A strange but true story

[Orbert]

I visited my dad in Michigan recently, and while we were there, he handed me an envelope.  I asked him what it was, and he said to just open it.  Inside was one of my junior high report cards, the copy that gets mailed home "To the parents of..."  Wow, my old home address, the house I grew up in.  Hadn't thought about it in years.  And the old familiar format of the report card.  Mostly A's, a couple of B's.  Yay for me.

But... why?  He says to read the note.

Also in the envelope is a note, from a lady who lived down the street from us.  We moved away a long time ago, but she still lives there.  The note explains that her son now works for a company that does home remodeling and stuff.  They were going to add insulation to the attic of a house, and it was his job to go up there and make sure it was all cleaned and ready to take on the insulation.  He found a piece of paper stuck in one of the rafters.  What caught his eye was the address and the name of the street.  Then he recognized the format and saw that it was a report card from the junior high we'd both gone to, and saw the name.  It was my report card.

What in the hell?  This house was in the next town over from where we grew up, a good ten miles away.  Also, the report card is nearly 40 years old.  What is it doing in the attic of a house ten miles away, stuck in a rafter?  And what are the odds that it would be found by someone who not only knew the person, but grew up down the street from him?

She'd included the full address of the house, in the note, in case it meant something to me.  It did not.  As far as I know, I've never been there.  How in the hell did an old report card of mine get there?


This thread is now about weird coincidences and stuff like that.

[King Postwhore]

Wow, Bob!  So many ways to go on this.  Just trying to figure out how it got to that house is mind boggling!!

[JayOctavarium]

That's crazy!

[bout to crash]

Calculating improbability factor...

[black_biff_stadler]

HGttG reference?

[wolfking]

George Michael fucking with you maybe?

[Big Hath]

George Michael fucking with you maybe?

no, it was his grandfather.  He spent a lot of time in an attic.


someone will get that

[bout to crash]

HGttG reference?

[MetalJunkie]

My mom's best friend lost her class ring in a big lake not too far from here. Some time later, a scuba diver found it and returned it to her.

[Orbert]

How did he know it was hers?

[ich bin besser]

Been to a camp site when I was around 20, about 400 kilometers away at the North Sea, along with 3 friends.
When we returned after the weekend, I had a different ID in my wallet. Nothing else was wrong or missing.
Found out the telephone number of the guy. His father was on the line, not being able to help. A few days later, they sent me my ID and I sent him his.

We never found out what happened. 

[Orbert]

This one's not really a mystery but is still pretty cool.

My wife was taking a class at a community college in Maryland, where we lived for a year.  It was one of those auditorium-style rooms, like a big terraced concrete bowl, each level a row of desks, podium down in the center.  She got there a few minutes before class, and took off her rings and set them on her desk so she could put some lotion on her hands.  This other girl comes shuffling through with a huge backpack, which knocks my wife's rings off her desk.  The wedding ring bounces once and disappears into a crack in the concrete floor.

They tried to get it out with paper clips, coat hangers, whatever they could find, but no good.  My wife called the school to see if maybe the maintenance guys could do something.  This was her wedding ring, after all.  The lady on the phone took her name and number and all that, but really couldn't promise anything.

Ten years later, we're living in Illinois, and an envelope comes in the mail.  It's my wife's wedding ring, with a note.  They're demolishing the building with the big concrete bowl, and the lady on the phone still worked in the office and remembered my wife's ring.  They recovered the ring when they were tearing up the floor, and the lady tracked down our current address (we'd moved twice since then) and sent us the ring.

I salute you, Awesome Office Lady! 

[bout to crash]

That is awesome!!

Been to a camp site when I was around 20, about 400 kilometers away at the North Sea, along with 3 friends.
When we returned after the weekend, I had a different ID in my wallet. Nothing else was wrong or missing.
Found out the telephone number of the guy. His father was on the line, not being able to help. A few days later, they sent me my ID and I sent him his.

We never found out what happened.

How many mushrooms did you eat?

[MetalJunkie]

Edit: Whoops

[Orbert]

Um, I think I asked you that same question.  You said a scuba diver found your mom's class ring and returned it to her.  How did he know that it was her class ring and how to find her?

[eric42434224]

Um, I think I asked you that same question.  You said a scuba diver found your mom's class ring and returned it to her.  How did he know that it was her class ring and how to find her?

inscription maybe?

[Orbert]

At this point, we don't know.

My class ring doesn't have anything inscribed.  Just the year of graduation and some cheesy icons representing band and science.  I don't know if getting your name put on your ring is the norm or what.

