Posted on 09/23/2024 11:53:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
A North Dakota woman has been reunited with her wallet, stolen in 1977, after it was found by a plumbing crew.
"I haven't thought of it in years," Darlene Abel, the wallet's owner, said. "Yeah, it's crazy."
The wallet is now all she can think about. The last time she saw it was in 1977 when it was stolen from the salon where she worked.
"I suppose it was just a little too much temptation for somebody," Abel said.
Abel never filed a police report. She didn't want anyone to get into trouble.
"It wasn't that big a deal because I didn't have that much money in it or anything. I don't think maybe they got $10, $12 if they were lucky," Abel said.
Now Abel is the lucky one. "It's amazing," she said.
After 47 years, her lost wallet was found. A plumbing crew found it in the ceiling of the building where Darlene worked in 1977.
Watch the video in the player above for more on this story.
When we re-did my father’s bathroom a few years ago (120 year old house), we found a pair of 1932 car license plates and some 1934 newspapers stuffed in the wall behind the lath and plaster.
No idea why someone would have dumped them there.
“She didn’t want anyone to get into trouble.”
I’ll take Thoughts That Have Never Once Crossed my Mind After Having Something Stolen From Me for $400, Alex.
So you could ask questions all these years later.
Did you find a box with a singing frog?
Maybe an article (or articles) in the papers would have shed some light on why the license plates were hidden in the walls.
There is a story from somewhere in the mid west about a house formerly owned by the cinema projectionist. When the new owners opened the walls to do a renovation they found them stuffed with old movie posters. The previous owner stuck them into the walls for insulation.
The posters were all in pristine condition. Therefore, their value was quite high. They auctioned off all the posters to collectors.
Story number two.
Down the street from my old house a place went up for auction in the early 1990s. The new owners opened up the walls to find some cash and a lot of drugs. Apparently put there by the previous owner. Who was a drug dealer.
It was only a few thousand in cash(sure there was).
The rumor was there was more cash than they told the police.
Have seen a ton of stuff behind lathe and plaster especially newspapers - often just fill to act as a poor mans insulation or just a place to stash trash during construction. Had one house that had rocks and gravel fill about a 1/4 of the way up.
“She didn’t want anyone to get into trouble.”
Who do you suppose she’s voting for?
any way to run the plates and see who they belonged to? I wonder if they were stolen plates used in a robbery?
I wonder if there was something in the paper related to the person who robbed the plates?
“”””Have seen a ton of stuff behind lathe and plaster especially newspapers””””
Those walls with their powerful updrafts and ancient newspapers are a nightmare to solder in.
Smart thinking.
“She didn’t want anyone to get into trouble.“
She knows who stole it…
Since the wallet was found in the ceiling where they worked it must have been stolen by someone she worked with. She probably had a pretty good idea then who the thief was.
LOL. thought the same thing. Was some criminal hiding evidence of a crime?
The papers seemed to be over a two week span. We took that as likely just a kind of cheap insulation
A friends 1930’s home was insulated with newspaper.
Imagine the fire hazard of 90-year-old newspaper!
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