Lost & Found

[EnolaGaia]

A New York library has received a book that was 63 years overdue.

Book returned to New York library was 63 years overdue

A woman who checked a book out from a New York library in 1957 mailed the overdue volume back to the facility with a $500 donation.

Betty Diamond, 74, of Madison, Wis., said she checked out Ol' Paul, the Mighty Logger, a collection of Paul Bunyan stories by Glen Rounds, from a Queens Public Library branch in 1957. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...63-years-overdue-Betty-Diamond/1851616013506/

 

[Swifty]

A New York library has received a book that was 63 years overdue.


FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...63-years-overdue-Betty-Diamond/1851616013506/

I'd have just returned the book instead but 10 out of 10 for her honesty I suppose.

 

[escargot]

Australian sets diving record, finds skeleton

An Australian deep-water diver attempting a world-record dive in South Africa found the skeletal remains of a fellow diver who disappeared down the same sinkhole 10 years ago, South African radio reported Friday.

David Shaw did however break the previous record of 242 metres for diving with special equipment rather than using the normal scuba gear and took nine-and-half hours to resurface, spending most of the time decompressing.

He found the remains of Deon Dreyer, who died at Boesmansgat in the arid Northern Cape province in 1994, at a depth of 271 metres, SABC radio said.

The Australian said he wanted to go deeper, but decided to stop after making the grisly discovery.

Boesmansgat is described by several websites as an ancient watering hole for bushmen roaming the Kalahari Desert and warned it should only be "dived by experienced divers with some caving and sinkhole experience."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1231275.htm[

This story gets worse.
According to Wikipedia,

Ten years later, in October 2004, renowned cave diver David Shaw discovered Dreyer's body in the cave at a depth of 272 metres (892 ft). On 8 January 2005, Shaw tried to recover the body, but died in the attempt.

Shaw's close friend and support diver, Don Shirley, also nearly died and was left with permanent damage that has impaired his balance.[1]

On 12 January 2005, while others were recovering Shaw's technical equipment, they discovered the bodies of both Dreyer and Shaw had floated up close to the surface. Both bodies were then recovered.[4][5][1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deon_Dreyer#cite_note-tzimmer-1

This sad series of events was featured on YouTube by 'Mr Ballen'.

 

[escargot]

Today I was looking for a big bunch of keys that some idiot entrusted to my safekeeping.

Tipped the house up, had several mugs of tea in the spirit of Holmes' 'two pipe problem'-solving, finally found them. Had another brew to celebrate.
Now I need a wee.

 

[Souleater]

Not sure if there is somewhere more appropriare for this story

Greek bull figurine unearthed after heavy downpour

A bronze figurine of a bull believed to be at least 2,500 years old has been unearthed in Greece following heavy rain near the ancient site of Olympia.

Burn marks on the statuette suggest it may have been one of thousands of offerings to the Greek god Zeus.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56460693

 

[EnolaGaia]

A high school student lost her wallet in 1951. It was discovered 70 years later as the building was being demolished, and it's on its way back to its original owner.

Virginia school finds student's lost wallet after 70 years

Officials at a Virginia school where a wallet was found during a remodeling project are returning the item to the woman who lost it as a student nearly 70 years earlier.

Poquoson City Public Schools officials said a contractor working on the renovation project at Poquoson Middle School was going through the rubble of the building's demolished gym when he found a wallet in some duct work. ...

The wallet's contents included 85 cents, some Santa Claus stamps from 1951, a 1951 calendar and a pair of photos.

Information found in the wallet identified the owner as Ester French, 85, who moved to Connecticut in 1957.

School officials were able to contact French through a relative who still lives in the area, and the woman said she remembered losing her wallet during the 1951-52 school year, while she was attending what was then the city's high school.

