Aside from messages, I have found many things in bottles.  Once, I found 4 used and rolled up tubes of super glue rattling around in an empty plastic bottle.  One day I found a receipt from hardware store in Puerto Rico in a bottle.  And one of my favorites was a toothbrush—brand new—that fit perfectly inside a plastic sports drink bottle.  Was this an improvised carrying case?  Or…did I miss something?  Was there scrimshaw on the toothbrush?!

Among the fascinating and inscrutable “messages” I’ve found is this dollar bill:

I can’t tell if the symbols here are from the English alphabet… let alone what any of them mean.  Are these the mindless scribblings of a child?  Or a covert message sent from a sea-stranded Freemason?  Amelia Earhart playing a trick on us?  Is Amelia Earhart the fabled “Lost Mason”?

If you have any other suggestions, I’d be delighted to hear them.  Is this a message on a dollar bill?  And, if so, what is the message?  And, if it is NOT a message…then why on earth would someone scribble on a dollar bill, put it in a bottle, and toss in the ocean?

This dollar bill was rolled up inside a generic plastic water bottle.  I’ll tell you: finding American money in a trashy bottle on a desolate shore feels crazy and bizarre.

Money may not grow on trees, but, apparently, it apparates inside plastic bottles on beaches.

*PS: People always ask me what I think of the Sting song… But actually, when I’m out hunting around, I tend to think of “The Dollar Bill Song” as performed by Livingston Taylor.

Help me figure out this mystery!