Posted on Dec 10, 2020

17 Super-Interesting Things From The Past That People Discovered While Just Living Their Lives

The past is all around you...just waiting to be found!

by Mike Spohr

BuzzFeed Staff

Ever dream about what it would be like to stumble across an incredible artifact from the past, near or distant?

Paramount

Well, these redditors — plus some BuzzFeed readers — had that exact experience! Here are their very cool, and very unexpected, discoveries:

1. A more than 100-year-old pack of crayons this person found in the back of a desk:

Found these 110(?) year old Crayolas in the back of a family secretary desk. The pack still has the crayons. from mildlyinteresting

2. A Nintendo Entertainment System from the '80s — still in the box, unopened — this lucky soul found in their great grandmother's home:

Cleaning out my great grandmothers mobile home and just found this. In disbelief. from gaming

3. A bottle of medicinal cocaine — likely from the early 1900s or even earlier — this person stumbled across hidden in the back of a pharmacy:

This very old bottle of cocaine we found in my pharmacy. from mildlyinteresting

4. These thousands-of-years-old mosaics from a Roman villa discovered under a vineyard:

Mosaics of a Roman villa were found under a vineyard in Negrar, Italy from interestingasfuck

5. This 26-year-old movie ticket to Forrest Gump (just $3.25!) this shopper found in the pocket of a shirt bought at a thrift store:

Found a movie ticket for Forrest Gump in the pocket of a shirt I bought at the thrift store from mildlyinteresting

6. This moonshine from 1917 some kids discovered behind a fake wall in their home's basement:

7. A brochure touting the thrills of visiting the now-lost Twin Towers in New York that this person came across while cleaning out their home:

Found a travel brochure from the World Trade Center while cleaning out my house from mildlyinteresting

8. A 120-year-old glass plate negative that YouTuber Mathieu Stern found inside a time capsule and then developed, discovering this image of a long-gone kitty:

A man wiping something onto a negative and slowly developing photo of a cat

He then colorized the image so we could get a great look at what our feline friend from 1900 really looked it:

A colorized photo from the 19th century of a cute cat

Here's the video of Mathieu opening the time capsule and finding the glass plate negative (and other cool artifacts):

Mathieu Stern / youtube.com

And you can watch the video of how he colorized the photo here.

Mathieu Stern / youtube.com

And you can watch the video of how he colorized the photo here.

9. A 32-year-old can of Sprite this person found in the ceiling of an old mall:

This Sprite can I found in the ceiling of an old mall. from mildlyinteresting

10. This newspaper from 1936 (that fans of The Crown would surely find of interest) this person came across in their grandmother’s boxes.

A 1936 edition of the batimore news post with the headline: king edward abdicates

11. This fossil of a car-sized turtle found in South America:

Fossils found of car-sized turtles that once roamed South America from pics

12. This 32-year-old Gatorade carton this person found in a railway tunnel:

I work for the railway and found this Gatorade carton in near mint condition in a tunnel. Date on the top says June 16, 1988. from mildlyinteresting

13. This voting ticket from the Civil War (early 1860s) this person found in an old book of Shakespeare — it'd been put there as a bookmark and forgotten:

This "bookmark" I found in an old Shakspeare book is a voting ticket from the civil war from interestingasfuck

14. This doodle of a bird on a land deed drawn by a 19th century worker that a digitizer discovered when scanning land deeds from the 1800s:

15. A war savings bond issued in 1943 that belonged to this person's great-great-grandparents:

16. A travel itinerary from 1904 that this person found tucked away safely all these years in an antique guidebook to Paris:

Found someone’s 116 year old travel itinerary tucked in an antique Guidebook to Paris from ForgottenBookmarks

17. And this photo of Stephen King — and his autograph from 1981 — that this person did not expect to find inside an old copy of The Shining:

Nothing like picking up a book and finding a photo (and autograph) of the author inside from ForgottenBookmarks

17 Super-Interesting Things From The Past That People Discovered While Just Living Their Lives

Ever dream about what it would be like to stumble across an incredible artifact from the past, near or distant?

Well, these redditors — plus some BuzzFeed readers — had that exact experience! Here are their very cool, and very unexpected, discoveries:

1. A more than 100-year-old pack of crayons this person found in the back of a desk:

2. A Nintendo Entertainment System from the '80s — still in the box, unopened — this lucky soul found in their great grandmother's home:

3. A bottle of medicinal cocaine — likely from the early 1900s or even earlier — this person stumbled across hidden in the back of a pharmacy:

4. These thousands-of-years-old mosaics from a Roman villa discovered under a vineyard:

5. This 26-year-old movie ticket to Forrest Gump (just $3.25!) this shopper found in the pocket of a shirt bought at a thrift store:

6. This moonshine from 1917 some kids discovered behind a fake wall in their home's basement:

7. A brochure touting the thrills of visiting the now-lost Twin Towers in New York that this person came across while cleaning out their home:

8. A 120-year-old glass plate negative that YouTuber Mathieu Stern found inside a time capsule and then developed, discovering this image of a long-gone kitty:

He then colorized the image so we could get a great look at what our feline friend from 1900 really looked it:

Here's the video of Mathieu opening the time capsule and finding the glass plate negative (and other cool artifacts):

View this video on YouTube

9. A 32-year-old can of Sprite this person found in the ceiling of an old mall:

10. This newspaper from 1936 (that fans of The Crown would surely find of interest) this person came across in their grandmother’s boxes.

11. This fossil of a car-sized turtle found in South America:

12. This 32-year-old Gatorade carton this person found in a railway tunnel:

13. This voting ticket from the Civil War (early 1860s) this person found in an old book of Shakespeare — it'd been put there as a bookmark and forgotten:

14. This doodle of a bird on a land deed drawn by a 19th century worker that a digitizer discovered when scanning land deeds from the 1800s:

15. A war savings bond issued in 1943 that belonged to this person's great-great-grandparents:

16. A travel itinerary from 1904 that this person found tucked away safely all these years in an antique guidebook to Paris:

17. And this photo of Stephen King — and his autograph from 1981 — that this person did not expect to find inside an old copy of The Shining:

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