This man should play the lottery!
According to WLKY News Louisville, a man named Troy Heller was completely dumbfounded when a letter he threw into the Atlantic Ocean at 10 years old “found its way back” to him. It was 1985 when he shoved a note into a Pepsi bottle, sealed it, and tossed it into the sea when he was on vacation with his family in Vero Beach, Florida. Telling the outlet his thoughts at the time, the now 47-year-old said:
“I just thought I’d throw it in the ocean and see where it went.”
And it didn’t go far! Nearly 4 decades later it washed on land and was found only 13 miles from the area the then-youngster threw it. In November, two teachers were cleaning up the beach from Hurricane Nicole when they found the bottle had swept ashore. Instead of keeping it or throwing it away, they handed the message in a bottle to a family who happened to be walking nearby — and they were determined to find the original writer.
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Katie Carmax told the outlet she was walking with her wife and two daughters when the teachers handed over the note:
“We just feel really special that we ran into two wonderful teachers picking trash up after the hurricane.”
When the family got home they smashed the bottle and pulled out the note, revealing Troy’s name, age, address, and phone number according to a video the Carmaxes posted to TikTok. At the end of the note, the then-10-year-old had written:
“P.S. whoever finds this call me, or write to me.”
A little internet sleuthing and Katie, along with her family, did just that! They were able to track down Troy and call him. He noted to WLKY he ignored a call on his phone from Florida, but when he received a text message from the same number and a photo of the letter, he instantly got thrown back to 1985:
“As soon as I saw it, I remembered writing it. I’m just surprised it didn’t break … It’s just amazing that it finally found its way back.”
Ch-ch-check out the video (below):
@cmfam11 Whoever finds this write me back #38yearsago #messageinabotte #hurricane #verobeach #treasure #pepsibottle ##hurricanenicole #hurricanenicoletreasure #specialmemories #howcool #morningwalks #teachersarespecial ♬ Message In A Bottle – The Police
Just unbelievable! In the words of Troy, “it’s something you never thought would happen.” Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via YouTube/WLKY News Louisville]
