions. It hoped to capture the thoughts and feelings of the world that year. It was due to be opened in 2020 on Yahoo!s birthday. Interesting huh. Google.... I mean Yahoo! it for more info. Awkward.