“Found Paper”: 50 Lost And Forgotten Messages That People Discovered Out In The World

In this day and age, the idea of giving someone a handwritten note often seems like a lost art. We slide into each other’s DMs, send text messages alerting loved ones of major life updates, and glean information about our friends and family members from their Instagram stories.

Once upon a time, however, writing someone a letter or a note was the only way you could communicate with them if you couldn’t speak face-to-face. And one situation where you could potentially encounter a lost or abandoned note was by finding a message in a bottle.  

According to New York Magazine, the first known message in a bottle was sent by Greek philosopher Theophrastus around 310 B.C. The note, sent by one of Aristotle’s pupils, was sent to test the hypothesis that the Atlantic Ocean flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

These notes that have been found washed up on seashores haven’t always been without controversy, though. Apparently, in the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth appointed a royal “Uncorker of Ocean Bottles,” and made it a capital crime to open a bottle from the ocean without authorization.   

By 1846, the United States Coast & Geodetic Survey began releasing boatloads of messages in bottles into the ocean to conduct research on ocean currents. And in 1913, a message in a bottle was discovered with a note that read: “From Titanic. Goodbye all. Burke of Glanmire, Cork.” It washed up on the shores of Dunkettle, Ireland, a year after the ship tragically sank. 

People are still fascinated by the mysterious letters and notes that they come across in the wild, though. And in 2024, Central Pennsylvania made headlines after cryptic notes started appearing in the area. The messages were found inside sealed food products and a variety of other items. Apparently, the notes referenced current events around the globe, controversial subjects, and conspiracy theories.

Psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Berger said that the notes appeared to be what experts would call schizophrenic writing. “The writing appears to be called loose association … a term of art in psychology where in the person’s mind writing it — it makes sense, but unfortunately for us, it just appears to be random words and statements.” 

“The fact that it is so disorganized in and in itself, just the grammar, the syntax are so disorganized says this is a product of a mind that’s very disorganized,” Dr. Berger added. 

Sometimes, however, random notes that are found can be extremely wholesome. In 2020, the Washington Post published a piece about the “random kind notes left in cafes and bookstores.” Apparently, there’s even a group of people who go out of their way to leave these kind notes for strangers to find.

“With loneliness so prevalent, it’s hard to just walk up to someone and say, ‘Hi, would you like to be my friend?’” Bahaa Chmait told the Washington Post. “A handwritten letter is a lost art form that anyone can appreciate. It lets people know that somebody out there cares.”