Messages in walls,
Discussion
Last night I got a random message on Facebook messenger from someone who was developing a house my dad built and we lived in when I was 5.
They were knocking out an internal wall and found a note from my dad, with some details about him, our family, the house and local news events at the time.
Through Facebook, they managed to find me, unfortunately my dad died a few years ago.
It was very surprising to see this handwritten note from my dad that had been sitting in the walls of our old house for decades. They also found an empty pack of crisps that perhaps my dad ate before leaving this letter in the walls and sealing it up.
Has anyone here found letters in walls or time capsules or messages in bottles or been contacted by others who’ve found them?
They were knocking out an internal wall and found a note from my dad, with some details about him, our family, the house and local news events at the time.
Through Facebook, they managed to find me, unfortunately my dad died a few years ago.
It was very surprising to see this handwritten note from my dad that had been sitting in the walls of our old house for decades. They also found an empty pack of crisps that perhaps my dad ate before leaving this letter in the walls and sealing it up.
Has anyone here found letters in walls or time capsules or messages in bottles or been contacted by others who’ve found them?
Several handwritten pencil notes under wallpaper, usually measurements or scribbled diagrams. Occasionally betting odds 
Stacks of well-preserved 1960s newspapers under carpets.
In my old house, originally a school built in the 1840s, we found a small handwritten note with three guys' names on, scrunched up and shoved in the fitting of an original joist - it's location meant it could have only been put there when the building was built. We framed it and hang it next to where it was found, and left strict instructions for the next owners to leave it with the house as and when they move on
Stacks of well-preserved 1960s newspapers under carpets.
In my old house, originally a school built in the 1840s, we found a small handwritten note with three guys' names on, scrunched up and shoved in the fitting of an original joist - it's location meant it could have only been put there when the building was built. We framed it and hang it next to where it was found, and left strict instructions for the next owners to leave it with the house as and when they move on
Are they going to send the note to you? I guess it would be a nice thing for you to have?
Ive never found notes in walls but when I used to install flow straighteners in to wind tunnels I always used to sign the side of the final panel that was installed along with the rest of my team.
We always put our names.
Town we lived in.
Company we worked for.
Date the panel was installed.
I reckon I've got a good 60+ years till someone discovers them though.
Ive never found notes in walls but when I used to install flow straighteners in to wind tunnels I always used to sign the side of the final panel that was installed along with the rest of my team.
We always put our names.
Town we lived in.
Company we worked for.
Date the panel was installed.
I reckon I've got a good 60+ years till someone discovers them though.
I used to own a Bungalow built in 1940 and the lady who lived there had lived there her entire life. I believe her parents had bought the house and she continued to live there when they passed away. I purchased the property in 2000 when she was moving into a care home.
The bathroom still had the original cast iron bath, and when I ripped the side off I was amazed to find a little piece of ply wood with a hand written note in pencil along the lines of
"This bath was encased in ply on (some date in 1940)" along with two signatures.
Annoying I think it got thrown away during the bathroom renovations.
Also my brother and I whilst we were renovating said property left all sorts of messages on the back of plasterboard when we redid the kitchen. I sold that property in 2006, and embarrassingly the new owner did an extension and loft conversion so would have discovered all of those messages.
The bathroom still had the original cast iron bath, and when I ripped the side off I was amazed to find a little piece of ply wood with a hand written note in pencil along the lines of
"This bath was encased in ply on (some date in 1940)" along with two signatures.
Annoying I think it got thrown away during the bathroom renovations.
Also my brother and I whilst we were renovating said property left all sorts of messages on the back of plasterboard when we redid the kitchen. I sold that property in 2006, and embarrassingly the new owner did an extension and loft conversion so would have discovered all of those messages.
airsafari87 said:
Are they going to send the note to you? I guess it would be a nice thing for you to have?
Yes it’s on the way apparently. Mum’s a bit miffed as she didn’t get a mention in the letter and my brother and I did.
Hopefully I’ve convinced her that dad likely thought if it was discovered long in the future only my brother and I would be around.
All our floors were lined with newspapers from 1957.. under the carpet, underlay, and two layers of lino.
Recently stripped the walls in the hall/stairway, load of dates from when the hall was redecorated, starting in 1959. Judging by the state of it and standard of decorating I had always assumed that it had been wallpapered a good 10-15 years before we moved in. The last date written on the wall was only 18 months before we bought the house- previous owner had somewhat lower standards than me! Sadly that bit of wall is earmarked to be knocked down shortly.