"There was a ledge [in the gym] that I had placed my wallet on, and when I went to get it, it wasn't there, but there was a hole -- opening behind that ledge -- and so my wallet apparently had fallen down and gone beneath the school, and there was nothing to do about it," French told WTKR-TV. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...s-wallet-Ester-French-70-years/7321616609480/

 

[escargot]

We've both been looking for things that we've, y'know, put away safe.

You know what THAT means.



Today we both found our missing items.

Mine were some zip pulls in various colours, along with some very posh hi-viz ones.
I bought a pack of the assorted ones and almost immediately put them away and lost them, and ordered another set.

They are specially made for easy use when you're wearing gloves. Invaluable for cycling jackets.

I'm off to lob the posh hi-viz zip pulls on my best cycling coat.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Fat cat goes missing for 4 weeks, but was eventually found in a chimney no one thought the chubby feline could fit into ...

19-pound cat, missing for 28 days, found in neighbor's chimney

A Washington state woman said her 19-pound cat was missing for 28 days before being found in a place she never considered the portly feline could fit -- her neighbor's chimney.

Caitlyn Wertenberger said the house next door to her Union Gap home was vacant and under construction when Piper, her 19-pound tuxedo cat, went missing from her house. ...

She said that 28 days later, after her new neighbors had moved into the home, one of them told her they had been hearing meowing inside their home for about five days.

The neighbors invited Wertenberger to come search their home, and she found the feline stuck in the fireplace damper. ...

Wertenberger took Piper to a veterinarian, who said the cat was dehydrated and had lost about 7 pounds during the time she was missing. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/03/30/Caitlyn-Wertenberger-missing-cat/9211617136660/

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's another story of an unintended cash donation delivered to Goodwill (thrift / charity store) in donated clothing. This is the biggest such screw-up I can recall - $42,000 in cash.

Goodwill worker finds mistakenly donated $42,000 cash

An employee sorting donations at a Goodwill thrift store in Oklahoma made a surprising discovery -- $42,000 cash wrapped between two sweaters.

Andrea Lessing, who only recently started work at the Goodwill store in Norman, said she was sorting through a pile of donations when she felt an odd lump wrapped up in two sweaters. ...

Lessing said she thought the lump felt like books, but discovered stacks of cash. ...

Lessing handed in her discovery to supervisors, who were able to find identifying documents among the cash that allowed them to contact the money's owner.

Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma said the person who mistakenly donated the money gave Lessing a $1,000 reward for her honesty. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...homa-cash-stack-Andrea-Lessing/5551617132633/

 

[Iris]

Yesterday I found a few 5cent coins in various places. After my husband died I used to find them quite often and had been thinking that I hadn't seen any for awhile.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Another long-lost library book returned - this one having been MIA for 50 years ...

Book returned to Nebraska library was 50 years overdue

Officials at a Nebraska library said workers discovered something unexpected in a return drop box: A book that was more than 50 years overdue.

The Omaha Public Library said the book, Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook, by Edward Luttwak, was found by librarians this week in a return drop box at the library's downtown branch. ...

The card inside the cover of the book states it was due back July 29, 1970.

Emily Getzschman, the library's marketing manager, said the facility doesn't have records going back that far, so officials don't know who checked the book out or who returned it. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/04/01/Omaha-Public-Library-book-50-years-overdue/9121617307429/

 

[EnolaGaia]

Another high school class ring, in this case lost in the 1980s, has been returned to its Kentucky owner. The high school conducted a ceremony to surprise the owner with the ring.

Kentucky man's lost class ring returned after nearly 40 years

A Kentucky man who lost his class ring nearly 40 years ago was reunited with the object thanks to the daughter of a man who found it decades ago.

Officials at Bullitt Central High School in Shepherdsville said they recently received a phone call from a woman who said she was trying to find the owner of a 1971 class ring from the school. ...

The woman told officials the ring had been found by her father, who had a hobby of hunting with a metal detector before his death in 1996. ...

Officials determined the ring belonged to Curtis Mullins, a member of the school's first-ever graduating class in 1971.

