| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
Top 10 Pieces of Historical Disasters Found Years Later
Here are ten historic artifacts that were unexpectedly found years later in the most unexpected places. Do you remember these stories being broadcast?
10. Plane part from 9/11 found wedged between twobuildings
It’s been over twelve years since Sept. 11, 2001, which, in comparison to other items on this list, isn’t that old. But considering that a majority of the plane wreckage was recovered in the first few years following the disaster, it’s amazing that a 5 foot long, 4 foot tall, 17 inch wide part went missing for 11 years. Especially when you factor in where it was found: an 18 inch wide alley/crawl space between twobuildings. To reiterate, a 17 inch wide piece of plane was found in an 18 inch wide alley way.
9. The violin that was played when the Titanic sank found 101 years later
The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most famous, if not THE most famous tragedies at sea. As such, artifacts associated with it are high valued and collected. So imagine the surprise at Henry Aldrige and Son auction house when a man brought in a old leather bag which contained the violin that was played by Bandmaster Wallace Hartley during the ships final moments, from one of the more iconic stories of the sinking, the band playing the hymn “Nearer my God to thee.” Even more, the anonymous man who brought it in said he found it in his attic. Estimates of the instrument go as high as 6 figures, but it is possible that it could go into the millions.
8. Canadian Parliament Royal Coat Of Arms Found In New York Flea Market
Every burgeoning young nation has a rocky start, and Canada is no exception. It was under the Montreal Parliament that the idea of Responsible Government gained a strong foothold in the country, paving the way for the modern Canadian Parliament. In 1849, an angry mob burned down the Canadian Parliament in Montreal, only some 200 books and a painting of Queen Victoria were saved from the fire. The Royal Coat of Arms that hung above the speaker’s chair was thought to have been lost in the blaze. 130 years later, Canadian Member of Parliament, Robert Kaplan, was in a New York flea market, when he came across an old broken and burnt British Coat Of Arms, he bought it for $300 and brought it back to his apartment, where he and his family restored it, and by that we mean, his grandkids drew on it with crayon and stuffed putty in it.
7. Wreckage From The Worst Maritime Disaster In The U.S. Found In Arkansas Field
On the night of April 27, 1865, The riverboat steamer, Sultana, was making its way up the Mississippi River to the good ol’ Union with more than 2,000 people aboard, among them Union P.O.W.’s. It just made it north of Memphis, Tennessee when a boiler explosion caused the whole thing to go up in flames. Over 1,500 people died in the tragedy and it is still considered the worst maritime disaster in american history. Most of the wreck was recovered in the following months, but in 1982, Jerry Potter, a Memphis Lawyer, and Clive Cussler, Head of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, pinpointed an area they believed was the resting place of the remaining hull of the ship. Do to a century of droughts and floods, the river changed direction and left the remains under a soy bean field over 2 miles away from where the river flows now. When coring samples were taken, they found metal debris and charred planks of wood.
6. Piece of space station is discovered in a Massachusetts river
Amesbury, Massachusetts resident, Phil Green, was in his back yard one day in 2007, which sits along the Merrimack River, looking for arrowheads when a strange looking rock caught his attention. The bizarre softball sized stone was unlike any he had seen before. He took the rock and set it in his back yard next to a rusty anchor, where it sat for 6 years. One day, his sister in law suggested that it might be a meteorite, and she had it sent to a friend at NASA for examination. When he got it back with a letter from NASA, he was surprised to learn that it wasn’t a meteor, but instead a piece of the Russian Soviet Space Station MIR. The majority of MIR, which was assembled from the late 80’s into the early 90’s, burned up on reentry in 2001 and what was left crashed into the south pacific, but somehow this piece found its way to Phil’s backyard.
Related Posts
