In a land of Mayflower and Pilgrims, a woman in her prime age named Priscilla Bailey stepped into a store of preloved items. Her face lit up as she wandered around the trove of treasures. In a spur of the moment, Priscilla locked eyes to an object shining at the farthest corner of shelves.
The woman then reached out to the item as if she was cast by a spell. However, Priscilla was bound to have a riveting discovery when she brought home the blue ornament.
Priscilla found joy every time she entered the thrift stores in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In fact, the woman never missed an opportunity to take a detour whenever she had errands nearby. The bold red colors that screamed 'Sale' always caught her attention.
But that doesn't mean that she had the habit of splurging money for second-hand items. Because Priscilla would only buy items that she found interesting to display in her house. That was why when she got a glimpse of the blue ornament, Priscilla took it without any doubts.
Her eyes would always look for ornaments in the thrift shops. Bonus if it was her favorite color blue, and the materials were made of glass. Hence, that day was the most perfect item she ever encountered. However, her eyebrows furrowed as she read the tag price, "two dollars" That was too cheap for such a lovely piece!
But Priscilla was too excited to be skeptical. So she just shrugged and went to the counter. The woman didn’t think if she was making a grave mistake.
Priscilla knew how special the item because the shape of the glass was beautifully hand-blown, and decorated with metal details. She also noticed how heavy and fragile it was. The former owner must have taken good care of the ornament for it to survive until the present day.
The woman sighed dreamily. Priscilla was already thinking of displaying the beauty somewhere near the window of her house.
Her eyes sparkled once again after she unwrapped the thrift store bag. Alas! Priscilla would never have thought that she would bring home her dream item one day.
Caressing the details of the ornament, she wondered if the design resembled an angel. But as much as she adored it, there was an overwhelming feeling that something wasn't right about the object.
Priscilla couldn't pinpoint if the weight was coming from the metal design or the glass itself. But she pushed the thought away and looked for a perfect area to display the ornament. When Priscilla reached her kitchen, she paused.
A smile grew on her lips. The grandma grabbed a hook and began hanging the ornament. However, Priscilla didn't realize she was missing out on some vital detail.
Her doorbell rang that made her heart jumped out in excitement. Priscilla quickly opened the door, revealing her daughter, Kat. She didn't waste a second and led Kat to the kitchen. One quality that her daughter inherited from Priscilla was her love for glassworks. That was why when Priscilla found the blue ornament, she immediately told her daughter to come over.
"Look what I found! I got it at Savers," Priscilla beamed. Kat stared the item in adoration, but when she got hold of the ornament... she froze.
When Kat took out the ornament from its hook, she immediately noticed how heavy it was. Priscilla then agreed with her about the weight.
This triggered the daughter's suspicion, so she searched for a flashlight right away. Good thing, Kat knew exactly what she had to do.
Kat made her mother hold the ornament while she reflected the light through it. It took a few minutes looking for some piece of answer or a hint of shadow that would specify its contents.
Priscilla then began losing her patience, so she gently shook the glass. And their eyes widened!
Both women saw a shadow moved inside the glass. Kat pointed the light even more than revealed figures that looked like two compartments, which was about the size of golf balls! But they still couldn't figure out what was beyond the chambers.
Because whatever it was, it was cumbersome. So there was only one way for them to know. Kat grabbed her telephone and dialed the authorities.
They had a strong feeling that they shouldn't be the ones that would open the glass. And so Priscilla called the authorities.
But it wasn't the only number she dialed, Priscilla contacted the Boston Globe in hope for the media to help her uncover the truth behind the object. Priscilla and Kat were now sure that the item was more than just a mere ornament.
When the news reporters received a tip about the mysterious ornament, they rushed to Priscilla's house. The media even got to her location first before the authorities. They set up the camera in the kitchen where Priscilla sat down and told them the whole story. "Right now, it's hanging up there when I do my dishes.
I sometimes stare at it," she described. The reporters glanced at each other, puzzled on what kind of object it was. But when Priscilla took out the ornament, everybody was at a loss!
The mother and daughter explained further to the reporters how they saw two compartments hidden inside the ornament. They even demonstrated how they used light to reflect the interior of the glass.
The reporters inspected the item as Kat continued, "I said to her, 'it looks like it's ashes, Mom.'" Unfortunately, the media was as clueless as Priscilla and Kat. No one still had the slightest idea of how this object landed in a thrift store.
If it were true that the content of the blue ornament was someone else's remains, then it would be strange to have it displayed on her home. Priscilla felt the shivers run up her spine. Because all this time she had a person's ashes with her!
But at the same time, her heart sank for the fellow and its relatives who probably been looking for its ashes. So Priscilla laid out a plan.
Priscilla made a promise to herself that she wouldn't give up in searching for the family of this person. And the media was in her house for that particular reason. "It's beautiful.
It must have a story. So that's my goal: to find out where and who this belongs to," Priscilla expressed to the reporters in full determination.
Right after the media stepped out of her house, Priscilla and Kat thought that the glass ornament should be in their care until they find some leads. They kept their fingers crossed and hoped for the news to be the way.
But then another idea struck Kat...
Kat took a photo of the blue glass ornament and uploaded it on Facebook. She captioned, "It breaks my heart that this was tossed away and just sitting on a shelf at Savers for $2." Then she began asking around on social media if someone knew a piece of information about the item. The mother and daughter weren't expecting anything at first.
But all of a sudden, Kat's notification bar chimed in. When she clicked the red icon, their eyes widened because someone just sent a message!
Based on the Saver's manager in which Priscilla contacted, they had no information regarding the owner of the ornament. Since tons of people donated items to them and it was hard to keep track of every person. But a new possibility arose when a user named Connie Whiteman Slate left a comment on their Facebook post, "Please let me know what you find out as I have one also.
Found mine at a thrift shop too! It's heavy in weight."
It turned out Connie lived at Plymouth too, where she also found the ornament. However, another comment appeared and it was from a different person. A woman from Pacific Northwest brought an identical item from a thrift store as well.
"Mine was iridescent and heart-shaped like this one, but much less ornament and more suncatcher-like," defined by the woman. But things were about to unfold when the woman added vital information.
"It was made from the ash of Mt. Saint Helen." They gasped as Pattie and Kat read another comment from the woman, "This could also explain what appears to be ashes enclosed within... could be a possibility." Their eyes lit up in realization.
Everything started to make sense of why there were so many ornaments like the one they had. Because turned out, the ashes weren't really human remains! But it was ashes from a volcano in Washington that erupted 40 years ago.