Mullins' niece works at the school, and she was able to help officials lure her uncle to a ceremony in which he was surprised with the ring. A video of the ceremony was posted to the school's Facebook page. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...g-lost-Curtis-Mullins-40-years/5241617652272/

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Do you recognise any of these dogs?

Sussex Police have released more photos of a number of suspected stolen dogs they seized last month in a bid to identify them and reunite them with their lawful owners.

Officers seized 10 dogs during a search warrant at a location in Surrey on 16 March. An investigation is underway by detectives at Crawley CID, who have been working closely with the force’s specialist Rural Crime Team and other police forces, to help identify the dogs and their lawful owners.

The dogs, a mix of Lurchers and Spaniels, continue to be cared for at a secure location.

More photos on the link https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/witness-appeals/do-you-recognise-any-of-these-dogs/

 

[Souleater]

A Taiwanese man has been reunited with his phone, after it spent a year at the bottom of a lake.

"Taiwan's worst drought in 56 years has dried up one of its most iconic lakes - but this has resulted in good news for at least one man.

The man surnamed Chen claims he dropped the mobile phone while paddleboarding in the Sun Moon Lake a year ago .

But last week, a worker contacted him to say the phone had been found - its case covered in dried mud.

Mr Chen who says he could not sleep for excitement, added the phone worked thanks to its waterproof covering."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56685406

 

[EnolaGaia]

Two off-duty Italian art theft investigators found a Roman statue stolen in 2011 while browsing antiques shops in Brussels.

Off-duty Italy art cops find looted statue in Belgian shop

Italian police say they have recovered a 1st century Roman statue that was stolen from an archaeological site in 2011 and found in a Belgian antiques shop by two off-duty Italian art squad police officers.

An Italian businessman who used a Spanish pseudonym has been referred to prosecutors for further investigation into allegations he received and then exported the statue abroad, the Carabinieri art squad said in a statement Monday.

The “Togatus” statue, featuring a headless Roman wearing a draped toga, has a value of 100,000 euro. It was stolen in November 2011 from the Villa Marini Dettina archaeological site on the outskirts of the capital, the statement said.

Two members of the art squad’s archaeological unit were on assignment in Brussels when they took a walk after work in the Sablon neighborhood that is known for its antiques shops. They spotted a marble statue in a shop that they suspected was from Italy, and confirmed their suspicions when they cross-referenced the work with a database of known stolen antiquities ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/off-duty...belgium-shop-3d4f71e1c5b5363bbd57ec174ab066c8

 

[EnolaGaia]

A soccer ball lost to the sea in Ireland washed ashore in Wales. When the finders posted on Facebook to locate the owner (whose address was on the ball) it only took 6 hours to get a reply from one of the owner's neighbors.

Soccer ball floats from Ireland to Wales, owner identified

A Welsh family found a soccer ball washed up on the beach near their home and used Facebook to find the owner, who lost the ball in Ireland.

Luke Rickard of Tywyn said he was walking on the beach with his daughter, Summer, when the girl found a soccer ball that had washed up in the sand. ...

The ball bore an address that friend Jayne Burden determined was in Drogheda, Ireland.

Burden spread photos of the ball on Facebook, including to the local Love Tywyn page, and soon received a message from someone who said the boy who lost the ball was a neighbor. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...-Ireland-to-Wales-Luke-Rickard/8241618604960/

 

[IbisNibs]

A soccer ball lost to the sea in Ireland washed ashore in Wales.

It was looking for the walrus . . .

Today I was looking for a big bunch of keys that some idiot entrusted to my safekeeping.

Tipped the house up, had several mugs of tea in the spirit of Holmes' 'two pipe problem'-solving, finally found them. Had another brew to celebrate.
Now I need a wee.

Now that you're back from the loo, where did you find them?