When we decorated my sons room, one wall was covered in hundreds of pinholes apart from a 18" circle in the middle. I bumped into the previous owners a bit later at a neighbour's wedding and asked who had the dartboard in their room. The older son replied with a smile. Asked him if he'd got any better at hitting the board since they moved out
Recently stripped the walls in the hall/stairway, load of dates from when the hall was redecorated, starting in 1959. Judging by the state of it and standard of decorating I had always assumed that it had been wallpapered a good 10-15 years before we moved in. The last date written on the wall was only 18 months before we bought the house- previous owner had somewhat lower standards than me! Sadly that bit of wall is earmarked to be knocked down shortly.
When we decorated my sons room, one wall was covered in hundreds of pinholes apart from a 18" circle in the middle. I bumped into the previous owners a bit later at a neighbour's wedding and asked who had the dartboard in their room. The older son replied with a smile. Asked him if he'd got any better at hitting the board since they moved out
We found the names of previous owners under wall paper in our bedroom some years ago. About 5 months after finding that I was working on one of the cars on the drive and a man and his child walked over to me, he explained that he used to spend time here with his grand parents when he was a kid. Turns out it was his grand parents who had signed the wall all those years ago. Luckily I had photographed the signatures and was able to share the photo with him.
El stovey said:
Last night I got a random message on Facebook messenger from someone who was developing a house my dad built and we lived in when I was 5.
They were knocking out an internal wall and found a note from my dad, with some details about him, our family, the house and local news events at the time.
Through Facebook, they managed to find me, unfortunately my dad died a few years ago.
It was very surprising to see this handwritten note from my dad that had been sitting in the walls of our old house for decades. They also found an empty pack of crisps that perhaps my dad ate before leaving this letter in the walls and sealing it up.
Has anyone here found letters in walls or time capsules or messages in bottles or been contacted by others who’ve found them?
Lovely that. It's really put a smile on my face.They were knocking out an internal wall and found a note from my dad, with some details about him, our family, the house and local news events at the time.
Through Facebook, they managed to find me, unfortunately my dad died a few years ago.
It was very surprising to see this handwritten note from my dad that had been sitting in the walls of our old house for decades. They also found an empty pack of crisps that perhaps my dad ate before leaving this letter in the walls and sealing it up.
Has anyone here found letters in walls or time capsules or messages in bottles or been contacted by others who’ve found them?
A few years ago I bought a Methodist chapel in Shropshire with a view to convert it into my house. It stood on my neighbour's land and would be removed from his title and sold separately.
It turns out the seller, who would remain our neighbour had skin in the game and had tried to convert the chapel himself in 1987 but failed and then had business issues later in life so had to sell it instead. Being very old, very cantankerous and very attached to the chapel made him a total pain in the arse as I was converting it and then as a neighbour when I moved in. He was more than a mile away and the closest neighbour but somehow he made everything I did involve him buy trying to sneak covenants into the sale to leaving a storage container on my land upon completion to then arguing about boundaries to then still trying to control how the chapel looked as I did the conversion. In then end it broke out into a full on argument and I had to tell him to jeff off.
As I continued the conversion I pulled out some of the plasterboard from the previous failed conversion to reveal the graffiti, "*** **** is a t
t 1987".I added, "And still is 2017" before I covered it back up. The place is now sold but I'd love to see the faces when it's uncovered.
This was on my local news fairly recently.
Builders renovating a city centre building find a note left in a wall cavity from 1938...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz5z098px09o
Builders renovating a city centre building find a note left in a wall cavity from 1938...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz5z098px09o
I've regularly left "wee surprises" in walls, under floors, messages in bottles etc. It's a bit of fun for both the leaver and the finder. I've been contacted by one home owner in which I left a time capsule of a bottle of wine and a newspaper (and my contact details) about 30 years on, I was able to give him some info on location of wiring and plumbing..
I worked with a guy years ago who put a single penny under every paving slab he ever laid. It cost him a fraction of what he got paid for the job and gave him a buzz thinking of someone finding them in the future.
I worked with a guy years ago who put a single penny under every paving slab he ever laid. It cost him a fraction of what he got paid for the job and gave him a buzz thinking of someone finding them in the future.
wolfracesonic said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
I wonder what that is about? Telephones were in widespread use in 1967 weren’t they, why the need for a personal ad? Unless it’s some sort of covert message from a Russian spy to their handler.But, yes, I think it's a spy.
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