Completely Unexpected
Priscilla was excited to show off her latest thrift store find to her daughter. When she finally arrived Priscilla handed it to her daughter. She took the beautiful ornament from her mother and carefully turned it over in her hands as she admired it. Then she gasped.
“There’s something inside,” her daughter whispered. She held the ornament up to the light and noticed something moving under the light. When she looked closer at the two, round objects inside the ornament she realized what they held and that this was no Christmas ornament.
Bargain Hunting
Priscilla Bailey is a resident of Plymouth and loves hunting for a good bargain. She could never resist going into a thrift store, Goodwill store, or charity shop. Whenever she was inside one of these stores she would spend hours just trawling the shelves.
She would always search for interesting objects, trinkets and knick knacks, or unusual finds. Priscilla stumbled across an ornament she simply couldn’t pass up. She never expected a find like this would lead to the police knocking on her door.
A Striking Piece
This day would turn out to be one unlike any other. Priscilla loves the color blue and has always enjoyed collecting glass ornaments. This is part of the reason why Priscilla simply couldn't resist the glittering blue ornament when she saw it.
It was a breathtaking blue glass heart-shaped ornament lying on the shelf in front of her. It was such an unusual piece that she immediately bought it. When she finally discovered what she had really found, she was left breathless.
Cheap Trinket
Lying amongst the other ornaments on the local Savers display table was an absolute treasure. She couldn't believe her luck when she saw that this treasure was marked at only $2.00. She didn't think twice and immediately snatched up this treasure.
She thought that it would be a wonderful addition to her Christmas tree. She even thought that it could even be used as a potential gift. It was only much later that she would discover what she had truly found.
On Closer Inspection
She immediately bought the beautiful blue heat and took her purchase home. She couldn't wait to get a good look at it. She admired the carefully engraved figures of angels, or possibly Vikings, that surrounded the metal part of the ornament.
The ornament was truly something to behold. She held it up to the light and turned it this way and that as she examined it. She admired the way the glass sparkled in the light. It was then that she started to get an uneasy feeling.
Heavier Than It Looked
The heart seemed to be hollow, yet it felt heavier than she expected. Her breath fogged up the glass when she tried to look more closely at it. She couldn't tell if there was anything inside it.
She hung the ornament in her kitchen and didn't give it a second thought. It was only when her daughter came by and examined it closely that she realized there was more to the heart than meets the eye. Priscilla utterly was astounded.
Glass Artistry
Kat, Priscilla’s daughter, had always loved glass art. She had always had a passion for glass blowing and eventually started a glass blowing and design business of her own. This is why Priscilla wanted to show it to Kat.
Priscilla was very keen to show Kat her find. She rushed off to fetch it and shouted: “Look what I found, I got it at Savers.” Naturally, Kat was eager to have a look at this piece of glass art.
Curious
Kat was understandably impressed with the craftsmanship that went into the making of the ornament. She held it in her hand and realized that it was oddly heavy. She agreed with her mother that this was a rather strange fact.
It was definitely hollow but there had to be something inside of it due to the weight. Kat had an idea. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight. She held the heart up to the light and peered closer.
More Than Meets The Eye
When she had explained what she was doing Pricilla was excited to see if Kat's idea worked out. Holding the heart up to the light they turned it this way and that in the hopes that they would solve the mystery.
That’s when they noticed something they had never expected. There were two golfball-sized containers inside the heart. Inside those containers was something else. However, they couldn't identify what it was yet. What more secrets could this heart possibly hold?
Seeking Aid
When the two women realized what was held inside the heart they both gasped for breath and then immediately called the police. They knew the authorities had to be called in. She didn't know who this belonged to.
She decided to call some journalists at the Boston Globe. Priscilla showed them to the kitchen and explained the story. She hoped that by sharing the story with them she would get the information out there and find the proper owner.
Headliner
“Right now, it’s hanging up there when I do my dishes. I sometimes stare at it,” Priscilla explained to the journalists. “It’s small. The two spots in it are small, the size of a golf ball,” she added.
Everyone held their breath in silent anticipation when she brought the ornament out for all to see. Despite its ornamental appearance, not only was the object not an ornament, but the contents of the heart stunned everyone.
Revelations
While Priscilla leaves the room to fetch a flashlight again while Kat tells the reporters the story of what they discovered inside the heart. Once her mom returns, Kat shines the light through the heart for all to see the powder inside.
The room was abuzz with stunned murmurs as they saw what was inside. Kat tells the reporters: “I said to her, ‘It looks like it’s ashes, Mom.’” But no one knew who they belonged to.
A Heartbreaking Truth
The ornament had turned out to actually be an urn. They had found someones ashes but they had no idea whose. What no one understood was how they had come to end up in such an unusual place.
Priscilla was shocked to think that she had been carrying around someone's remains for all this time. At first, Priscilla and Kat were horrified by the idea but then Priscilla had another heartbreaking thought about the piece.
Questions
Kat and Priscilla couldn't help but wonder how someone’s ashes had ended up on a shelf in Savers? It was heartbreaking to think that the ashes of someone’s loved one had been sold to a thrift store.
Who had the ashes belonged to? Did the family even know what had become of these ashes? Kat came up with an idea that she knew she had to try despite how difficult it might be to pull off.
The Glass Heart’s Story
“It’s beautiful. It must have a story, so that’s my goal — to find out where and who this belongs to,” Kat told the assembled reporters. She had to try and find the family that it truly belonged to.
She hoped that with the police notified about the loss and the media coverage, someone will recognize the urn and come forward.But what will happen to the beautiful urn in the interim?
Safekeeping
Priscilla vows to keep the urn safe until its rightful owner is found. She believes that fate intervened on that fateful day in Savers and that she was meant to find it.
With national coverage of the story on the news and online, she is sure that the owner will be found. Her story even reached Facebook – but that’s when things took a strange turn.
Taking It To Social Media
“It breaks my heart that this was tossed away and just sitting on a shelf at Savers for $2,” Kat wrote on a Facebook post. She says that she hopes that the person who does come forward.
She hopes that she will find the real owner and that she can learn a little more about the urn – who it belongs to, whose ashes are inside, and how it came to be in a thrift store in the first place. Then, someone replied to her post!
In The Vicinity
The manager of Savers says that most of their donations are made by locals, so it’s extremely likely that whoever owns the urn lives in the vicinity of Plymouth. Then, Kat’s post went viral and people from all over were sharing similar stories.
A woman named Connie Whiteman Slatt wrote: “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.”
More Replies
Then, someone else replied to Connie Whiteman Slatt’s comment, saying that she too has a similar item.
She said that her aunt had found it in a thrift store in the Pacific Northwest: “Mine was iridescent and heart-shaped like this one, but much less ornament and more suncatcher-like. It was made from the ash of Mt. Saint Helen.”
Other Theories
“This could also explain what appears to be ashes enclosed within… could be a possibility,” wrote a woman who goes by the nickname ‘Cat Willow VII.’
So, perhaps the glass heart is not an urn after all? Hopefully whoever donated it to Savers will come forward and reclaim it. The viral story is still going strong – hopefully, the secrets of the blue heart will still be revealed.