[TempusVox]

There have been several, but the following is one of the most bizarre coincidences I've ever experienced. Okay...so when I was the the 4th grade I checked out this book from the school library called "Grandfather Was A Trout" by someone named John Bailey.  It was as I recall a very funny guide book more or less on fly-fishing. It was along the lines of Patrick McManus, or Dave Barry more or less. At any rate, it was one of my favorite books from that era. Fast forward nearly 4 decades later, and I was discussing favorite books from my childhood with my family and a group of friends one evening. I mentioned I really liked this book when I was 10. My son decided that night to give me this now out of print book as a Christmas gift, so he and my wife searched online and found a used copy in great shape through a re-seller on Amazon. The book seller was in California. The book arrives, and before they wrap it and place it under the tree, my son happens to discover that it was an old school library book that had obviously been donated or sold to whomever, and had made it's way to the seller in California. He flips to the back of the book, and there on the still attached library card jacket pocket is the name of my grade school; and low and behold but the damn check-out card was still in the pocket, and my signature was still on the card. I was the last person who had checked out the book.  In fact, I liked the book so much then I suppose I checked it out twice way back then. What.............the fuck??? I went to school in Ohio.

I read the book that evening after opening it Christmas morning. It was not a good book...at all. When I was ten apparently I thought it was hilarious. But it now has a very prominent place on my "special books" section here in my office library.

[bout to crash]

Whoa.

[TempusVox]

It's just another reminder that we truly live in a teeny tiny, itsy-bitsy, wee little, small world.

[MetalJunkie]

Um, I think I asked you that same question.  You said a scuba diver found your mom's class ring and returned it to her.  How did he know that it was her class ring and how to find her?

Yeah, my last response was a "posting-from-phone" fuck-up.  Anyway, I thought it was pretty standard to have one's own name inscribed on the inside of the band.

[hefdaddy42]

Um, I think I asked you that same question.  You said a scuba diver found your mom's class ring and returned it to her.  How did he know that it was her class ring and how to find her?

Yeah, my last response was a "posting-from-phone" fuck-up.  Anyway, I thought it was pretty standard to have one's own name inscribed on the inside of the band.

It is.  Or at least it was when I was in high school.

I didn't do it with my college ring though.

[Orbert]

Okay, that makes sense then.  I never did, and maybe because I'd never had a class ring before (how often do you graduate?) but I didn't realize you were supposed to have your name engraved in it.  That seems really weird to me.  Why would you want a ring with your own name?

[black_biff_stadler]

I didn't do it with my college ring though.

You probably wouldn't have fit anyway.

[hefdaddy42]

I didn't do it with my college ring though.

You probably wouldn't have fit anyway.

Amazing.

[sylvan]

Very interesting stories already.

I have a few odd stories that come to mind:

Unsolved Mystery 1... I was 18, my brother 16.  My brother had a friend spend the night, his Jeep Grand Cherokee parked in the driveway.  I live in a gated/guarded community.  This kid left his early Nextel phone (the big yellow non-flip one) in the cup holder in the center console of his jeep.  In the morning, he found a combination flashlight/radio in it's place.  Huh?  It had to be someone that was supposed to be in there, either a neighbor or one of their guests.

Unsolved Mystery 2...In high school (2002) I had a '95 Mitsubishi Eclipse.  Screwing around with some friends behind the restaurant we worked at, we were doing some totally weak one-wheeled burnouts in the parking lot.  Anyways, while my friend has it bouncing off the rev-limiter in first gear, I hear a noise and see something fly out from the wheel well.  It was an engine belt.  We popped the hood to find that the outside of the two belts was still in place.  IT WAS THE INNER BELT!  How does a car throw the inner of it's two belts?

[ZirconBlue]

Okay, that makes sense then.  I never did, and maybe because I'd never had a class ring before (how often do you graduate?) but I didn't realize you were supposed to have your name engraved in it.  That seems really weird to me.  Why would you want a ring with your own name?

Um.  So, if it gets lost they know who it belongs to.  The inscription goes on the inside, so it's not like wearing a t-shirt with your name on it or something.

[Orbert]

Ha ha, okay.  I am slowly achieving a greater understanding of this strange but marvelous world upon which we live.

[jasc15]

I suppose this isnt that strange, but while waiting on line to ascend the Eiffel tower, I noticed the people behind me were speaking English, so I started talking to them.  It was a mother visiting her daughter who was living in Paris.  They lived only a few miles from me.

Another one.  I bought a used car when I was in college.  When i picked it up, I noticed a small photo sticker (the kind you have taken in those photo booths) in the rear view mirror.  I recognized the guy in it (he went to my high school) and asked a friend who knew him.  It turns out that he used to borrow one of the teacher's cars (weird) and this was it.  I know who the teacher was, and I remember seeing the car almost every day in the parking lot at school.

[Tick]

My theory...

