Family finds a 100-year-old time capsule in the ceiling while getting their heater fixed

Home renovations often lead to the discovery of long-forgotten items. However, this family stumbled upon an unexpected treasure hidden within their home. Residing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the family recently unearthed a time capsule over a century old. The discovery was made when their heater broke down and a repair crew was called in, according to 13 ON YOUR SIDE. As the crew started to cut through pipes, they found artifacts and newspapers dated back to 1913. "As they were cutting into the ceiling above the bathroom, it wasn't in a box all these things were just set in a pile," said Jesse Leitch, the homeowner.

Leitch thought that the whole thing was "very cool." He added that he has always thought of doing things like that himself. "Fully renovate the place and leave something for the next guy," he said. The house owner then shared that the place was built in 1910. "So, it is a really old building and this made me think that a kid living here thought this was important and stick around for the next guy," he added. They had found twelve items, which included a handwritten note with a drawing, a tiny cast iron, small percussion instruments, a few dominoes, a picture of Jesus Christ and a newspaper clipping of 1913, per UPI. Leitch's daughters were surprised that these things were still intact.

The dad wants to keep and use most of the items they have found. "With the cast iron pan, we want to clean the rust out of it and try cooking some tiny food and see how that works," he said. "I kind of want to hold onto it. I make music on my own, so I want to record these and see if I can make something interesting out of it." He also shared that he has found artifacts before and it is not uncommon for people to find such things in their homes.

It's good to say Leitch is not the only one who found such things in his house. In another similar incident, a family in Massachusetts found some precious artifacts in their attics and decided to return them, per FBI. The agency had been looking for these looted artifacts from during the war. The family found it when they were going through their late grandfather's belongings, a veteran of World War II. They found a massive collection of what they thought was Asian art. They compared the artifacts with the FBI's National Stolen Art File and found many similarities. It was said to be stolen from the Battle of Okinawa.

A press release from the FBI stated that 222 artifacts were discovered in the attic. "They came across somewhat appeared to be very valuable Asian art," said Geoffrey Kelly, the art crime coordinator for FBI Boston and a member of the FBI Art Crime Team. "There were some scrolls, there were some pottery pieces, there was an ancient map. They looked old and valuable. And because of this, they did a little research and they determined that at least the scrolls had been entered about 20 years ago in the FBI's National Stolen Art File."