There are stories that, no matter how much time passes, continue to touch the hearts of citizens. That’s what happened in Nottingham, United Kingdom. A family found a message in the attic belonging to a seven-year-old girl. Emma Waddingham wrote it in 1989 and left the message hidden for the next family to occupy the house to read.
“… My birthday is February 4th. I was born in 1982”
Emma’s imagination at the time probably didn’t foresee that the message would be found 35 years later. Charlotte England-Black, amid boxes and just moving into her new house, was in the attic when she found a roll of toilet paper with letters sticking out. Written in red around the roll was a message that read: “My name is Emma Waddingham. My birthday is February 4th. I was born in 1982. I’m seven years old and nearly eight. I hope you enjoy staying here. Lots of love, from a friend.”
Immediately after finding the message, and driven by the immediacy that characterizes today’s society, she shared what had happened to her in a Facebook group. As they say, the internet worked its magic, and among the Facebook community, they managed to find Emma Waddingham. The protagonist of that time-traveled message had now changed her last name to Smith and, curiously, still lived in Nottingham.
“We’ll forever be wondering. We have really fond memories of that house”
Even though the protagonist of the story does not remember having written the message, she has been moved to stir up the memories of a time in which, according to what she told the BBC, she was happy. “I don’t remember doing the toilet roll thing and why I chose the toilet roll, we’ll forever be wondering. We have really fond memories of that house. I had amazing wallpaper in my bedroom of Tom and Jerry, we had a duck called Donald, my dad had a little boat that he restored down the side of the house. It was a lovely place to spend those years.”
For her part, Charlotte England-Black assures that for her it is a connection with the past and that it was very nice to find that message. The women said they planned to return the tube to their newly-boarded loft to pass the message on to a future homeowner. “I don’t know if we’re still here in another 35 years, but whoever’s in the house then might find it,” she added.
There are stories that seem almost like something out of a movie
This isn’t the only known story of messages traveling through time. The well-known messages or notes thrown into the sea in bottles seem almost like something out of a movie, but there’s a real-life story that saved the lives of sailors. In 2022, a group of fishermen were lost for 17 days. One of the crew members had the idea of writing a note, putting it inside a plastic bottle, tying it to a buoy, and throwing it into the water. What they didn’t realize was that just a few hours later, the message would be found by a fisherman.
The message read: “Help! Help! We need help. Our boat is on fire. We’ve been on Flecxas Island for 13 days, without food. Tell our family.” The castaways had been adrift on an uninhabited island, living off the provisions they had brought and rainwater. The crew members were found and rescued thanks to the message in the bottle.
It’s intrinsic to human beings to wonder about the future, about the past; hence the need to always seek communication. Since prehistoric times, we’ve written messages in caves, on the pyramids of Egypt, and yes, in drifting bottles. Always with the goal of telling our story and leaving our mark.
