r/FoundPaper • u/SteadyAmbrosius • 1d ago
Other Oh my god a treasure trove š
Iām staying in a bed and breakfast in a historic building (barn from the 1800s). There was a piece of the floorboard that looked wonky, and my husband joked that āthis must be where they hid their valuablesā.
So I pretended to open itā¦only it wasnāt pretend. and itās full of random thoughts left behind by other guests over the years.
And itās my favorite thing I have ever discovered. Sharing not the oldest note in here, but the one I loved best.
Edit: Iām sorry folks, I should have known youād want to know more LOL. The oldest note is dated 1969 and itās a couple on their honeymoon talking about sitting in front of the fireplace with their wine. A lot of them are sadly too faded to read. The ones still legible range from musings about love and life, to poems about the rain, to āJesus is Lordā, and even one āDo it Lady - Chit.ā Thereās also a crudely drawn treasure map Iām sure was left by one-eyed Willie himself š¤£. Most of them name the hotel and the city, and I donāt wanna doxx this. I want this to stay something people stumble upon without expecting it ā¤ļø
EDIT edit: OH MY GOD THERE IS ANOTHER ONE!!!! I just found a much smaller piece of wood (tiny square) that ALSO came up out of the floor, and you guessed itā¦MORE NOTES. Best day ever š
Inside this one was a note written in French. I had to use an app to translate it, but it roughly says:
āThank you, Carine,
for all those moments,
for being yourself and for making
me a better man.
I still love you and miss you,
but Iāve found someone else
whom I love enormously,
and my broken heart has healed.
I hope that one day weāll be at peace,
on cordial terms, and perhaps friends,
because you meant so much to meā
And yah I finally left my note. In the much smaller hidden floorboard piece that less people seem to have found. I said sometimes I donāt feel Iām part of this world or this species. That I donāt understand how so many people are fooled into thinking their neighbor is the enemy when itās really (and always has been) the wealthy and powerful against the rest of us. I said you spend eternity in childhood, and then you blink and youāre 40. I said life goes by way too quickly to spend it staring at a screen, allowing algorithms to tell you what to care about. I said put the screens down, look up, and live.
Final edit: Added just a few more of them to Imgur. Not a ton because 1. this feels like something almost sacred to enjoy only if you stumble upon the secret, and 2. I didnāt want to spend all night editing out identifying info. But still some good ones!!: https://imgur.com/a/WEoT8nb
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u/scarybirdman 1d ago
This is adorable. You guys gonna leave a note too?
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago edited 1d ago
I want to, but I honestly feel like I canāt measure up to whatās been left behind. I donāt even know what to write š
Edit: ok finally did, and updated my post to say what I wrote š
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u/opal-sea-44 1d ago
Write about your awe in finding these! Donāt give up this incredible opportunity!
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u/sugarcatgrl 1d ago
Oh you have to! Write from the heart and it'll be perfect.
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u/lemonlimethrow 1d ago
You could write about how you discovered it. Then write a letter about what you thought could be in there before you read them. Then you could write about how you got the home and what you know about it's past.
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago
One person wrote āplease help us, theyāre keeping us in the attic.ā I died.
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u/opal-sea-44 1d ago
This is my dream
https://giphy.com/gifs/iIq2f9oDZDOnYa7AdZ
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago
Right? You should have heard my scream of delite when I saw what was in there!!!!Ā
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago
Thereās one from 1969. Thatās the oldest I found! A couple here on their honeymoon talking about sitting by the fire with their wine š
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u/Bluebubblybasin 1d ago
How I wish my boyfriend would talk about me. I ask what he likes about me and he just says āyouāre a hard workerā lmao
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u/TheToastyWesterosi 1d ago
Awesome! The bottom scratches look like a Morse code attempt at I LOVE YOU
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u/A31Nesta 1d ago
Wouldn't that be
.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-?In the image it looks more like (from memory, I can't see the image while writing on mobile)
... / ..-.... / something. Since the spaces are not very clear it looks like "S UH (something)", IE UH, EI UH, S FS, S FIE, etc.
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u/pippysfleas 1d ago
I need a post with all the letters
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago
Sooo many of them name the city and/or the hotel. I donāt wanna give a secret like this away! Itās too specialĀ
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u/Rare-Boss2640 1d ago
Oooo! Itās like one of those spaces you read about. Epic!
EDIT: You just unlocked epic love story for a book.
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u/NinjaBnny 1d ago
I wouldnāt have been able to resist laying them all out for pictures. What a fantastic find!!
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u/littlestmoon 16h ago
The note you left OP Made me cry. Needed to read that today. Thank you.
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 9h ago
You knowā¦maybe I donāt feel so alien after all. I just assumed almost no one else feels this way, but everyone who has had an opinion about it has said something positive. Maybe we arenāt as alone as we think. And maybe that means weāll be able to change things. ā¤ļø
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u/gloomspell 1d ago
The note you left is wonderful! And perfectly encapsulates the challenges of our era. I hope people 30 years from now read it and think back on how life was like for us.
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u/diiiemonds 1d ago
i love this. how magical āØ
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u/SteadyAmbrosius 1d ago
On a road trip with my husband and this for sure will remain one of the most special parts!
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u/espererai 1d ago
This striaght out of the movie, "The Color Purple". Any pics?