Trending NowMessage in Bottle Turns Up After 50 Years, Thanks to Superstorm Sandy
No, it's not a hit song by the Police or a romantic film starring Kevin Costner. But it is a bright moment in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. A man literally found a message in a bottle in the debris of the devastating storm — almost 50 years after the missive was first tossed into the sea.
In 1963, 12-year-old Dennis Komsa created an experiment: He wrote four questions on a piece of paper, put the note in a Mason jar, and threw it into the Atlantic in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. He was hoping someone would find it and mail it back to him, so he enclosed a nickel for postage and his return address.
Then in November 2012, a week after Sandy wrecked the New Jersey coast, Norman Stanton found the bottle while cleaning up litter from the storm in his sister's yard — only two-tenths of a mile from the note's origin.
The questions written on the note were: "Where was the jar found? When was it found? How was it found? And anything else which might help me."
Fifty years at sea is a long time. But did his Mason jar break any world records? Komsa, now 61 years old, checked with Guinness World Records. Unfortunately, the record for finding a bottle tossed into the sea is 97 years and 309 days, set in 2012 by a fisherman in the United Kingdom.
Komsa was recently reunited with his jar when he and Stanton attended the 100th anniversary of Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
Where do you suppose this jar was floating for the past 50 years? Tell us your hypothesis on ourFacebook page, and follow us on Twitter at @YahooTrending.