 

[EnolaGaia]

A valuable flute mistakenly left in a taxi cab almost a decade ago has been recovered - after the cab driver surfaced with it to check on its value.

What a trill: $13K flute in the wind since 2012 recovered

A $13,000 flute that went missing nearly a decade ago has been returned to its owner after police recovered it from a Boston music store, police said Wednesday.

The flute was reported missing in 2012 after its owner left it in a taxi cab, according to Boston police. It had been a cold case until this February, when a worker at a Boston music store called with a tip.

The worker told police that someone had come to the store with an expensive flute asking about its value. The employee took down the person’s contact information and took a photo of the flute and its serial number. The worker later realized it might be the flute that was reported missing in 2012. ...

Earlier this month, detectives spoke with the person who had visited the music store with the flute. The person said he had bought the instrument from an unknown person, and he turned it over to detectives, police said.

But police said they determined he was actually the driver of the taxi on that day in 2012. ...

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/article/2012-missing-13k-flute-recovered-fc8b4f1eb174419e03c9ecfea3c92542

 

[EnolaGaia]

A Massachusetts family had heard rumors there was money hidden somewhere in their house. After multiple failures to locate such a thing, they hired a professional who found $46,000 hidden beneath the attic floorboards.

$46,000 cash found under floorboards of Massachusetts home

A Massachusetts family hired a professional treasure hunter to investigate decades-old rumors of money hidden in their home -- and he found $46,000 under the floorboards.

Keith Wille, of Groton, Conn., said he was contacted by a Western Massachusetts family who told him about a rumor of a large sum of money that was concealed in their home in the 1950s. ...

The family said they had hired carpenters to look inside walls and underneath floors in the past, but no trace of the rumored cash was discovered.

Wille said he took his metal detector into the family's attic and it signaled there was something underneath the floor boards. A look with his endoscopic camera revealed a metal box hidden under the floor.

Wille and the family pulled up the floorboards and opened the box, discovering $46,000 cash wrapped in original bank straps dating to the 1950s. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...-decades-Western-Massachusetts/2741619116999/

 

[maximus otter]

A Massachusetts family had heard rumors there was money hidden somewhere in their house. After multiple failures to locate such a thing, they hired a professional who found $46,000 hidden beneath the attic floorboards.

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...-decades-Western-Massachusetts/2741619116999/

- And yes, they can still redeem them even though they’re from the 1950s:

“United States banknotes issued at any date remain legal tender even after they are withdrawn from circulation.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#Withdrawal_from_circulation

maximus otter

 

[PeteS]

We've both been looking for things that we've, y'know, put away safe.

You know what THAT means.



Today we both found our missing items.

Mine were some zip pulls in various colours, along with some very posh hi-viz ones.
I bought a pack of the assorted ones and almost immediately put them away and lost them, and ordered another set.

They are specially made for easy use when you're wearing gloves. Invaluable for cycling jackets.

I'm off to lob the posh hi-viz zip pulls on my best cycling coat.

Can you come and find my new in the packet Mole grips please. Completely lost my really original useful grips in the house. Despite an extensive search and much swearing, they were no longer to be found. Easy thought I - eBay purchase of replacements soon delivered. Never got to take them out of the packet and use them before they have disappeared into the ether. Something is taking the p*** now. Any help gratefully received.

 

[maximus otter]

Can you come and find my new in the packet Mole grips please. Completely lost my really original useful grips in the house. Despite an extensive search and much swearing, they were no longer to be found. Easy thought I - eBay purchase of replacements soon delivered. Never got to take them out of the packet and use them before they have disappeared into the ether. Something is taking the p*** now. Any help gratefully received.

They’re probably next to my stalking saw. lt looks like this:

Your reward for finding it will be seeing my BP drop below 200 over Patent Pending.

maximus otter

 

[Souleater]

Can you come and find my new in the packet Mole grips please. Completely lost my really original useful grips in the house. Despite an extensive search and much swearing, they were no longer to be found. Easy thought I - eBay purchase of replacements soon delivered. Never got to take them out of the packet and use them before they have disappeared into the ether. Something is taking the p*** now. Any help gratefully received.

