Lost wallet returned twenty-four-years later, after fortune cookie predicted it would be found
Yahoo! August 6, 2013, 1:18 pm
A wallet lost for twenty-four-years has been returned to its owner on the same day a fortune cookie predicted he would receive a 'lucky package'.
Under the username “shrivel,” the wallet's owner posted photos of the lucky find in a Reddit discussion thread he appropriately titled, “A good Samaritan found the wallet I lost in the ocean. 24 YEARS AGO.”
Burton Maugans, 44, lost his wallet in '1988 or 1989' while water skiing on a family holiday in the small coastal town of Bolivia, North Carolina.
“It was in the Intracoastal Waterway,” Maugans told ABCNews.com.
“I was skiing and there was no point in looking for it.”
Twenty-four-years-later, Maugans was having lunch at a Chinese restaurant when he opened a fortune cookie whose message read, "A small lucky package is on its way to you soon.”
Maugans' fortuitous fortune cookie. Photo: Reddit
"I’m not a big believer in fortune cookies but I just thought it was interesting,” he said.
On the same day, Maugans received a call from a stranger named Jim Parker.
“The voice on the other end asks for me by name and says, ‘My name is ... and you don’t know me but I know your name, birthday, height, weight and address.’ Okay, I’m thinking, bit of a creepy way to introduce himself, but I figure I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hear him out. ‘I was at the Holden’s Beach in North Carolina on vacation and I think I found your wallet,’ Maugans wrote on Reddit.”
He added, “As near as I can remember I was 19 years old and that was 24 years ago.”
Maugans' lost wallet of twenty-four years. Photo: Reddit
Blocking out personal information like his name and address, Maugan's posted photos of the Velcro wallet and its contents, which included his college and high school IDs, library card and driver’s license.
“I know from talking to the guy that the inside contents were in good enough shape to read,” he wrote.
“But I was floored by how well preserved the outside of the wallet was.”
According to ABCNews.com, Jim Parker and his wife had been walking along the beach Bolivia, North Caroline when they noticed a wallet washed up on the shore.
Maugans' ID was still intact inside the lost wallet. Photo: Reddit
The pair reportedly rinsed off the wallet with fresh water and let it dry out before using the details on the I.D to search for and find Maugans on the internet.
“I appreciate Jim sending it to me,” Maugans said.
“Most people would have probably seen that there was no money in it and thrown it aside, I’d imagine.”
