Ohio man finds canister containing 21-year-old message
Posted: May 21, 2015 - 3:15am

IONIA, Mich. (AP) -- It isn't quite a message in a bottle, but an Ohio man says he found a 21-year-old message secreted in a camera film case that had traveled some 40 miles down the Grand River in western Michigan. Terry Smith tells WILX-TV (http://bit.ly/1R2M15X ) that he found the case with the messages inside on Monday while hunting for mushrooms in Ionia, Michigan. According to Smith, the case contained three pieces of paper written by two 12-year-old girls in Lansing in 1994. "It's in pretty good condition really. I mean, it was water stained, it was damp and when I took it out of the bottle. But, it's in really good condition for being 21 years old," Smith said. Two of the documents show drawings of the girls, while the third is a letter to the finder of the film case. Leah Sedelmaier, one of the authors of the note, was contacted by Smith and WILX. Although she doesn't remember putting together the note, she's said she's shocked someone found it. "We used to play in this creek that's back here in the neighborhood; and, we used to make rafts and have races with them. I totally believe we would've done something like that," Sedelmaier said. Sedelmaier said she has since reconnected with her co-author and childhood friend to try and piece together their memories from that day.