Ye Olde Timey Coke Bottle
Thanks again to Devon Patton from LEX18 News who interviewed me yesterday. We spent 2 hours talking and deciphering messages, but of course air time is limited and this post provides a bit more detail about what we found.
On May 30th, 2011, I found what appears to be a very, very old message in a Coke bottle. Here I am with the bottle on the beach. The T-Shirt I’m wearing is from Carol and Ed Meyers, another couple whose message in a bottle I found:
I was really excited about this MIAB because it seemed so old, and I couldn’t wait to get it out and see the date. That’s why I chose to break it with Devon during our interview, which I will try to post video of here soon.
Complete Remains of the Coke Bottle
From previous experiences with taking old messages out of glass bottles with aluminum screw caps, I knew that once I compromised the environment created inside the sealed bottle, this message would dry out quickly and become brittle. So, when I busted the bottle, I grabbed the message, ran it inside, and flattened it out. A strange thing happens with messages like this: they become easier to read as they dry out. So, we waited.
Words slowly became legible: “Return…419 ocean…resieve…reward…dollars…owner of Beachcomer…”
Yes, I am an English teacher and yes, I noticed the spelling errors, but who cares?! I think they give the message character!
We waited some more. And then a little bit more. We could read, “Return it to 419 Ocean…and resieve a reward…$450 from…owner of Beachcomer”
At this point, Devon and I began to interpret the message differently. By the time he left, he felt that the message said
“Return it to 419 Ocean…and resieve a reward of $1,500 from…owner of Beachcomer,”
while I feel the message says:
“Return it to 419 Ocean boulevard and resieve a reward of $150 from Tina, owner of Beachcomer”
But…but…no date!!! Wah.
What do YOU think? Check it out below and comment with your reading of this message!
Help! What do you think it says?
Closer:
And the back side:
…?