Mysterious Find
Spotting something sticking out one of the floorboards, he bellowed for help. When they retrieved the object from its hiding place they recognized it as a brown leather wallet.
The leather was slightly tattered, but still in relatively good condition. Barely containing their excitement, they opened it up. When they saw what was inside, their jaws hit the floor.
The Talent Factory
The Talent Factory, a comedy club in Nevada, Iowa had been around for ages. This quaint building had seen its fair share of renovations, but none have ever solved a mystery, until that day.
Larry Sloan, owner of The Talent Factory, could not believe his eyes when he found the old wallet, but this wallet was not just old, it was 71 years old! But, whose was it?
Mission
Larry and the workers who had found the wallet were in awe of the condition it was in. It seemed like being wedged between floorboards had preserved it perfectly, but not just that, the wallet was made of plastic so Larry thought that this wallet might have belonged to a child.
Until he saw what was inside of it.
Movie Theatre
Larry himself transformed the once old movie theatre into a laugh-out-loud establishment. The building was built in the ’20s, so many generations of people have walked through those doors and stepped onto those floors.
Many had shared their first kiss, their first dates, etc. But nothing could have prepared Larry for finding a 71-year-old wallet with all its contents intact.
Contents
Live performance comedians act on stage day after day, making everyone laugh hysterically.
But Larry and his staff never thought they would find such a treasurable piece of history when they began their work one day, right inside.
Hidden
While working on renovations, they spotted the old wallet wedged into the floorboard in the third floor of the building, “It was sitting right upon that ledge right there,” a worker said.
As they retrieved the object, they thought that the wallet might have been from someone who had lost it recently, but when they opened it up and shuffled through the contents, shivers immediately went up and down their spines.
Old Wallet
“The wallet was plastic, the first thing that came into my mind was ‘This must be a child’s wallet’ I had no idea how old it would be,” Larry told KCI News 8.
Still, he was about to discover something incredible–he just needed to open the wallet to find out.
Pristine
As he cradled the wallet in his hands, he knew this item must have been old, but he never expected how old it was until one piece inside of it, in particular, gave the mystery away. The wallet was in remarkably good shape, the brown leather was faded, and it was wrapped in some plastic.
They opened it up, and there were some items inside, some unrecognizable, but others made the men’s jaws hit the floor.
Contents
They were surprised by the contents the wallet held. It was a medium-sized wallet, but inside, it contained many things. The first thing Larry and his workers pulled out were some old and faded photographs.
Still, they had no idea whose that might be, so they kept searching.
Ration Stamps
Then, they couldn’t believe what they had just found! Ration stamps from World War II.
The stamps were in excellent condition, but how long had the wallet been hiding for? Surely it could not have been from so far back, could it?
Card
The next item they pulled out was an old Boy Scout card. The edges of the card were torn but still, it was in pretty good condition. Larry and his men knew by this card that the wallet had been lost a long time ago, but they had no idea exactly how long.
Whoever this wallet had belonged to must have been in the Scouts! They could at least find the owner that way, or so they thought.
Photographs
Among the contents, there were a lot of pictures of people that were taken a long time ago, but still, they seemed in great shape despite having been secreted away in a wallet for such a long time. The photographs ranged from men, women, children, to older people.
But it was impossible to pinpoint whom the wallet belonged to, then they opened up one part of the wallet where all the secrets were stored.
Calendar
They came across a faded pocket calendar, but to their disbelief, the date on the calendar was 1944! Larry and the other men could not believe what they were looking at; this meant the wallet had been missing and wedged inside the floorboards for over 70 years!
They had found some historical treasure while renovating but still, one question persisted, who did this wallet belong to? And why was it here?
ID Card
Next, the pair found an ID card which luckily meant that they could finally discover who it belonged to. The name “Clare McIntosh” was written in smudged blue ink on the top of the card. They finally had a name! But no one knew if this Clare McIntosh was even still alive.
Luckily, Larry had a background in investigating, so he put his skills to the test.
Clare McIntosh
With all the contents out on display, the last one to emerge was a black and white photograph of Clare McIntosh himself. He was young and dressed in a neat way; with a suit and tie. Still, this did not give them much to go by as the person who this wallet belonged to must have been in their 80’s by now.
Larry knew exactly what to do.
Investigation
The hand-written ID stated ‘In the event of an emergency contact R.E McIntosh, Iowa, Telephone number “8”‘. Larry immediately thought “Wow, that is old.” When Larry started his investigation, he did not know how to begin.
“When you’re doing something like that, 71 years later, the hopes of finding him alive and well were kind of small,” Larry told KCI News.
Mystery Solved
But with Larry’s perseverance he finally found and contacted the Clare McIntosh he was looking for. McIntosh arrived at the Talent Factory and was immediately introduced to Larry. “So you’re the famous Clare McIntosh,” said Larry, and McIntosh responded, “Yeah, I guess so.”
While both of them laughed, McIntosh could not believe his wallet had been found after so many years. He was itching to see what he had once lost.
Bittersweet
85-year-old Clare McIntosh couldn’t believe his eyes when he scanned through his possessions. But when Larry called him that day to tell him they had found his wallet, he was confused.
He had his wallet with him, but when Larry told him he had found his 1944 wallet, shivers immediately went up and down McIntosh’s spine.
So Many Years
McIntosh got to see his wallet for the first time since he was 15, making the moment so very special. He pointed out everyone in the photographs with tears in his eyes. “It is unreal; this is my sister, this is my boy scout card…” McIntosh said as he pointed to every single item.
“I thought at first it must be some kind of a joke, and I thought it couldn’t be!” McIntosh said when he received the call from Larry. Luckily enough, he lived pretty close by and when asked what he was going to do with his newly found wallet he said he would cherish it forever.