A grade school girl or boy had a crush on you and used to to aid in pleasuring themselves.

"Oh Orbert...ORBERT! ORBERT! SHOW ME THAT A+  BITCH! BEND ME OVER AND GIVE ME A B-!!!"

Its just a theory....

[Fiery Winds]

I recently sold my motorcycle on Craigslist (motorcycle thread for a pic). I got to talking to the guy (roughly my age) after we finished the paperwork, and I mentioned how I originally bought this bike 2 years ago, but had to drive up to Folsom (near Sacramento, a 3 hour one way trip) to pick it up. Turns out this guy grew up in Folsom!

[Orbert]

My theory...

A grade school girl or boy had a crush on you and used to to aid in pleasuring themselves.

"Oh Orbert...ORBERT! ORBERT! SHOW ME THAT A+  BITCH! BEND ME OVER AND GIVE ME A B-!!!"

Its just a theory....

Oddly enough (or perhaps not so oddly), that's somewhat close to the only theory I could think of.  Some girl in junior high had a major crush on me and got ahold of my report card.  Maybe out of the trash, or maybe stole a copy from the school office.  (Working in the school office was something you could do for credit if you got approval.  All copies were printed the same way and had your name and address on them.)  Years later, her family moved to the next town over.  She'd kept the report card as a memento of her first crush, but it ended up in a box of stuff in the attic.  Later still, when she moved out, she was grabbing boxes of her old stuff from the attic, and she opened them up one by one to see what was in each one.  There was my report card.  She didn't want to keep the stupid thing, but, struck by a wave of nostalgia, she couldn't bring herself to throw it away, so she stuck in the space where the rafter meets the roof, closed the box, and went on with her life.  There it remained until found by the guy who used to live down the street from me.

Hey, you never know.  No one knows!


Also, some completely unrelated footnotes:

1) The lady who lived down the street, whose son found the report card and gave it to my dad, I've seen her naked.  She was pretty hot.

2) The older brother of the guy who found the report card committed suicide when we were in college.  I always thought the guy was a little "off" but as sad as this was, my first thought was that I was right about him all along.  The dude was messed up.

3) As far as I know, items 1 and 2 above are not related.

[ZirconBlue]

My theory...

A grade school girl or boy had a crush on you and used to to aid in pleasuring themselves.

"Oh Orbert...ORBERT! ORBERT! SHOW ME THAT A+  BITCH! BEND ME OVER AND GIVE ME A B-!!!"

Its just a theory....

Oddly enough (or perhaps not so oddly), that's somewhat close to the only theory I could think of.  Some girl in junior high had a major crush on me and got ahold of my report card.  Maybe out of the trash, or maybe stole a copy from the school office.  (Working in the school office was something you could do for credit if you got approval.  All copies were printed the same way and had your name and address on them.)  Years later, her family moved to the next town over.  She'd kept the report card as a memento of her first crush, but it ended up in a box of stuff in the attic.  Later still, when she moved out, she was grabbing boxes of her old stuff from the attic, and she opened them up one by one to see what was in each one.  There was my report card.  She didn't want to keep the stupid thing, but, struck by a wave of nostalgia, she couldn't bring herself to throw it away, so she stuck in the space where the rafter meets the roof, closed the box, and went on with her life.  There it remained until found by the guy who used to live down the street from me.

Hey, you never know.  No one knows!


Also, some completely unrelated footnotes:

1) The lady who lived down the street, whose son found the report card and gave it to my dad, I've seen her naked.  She was pretty hot.

2) The older brother of the guy who found the report card committed suicide when we were in college.  I always thought the guy was a little "off" but as sad as this was, my first thought was that I was right about him all along.  The dude was messed up.

3) As far as I know, items 1 and 2 above are not related.

You might be able to do a property search on that address to see who the previous owners were.

[Orbert]

Whoa, I never thought of that.  I'm still stuck in the 20th Century, I guess, when it wasn't nearly as easy to do that.  Now I just have to find the note with the address.  It didn't ring any bells, and it's entirely possible that I tossed it out.

[King Postwhore]

Or, one of your old teachers lived there and it got lost in all the paperwork shuffle!


My little story revolves around my High School ring. 

I go a ring Sophomore year and somehow I lost it. Had to get another Jr. year.  Well, 6 years after I graduated, I get a call from the school telling me they think they might have my ring.  So I head down and sure enough it was the last ring!  What happened was during gym class, I took off my ring and put it in those small gym lockers.  Well, the ring slipped in this little hole in the rear of the locker.  I never though of my ring until the next day. 

So they were putting in new lockers and while moving the old ones, my ring popped out.  It had baseball and basketball on it, class of 1986 and the initials JFC inscribed on the inside.  So the school put that little puzzle together and called me. Now I have 2!