Time capsule home, Ontario, Canada
Tucked away in rural Ontario, this dilapidated house has certainly seen better days. The property has sat abandoned for nearly 40 years and remains a perfect time capsule, frozen in 1985. Packed with memorabilia, photographs and family heirlooms, the home tells an interesting story of the family of Polish immigrants who were its first inhabitants back in the early 20th century and was also hiding one massive surprise…
The home is in a complete state of disarray, with pots and pans discarded in the kitchen sink, rotting furniture strewn across the floor and long out-of-date appliances – such as an old clothes wringer and an antique sewing machine – discarded in corners. Holes in the roof mean that the property’s interiors have been exposed to the elements, further exacerbating the decay of its contents
However, some items have remained miraculously intact, including what would once have been a high-tech record player, a glamorous evening gown, and this liquor permit, which dates to 1952 and provides a fascinating insight into post-prohibition era alcohol regulation by the Canadian government. Other surviving mid-century documents, such as a collection of school and college books, were once the property of younger members of the family.
However, the most shocking surprise this home was hiding was the whopping $6,800 (£5.3k) in cash that was stashed inside a plastic bag tucked behind an upturned mattress. The dough, which consisted of a combination of American and Canadian dollars, was bound up in rubber bands and marked in pencil, which seemed more than a little suspicious when it was first discovered by freelance photographer Dave of Freaktography.com. We still don’t know just what the stash was used for!
