A jar cast into the ocean fifty years ago by a boy during family trip to Seaside Heights, N.J. -- and likely buried in the sand for decades – has surfaced after Superstorm Sandy dug up large portions of the state’s coastline.
In 1963, Dennis Komsa cast the glass jar carrying a note, a 1958 nickel and an envelope with his Paterson, N.J., return address into the ocean.
“To whom it may concern, Please fill out the following questions and mail. This is a scientific experiment by Dennis Komsa, age 12,” the note said, according to the Asbury Park Press.
When the jar was found, Komsa wanted to know who found it, where and how. He wrote that the nickel was intended to be used to buy a stamp, so the person who discovered the jar could write him back.
All three questions were answered when the jar washed up last year in Sharon Roher’s driveway after Sandy.
In early November, Norman Stanton, of Chalfont, Pa., who is Roher’s brother, was cleaning her driveway in Seaside Heights and found the note inside the glass jar.
“It looked like it was meant to be found,” Stanton told the Asbury Park Press.
Komsa, who is now 61 and living in Hillsborough, N.J., said it was “good” that the bottle surfaced.
“It shows anything is possible,” he said.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
