A “body-sized” steamer trunk from the 1930s mysteriously showed up on a beach at Florida’s Fort Matanzas National Monument, according to the National Park Service.
The strange arrival was revealed Nov. 18, when a photographer known as “East Coast Mike OMeally” posted photos showing a black trunk tangled in the roots of a toppled tree.
Among his images was one appearing to show a sandbag attached to the trunk — as if it was intended to sink.
“This is about to get weird no matter how it plays out,” he posted on Instagram.
It has indeed gotten weird, but not in the way he might have expected.
“Nothing of interest” was found in the trunk, the national park reported. But that revelation only fueled increasingly wild theories over what fell out, if it was on a ship that sank, how long it was adrift, and if its reappearance involves the Bermuda Triangle’s mythical ability to bend time.
“‘Nothing of interest’ gets me more interested,” Tenille Marie wrote on the park’s Facebook page.
“Okay … why was a sandbag tied to the trunk? Was there really just sand inside or maybe disintegrated bone fragments mixed in?” Carole Carter Whatley asked. “Further investigation is needed.”
”The imagination is not limited when it comes to traveling back in time and wondering — who owned this trunk?” Randy Treadway posted. “And how did it come to be lost? Went down with the Titanic? German U-boat? Bermuda Triangle?”
The park service hasn’t offered answers, but it shared additional details about the trunk, noting it was from the 1930s and had a tag identified as a “brand called ‘Neverbreak Trunks.’ Manufactured By: L. Goldsmith & Son of Newark New Jersey.”
That fitting name hasn’t gone missed by social media commenters, with some noting the discovery is a great product endorsement.
One additional theory has also gained traction on social media, and it’s less paranormal.
Hurricane Nicole caused as many as seven homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea to fall into the Atlantic Ocean, according to station WKMG. The community is about 55 miles south of the fort, and some speculate the Gulf Stream may have carried debris from the homes north to Fort Matanzas National Monument.
Fort Matanzas is about 60 miles south of Jacksonville. The park “preserves the fortified coquina watchtower, completed in 1742, which defended the southern approach to the Spanish military settlement of St. Augustine,” the National Park Service says.
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