Time Capsule From 1968 Discovered In 2016 Leaves Readers Befuddled
Here’s an interesting fact – did you know that time capsules have been around since the 1700s? According to Wikipedia, in 1761 some artifacts were carefully placed inside a copper grasshopper weathervane that was located in Boston. Presumably, the idea was either to safeguard the artifacts or, transport them forward in time. For example on the 30th of November 2017, a time capsule dating back to 1777 was discovered inside a sacred statue located in Sotillo de la Ribera. So you see the idea of caching artifacts or information was used a long time ago as an intentional way of communicating with future generations. There’s no doubt that time capsules have helped archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians to better understand the past.
Arbor Day of 1968 was filled with excitement and joy for students and staff of the Montgomery Elementary School. After all, that was the day they were going to plant new trees on their school ground. So with the ground tilled around the trees, the staff came up with a brilliant idea – to bury a few time capsules under the fresh foliage. The excited students were thrilled to hear the idea and couldn’t wait to pen down letters that detailed their lives in the 60s for future readers to read. So off they went to write their letters and when done, all their messages were sealed inside glass milk bottles and buried in different places in their school ground. However, in the early 1980s the Montgomery Elementary School shut down and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) decided to use the premises as a training center for teachers.
As the years went by, the building began losing its ability to serve as a training center and so in 2016 the APS decided to demolish the structure in order to construct a new center for teacher training. When Montgomery Elementary School’s former students found out that their school was going to be razed they asked officials to keep an eye out for the time capsules they buried in 1968. During the demolishing process, the crew came across one glass milk bottle and immediately ceased their work – all interested to read the contents inside. Former students also gathered when they found out that a single time capsule was discovered from their school ground. Former student Cindy Linke opened the cork-sealed bottle and revealed the letters written by students back in 1968.
As it turns out, the letters in the glass bottle belonged to Montgomery Elementary School’s fourth-grade. Former student Brad J. Clement, who was in fourth grade at that time, was delighted to find the message he wrote in 1968 when he just 10 years old. Clement’s wasn’t the only letter in the time capsule, there were 25 more letters, but one particular letter left everyone speechless and it was written by a boy called Greg Lee Youngman. While all the other letters were cute and funny, Youngman’s letter was nothing but creepy, to say the least. His letter began with the line, “I am dead.”
His entire letter read, “I am dead. I go to Montgomery School. That is the olden school name. I was born 1900. You auto now I dead. My favorite subject is spooking the police. I play the guitar. In case you don’t know what it is, it is board with strings on them. I am 10 years old. See you later savages.”
Former students, who were present when the time capsule was discovered, couldn’t confirm whether Youngman was alive or dead when they first buried their letters in 1968. Nevertheless, this young boy’s letter definitely did leave a lasting impression on everyone who read it and till today people wonder if it was written by a ghost!
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