Image via Youtube
Truth is often stranger than fiction. Nobody knows this better than 89-year-old Illinoisian woman Betty Sissom, who was returned her lost wallet…75 years after it was stolen.
In a project to convert the then Centralia High School building to a church, a plumber discovered a stash of not one, not two, but 15 wallets stashed in the wall of a girl’s bathroom. The wallets were all stripped of money, but personal artefacts like student IDs and photos were left untouched.
The IDs identified the wallets as belonging to students of the high school in the 1940s. Pastor Seth Baltzell, in an interview with CNN, was unsurprised that something turned up.
“We’ve been working on this building for six months. I’ve been kind of waiting for that really cool thing that nobody’s seen in the last 75 or 100 years to pop out,” Baltzell told CNN.
Therefore, the pastor turned to social media to find the owners of the wallets. He posted photos of the wallets to Facebook, alongside their IDs.
“Most likely, the person that’s owned the wallet is either at the end of their lifespan or no longer living,” Baltzell said. “My best chance was to reconnect with one of their relatives.”
However, much to his surprise, one of the owners of the wallets was not only still alive, but living in the same area: Betty Sissom.
Image via pixabay
Against all odds
“To get something back that you lost probably close to 80 years ago…It’s quite a shock and really exciting to see these pictures,” she told a KSDK news reporter.
The photos themselves were of incredible sentimental value – Sissom found a photo of her brother, who has since passed away in World War II. It is now the only photo she has of him.
Life has it’s ups and downs, and it’s heartwarming to see Sissom reunited with something she’d never thought she’d get back.
You can watch the video here:
It can also get weird. Like how 750 thousand people are planning on storming Area 51 on Facebook.
