Family finds 60-year-old McDonald's fries plastered in their wall and they're still crispy

A family was renovating their home when they found a bag of french fries that had been inside their wall for more than 60 years. Rob and Grace Jones were having their kitchen and bathroom fixed when they stumbled on the age-old bag of fries. They made the discovery on April 16 in Crystal Lake near Chicago, Illinois, as they were replacing their built-in toilet paper holder. They had to open a 4-by-6-inch section on the wall to fit in a new built-in toilet paper holder and noticed something wrapped in a towel inside the wall. 

Rob and Grace Jones feared the worst when they saw the towel with something wrapped in it. They thought it could be a person's remains. "We were expecting the worst. We were both like, 'Oh, my gosh, we're going to be unveiling a cold case here,'" said Grace Jones, 31. "I was shielding my kids in case there was any dried blood." They were left amused after finding a bag with two hamburger wrappers and a remarkably well-preserved order of fries. "Not a cold case, just some cold fries," joked Jones, who is an early childhood special education teacher and a mother of children ages 2 and 5. "They were very well preserved."

Their ranch-style home was built in 1959 and, according to Crystal Lake Historical Society records, there was a McDonald’s opened a half-mile from the home the same year. That particular McDonald’s was only a carry-out location, with burgers costing 15 cents, fries 10 cents and milkshakes 20 cents at the time. The bag found by the couple had 1950s McDonald’s mascot Speedee, which was the company's mascot prior to 'Ronald McDonald.' Speedee was chosen at the time to highlight the company's revolutionary fast service. The chain's take-out bags featuring Speedee were used from 1955 to 1961, according to Business Insider. The bags showed the mascot holding signs that read: "Custom-built hamburgers" and "I'm speedier."

Jones grew up in nearby Woodstock and said her mother has vivid memories of going to the opening of McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois. It was the location where Ray Kroc opened his first franchise of the fast-food empire, started by Richard and Maurice McDonald. The couple shared pictures of the french fries on Reddit where it went viral and subsequently taught them a lot more about their community. "It's been unreal. We didn't expect this to take off the way it has. We just thought it was a cool find," said Jones. "It's been awesome, it's been so fun, it's been neat, learning about the history of our neighborhood."

Responding to queries on Reddit, they confirmed this was the first time they were fixing the bathroom. "Definitely no recent renovations done in the bathroom I found it in. It was stuck in the original plaster behind an old toilet paper holder," they wrote. "Our house was built in 1959 and pretty sure these have been there since. Still perfectly crispy." One person joked, "100% that’s a construction time capsule." Many speculated it might be of monetary value. "This is SUPER interesting, belongs in a museum. Some private collector or museum will definitely pay a good price for this," they wrote. The Jones family has confirmed they have no plans to even try the aged fries. They have secured it in a Tupperware and kept it out of the children's reach.