Wallet Lost At Sea 24 Years Ago Is Returned To Owner By Stranger

For most people, receiving a call from a stranger who knew personal details including their birthday and address would be an unwelcome surprise. But for one man it came as an unbelievable stroke of good fortune when it turned up a wallet he had lost in the ocean 24 years ago.

In a post on Reddit, the wallet owner, a 43-year-old Georgia man, recounted that he was in his car on his way to work when he got the strange call. The caller knew his name and introduced himself by saying, “My name is ..... and you don’t know me but I know your name, birthday, height, weight and address.”

Although the phone call initially made the man suspicious, the caller quickly explained that he only knew the information because he had found wallet on Holden’s Beach in North Carolina that he thought might belong the man. The Reddit user, identified only by his pseudonym Shrivel, argued with the caller at first, explaining that he hadn’t lost his wallet until he suddenly remembered the flimsy Velcro wallet he’d lost in the ocean while waterskiing in 1989.

“My grandparents (and now my parents as well) live near Holden’s Beach and one summer we had gone to visit them for our annual vacation at the beach,” the poster wrote. “I often waterski in the Intracoastal Waterway and one fateful day I had ridden down with my wallet in my swim trunks and had forgotten to take it out before going skiing.”

“It was the one and only wallet I’ve ever lost in my entire life and I assumed it was gone forever. As near as I can remember I was 19 years old and that was 24 years ago,” he said.

According to the poster, the strange chain of events didn’t end there. Later that day at lunch he was startled to receive an oddly specific fortune cookie warning him that, “a small lucky package is on its way to you soon.”

When the package did arrive, he was again surprised to find that it was well-preserved. Despite some rust on the inside, the wallet had remained intact over the years along with his high school and college ID cards, a learner’s permit, library card, and ATM card in mostly good condition.

Less than a day after it was posted the story had attracted over 920 comments on Reddit. “The question is though...how'd this person get your phone number,” one user wrote. “If only there was a book that listed everyone's phone numbers,” wrote another.