Try the airing cupboard, its always the last place you expect.

 

[Sollywos]

Can you come and find my new in the packet Mole grips please. Completely lost my really original useful grips in the house. Despite an extensive search and much swearing, they were no longer to be found. Easy thought I - eBay purchase of replacements soon delivered. Never got to take them out of the packet and use them before they have disappeared into the ether. Something is taking the p*** now. Any help gratefully received.

Under the kitchen cupboard next to the fridge. Well that was were my kitchen fitters eventually turned up .. 3 years or so after they'd gone missing! Again after much swearing and accusations at the time. Sadly I don't know where he is now to tell him 'See that's where you bloody well left them!'

Sollywos x

 

[Souleater]

I was watching a mudlarking vid on YT (below) and they found this 'forget me not' plaque, engraved by a 10 year old covicted of theft and sentanced to 7 years imprisonment.

Her name can be seen on this list of inmates from Millbank Prison.

Here is the video, some resrarch was done about tje girl who made the plaque a the end of the video.

 

[Alchymist]

They say - well, you know the kinds of things "they" say - that the reason you always find what you're looking for in the last place you look, is because that's when you stop looking. In my case, however, I quite often find what I'm looking for in the first place I looked - but for the second time . . . or even the third time . . . .

 

[Souleater]

A WWII tank that was washed away and sank during the strengthening id flood defenses in 1947 has been unearthed.

Crowland WWII tank recovered after 74 years underground

The Buffalo LVT was brought in to provide flood defences around Crowland, in Lincolnshire, in 1947, but was swept away and sank into a hole.

A team of volunteers spent five days excavating the vehicle and now hope to restore it and put it on display.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-56944032

 

[EnolaGaia]

For God's sake, Krepostnoi - staple it to your body next time if that's what it takes to keep your cash on your person!

Wallet with $45,000 cash left behind on plane in Vietnam

Flight attendants with Vietnam Airlines were able to reunite a passenger with a wallet ...

The airline said flight attendants cleaning out a plane after an April 24 flight from Hanoi to Da Nang discovered a wallet left behind by a passenger.

The wallet contained $45,000 cash, as well as the equivalent of $2,169 in Vietnamese currency. The airline said the wallet also had the passenger's ATM card and other personal documents.

The flight attendants brought the wallet to the airport's lost and found counter, which was able to identify and contact the passenger. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2021/0...left-on-plane-Vietnam-Airlines/4091620151358/

 

[escargot]

Can you come and find my new in the packet Mole grips please. Completely lost my really original useful grips in the house. Despite an extensive search and much swearing, they were no longer to be found. Easy thought I - eBay purchase of replacements soon delivered. Never got to take them out of the packet and use them before they have disappeared into the ether. Something is taking the p*** now. Any help gratefully received.

Did you find them?

When I lose mole grips it's because someone's used them instead of a pipe tap and left them on there.

They do this when they can't (be arsed to) find the tap. Using the mole grips rounds off the connection so the tap won't work any more and you eventually have to use the grips every time.


One of my mole grips lived permanently on a pipe until I had a plumber in to replace the tap fitting.

 

[PeteS]

Did you find them?

When I lose mole grips it's because someone's used them instead of a pipe tap and left them on there.

They do this when they can't (be arsed to) find the tap. Using the mole grips rounds off the connection so the tap won't work any more and you eventually have to use the grips every time.


One of my mole grips lived permanently on a pipe until I had a plumber in to replace the tap fitting.

Weirdly I found the unopened packet of new ones in plain sight yesterday when you posted that. So thanks for that- I'll call on you again when I lose stuff and you can remotely bring them into sight. Honestly, either I must be going senile or something is determined to take the p**s out of me. It's not amusing anymore.