An 11-year-old boy finds an old bag and uses it to solve a mystery

13 9 月, 2021 wpadmin

He didn’t expect this catch

Fishing may not sound like the ideal activity for everyone, but then again, you don’t know the story of 11-year-old Brodie Brooks from South Carolina. After getting a fishing rod for his birthday, he heads to Lake Hartwell in good spirits and discovers something bizarre.

Birthday gift

The Brodie family knew how much he loved fishing, so finding him a birthday present was easy. Obviously Brodie wanted to test his new rod as soon as possible. A visit to Lake Hartwell therefore started in good spirits. The 11-year-old was so excited that he was finally allowed to test his new rod. He had even asked some other older children and his uncle to come along with him.

Fishing

Fishing takes a lot of patience and Brodie knew this all too well. He and his uncle, Ben Myers, got settled once they arrived at Lake Hartwell. They were ready for a relaxing day by the water and catching lots of fish. Fortunately, Ben had a lot of fishing experience and guided young Brodie on his fishing adventure. He showed him how to hold the bait and lay out the line. To be fair, Ben had few expectations. When Brodie yelled that he had caught something, Ben was surprised. However, it soon became apparent that they would not be having fish for dinner that evening.

Curious how Brodie’s fishing adventure ends? Then continue reading on the next page.

The first catch

Ben quickly realized that Brodie had caught no ordinary fish on his rod. Brodie, on the other hand, was over the moon with his first catch. The fact that his first catch wasn’t a fish at all was therefore a big disappointment for the 11-year-old. He was not at all happy with the hidden treasure they had fished out of the water. As a novice fisherman, Brodie had no idea how special it was that he had pulled something other than fish out of the water at Lake Hartwell. Something his Uncle Ben knew all too well. He had never caught anything but fish in Lake Hartwell in his entire life.

Caught something

After Brodie had his new rod under control, he managed to reel in the catch. The 11-year-old admitted to being a little scared: “I felt like it was a big fish because the rod was swinging up and down, so I was scared. I was afraid the line would break.”

The catch

Finally, Brodie managed to fling the catch into the boat with his Uncle Ben. Indeed, they had not caught a fish but a very old bag. The two decided to investigate to find out the story behind the bag.

Curious what was in the bag? Then continue reading on the next page.

Ladies bag

Brodie had put his disappointment aside and decided to open the bag with his uncle. Their expectations were not very high but they were very curious what they would find. When they opened the bag, one thing quickly became clear; it was a ladies bag.

Exploring

Strangely enough, the mysterious bag had remained intact . The contents were in almost perfect shape even though the bag may have been lying on the bottom of the lake for years. Because the contents still looked so good, the duo decided to go on a search. They hoped they could reunite the bag with its owner. This may seem like a needle in a haystack, but Ben knew many people around Lake Hartwell.

The contents of the bag

The two started their search with the contents of the bag. After they had taken everything out, it was evident that there were a lot of different random things in the bag. It contained old lipsticks, shopping cards and a comb. The biggest clue was the old photos. It seemed like a miracle, because the photos were only slightly damaged.

What started as an impossible mission soon started to lead somewhere. The two already knew that the bag had belonged to a woman and that it had been in the water for years. How many years was not clear, but it would not surprise them if the bag had already been there before Brodie was born.

The two fishing buddies weren’t quite sure what their next step would be until Ben suddenly thought he recognized someone in the photo…

Continue reading on the next page to find out who the owner of the bag is.

April Bolt

Ben thought he recognized someone in the photos he knew from his school days. The photos were old and faded, so it was also possible that he didn’t see it properly. Brodie and Ben eventually found a new clue, an old school diploma. Here they saw the name April Bolt appear. A name that certainly seemed familiar to Ben.

April Bolt had always been a friend of the family, but contact had faded. Eventually Ben and Brodie managed to discover her whereabouts. Ben decided to call April and ask if she had lost a bag a long time ago. A question like this might have been a bit silly for anyone else, but April knew what he was talking about right away.

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The story behind the bag

April had left her bag on a boat 25 years ago. She often went boating on Lake Hartwell with her family but forgot to bring her bag one day. “There were two men fishing and I hate to accuse anyone, but when I came back I thought my bag had been stolen,” April said. She never expected to find her bag again.

Her son’s photos

The contents of the bag were not of great value to everyone. Still, there was something very important in it for April. When April lost her purse, there were no cell phones or digital cameras. Because of this, there were no copies of photographs from that time. Many childhood photos of April’s son were therefore lost when she lost her bag. The fact that those photos were still in her bag made her so happy: “It meant the world to me. My son is now 26, but he was 15 months old when I lost my bag. The photos were taken by a professional photographer and I had no backups. They’re damaged now, but you can still see the details quite well.”