Well, as anticipated, the 100-year-old mystery package opened today in Norway didn’t hold the Blue Star diamond that was lost when the Titanic sunk in 1912. Neither did it contain the big knife or pea suggested as possibilities by Norwegian schoolchildren. What it did contain, however, is a trove of curiae, a slice of history and a healthy dose of delightful anticipation.
In front of a crowd that included Princess Astrid of Norway, the mayor of Norway’s Sel municipality (wearing a dashing necklace, I might add) cut the ropes on the package, which was supposedly sealed in 1912 and delivered to the town of Otta’s mayor in the mid-to-late 1920s. Curators from the Gudbrandsdal museum then took the reins, unwrapping the brown paper package to see what was inside.
Inside the package? Surprise! Another package! Inside that, much to my dismay, was not an increasingly small series of packages leading to a pea. Instead, the interior package contained a number of fabrics in the color of Norway’s flag – “from the King,” said one of the package openers. Under the fabric the curators found notebooks, newspapers, a letter, a small drawing, some community council papers and other bits of paper.
Among the newspapers were clippings from 1914 and 1919, suggesting that perhaps the package had been added to after it was originally assembled in 1912. Still, the curators confirmed that the package contents were indeed from the first two decades of the twentieth century.
“This is like gold to us museum folks,” announced the female opener, speaking in English.
“Well, the package didn’t solve our financial problems,” said Sel mayor Dag Erik Pryhn, alluding to the ancient stock certificates some hoped the package would contain. “But our history got richer.”
For better or for worse, the unveiling came as part of the 400th celebration of a battle in which the townspeople of Otta defeated Scottish soldiers hired by Sweden during its war against Denmark-Norway. As a result, the package caretakers were ushered off stage to make way for more celebration and entertainment, asked kindly to return to the stage later with a summary of what its contents reveal.
And so, after 100 years, we’re forced to wait a little longer to find out just what may lie inside. If the dates on the newspapers are any indication, as @seanhfitz suggests, they just may hold instructions for building a time machine!
Update: The curators returned to the stage without the secret for time travel. Instead, the package contents seem to be primarily concerned with the construction of a monument to celebrate the victory in 1612. The notebooks and newspapers contain ledgers and accounts of donations given to fund the memorial.
“It’s interesting to see how small amount of money was given,” said one of the museum curators. “Some people are giving half a dollar and some are giving a dollar.”
One of the newspapers, from August 1, 1914, mentioned that the people of Sel were “afraid the money was going to be used for something else.” Another paper contained the lyrics to an old popular song that is now used as a march in Norway.
The curators pledged to take the papers back to the Gudbrandsdal museum, where they will be put on display in glass cases, for all to see.