Monday, October 12, 2015

I Love Surprises and Clues





I watched a commercial on television recently that was about people enjoying surprises. I’m one of those who loves a good surprise, and mysteries generally hold plenty of them, although not always good ones.

For the purposes of this week’s blog, I’m going to talk about clues, or what could be considered clues.

I’ve mentioned a few times in recent blogs that my house is for sale.  Being the positive thinker that I (sometimes) am, I’ve started packing already. When the house finally sells, I’ll be ready to go.

It’s been interesting. There are a number of boxes that have been stored rather than unpacked. Now I’m having to go through the boxes to sort and throw out or repack. I’ve always been a “saver”, and there are plenty of things I’d forgotten I had. I’ll open a box and think, Wow! I forgot I had this. Other times I’ll think, I wonder why I saved this.

I’ve watched several television shows having to do with forgotten items. I used to watch If Walls Could Talk. People would buy an historic house or building and find amazing things in unlikely places. Recently I watched a show called Attic Gold which involves a small company who will clean out an attic, free of charge, but they keep what they find and remodel the attic. I’ve watched some of the shows where people purchase the contents of storage units and find amazing things. I realize that some “finds” are staged. After all, this is television. However, I also know that there really are some surprises out there.

I remember a show I watched a long time ago where the new owners were going to renovate an older house, and they found old movie posters that had been used as insulation in the walls. They were in pristine condition and valuable.

Where a mystery is involved, people will hide things in the most unlikely places. When a writer is developing a story, they can create a scenario wherein a character might find something of historic importance, or they might find something recently hidden – clues.

I wrote Old Murders Never Die, which had to do with finding a ghost town that no one had seen since the late 1800s. All Sandi Webster had to work with were things she found in the town. The people had left suddenly and many homes and businesses were found just as they were left, with plates still sitting on dining tables and merchandise still in the general store. It was fun to dream up what a modern day person might find and coming up with an old mystery. The clues were all there, just waiting for her.

I found a letter that a soldier had written to my grandmother during World War I. He wrote it on Armistice Day and described what was going on. He was in the Argonne Forest when this took place. Fascinating. He included a few comments about what was going on in her life, which made it even more personal and interesting. (She’d recently been in an industrial accident and lost her arm. This would have been in 1918. It’s difficult to know how long it took her original letter about her arm to reach him.)

Another unexpected, and shocking, find was a photograph that was mixed in with family photos. I know I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but it’s difficult to forget. My grandmother gave me a large trunk filled with photos dating back to the 1800s through around 1980. There were so many to sort through, and as I looked at them I found a photo of a firing squad shooting people. The Officer in Charge sat astride a horse, the troops were in the background, and you could actually see the smoke coming out of the rifles. The people being shot appeared to be starting to fall. For clarification, no one involved was American. I sent the photo to a retired military historian and he believes these were possibly Asians. Even more startling, or to add to it, it appears that my grandfather took the picture. This would have been between 1904 and 1907. I won’t include the photo in this post because it would shock too many people.

Clues? They can be found in the darnedest places. Maybe you’ve found something of interest mixed in with the ordinary, everyday things. Tell us about your most surprising find.

Until next time, try sorting through some of those old boxes that have been stored and forgotten. You may find things that make you smile, or that make your mouth pop open in surprise.

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20 comments:

  1. My husband saves everything. I shudder to think what it will be like one of these days--and I have way more junk than I should have. Good post, Marja!

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn. I didn't know my husband saved as much as he did until he was gone. It's been interesting (and back-breaking) to go through both of our "saves". Thank you for stopping in!

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  2. My wife and I often comment on what surprised our kids will have when we die and they go through the house in detail before selling it. Of course, we'd also be surprised if we went through it carefully now. Old Murders Never Die certainly had some clues that were a hundred years old. Excellent mystery. And this was a good post.

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    1. Thank you, Jim. I had a great-aunt who passed away, and all I can say is we found some real surprises when we went through her things. Use your imagination. : ) Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  3. Surprise is all around us, and has the capacity to please or shock us. As you mention, some of the biggest occur when we 'discover' something we've saved and forgotten about. Good blog, Marja. Let us know if you ever find the answer to that firing squad photo.

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    1. Thank you, John. I'd tell you exactly what the historian told me about that photo, but I've already packed my notes. Sometimes I'm too conscientious for my own good. The surprises we find would make great clues. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  4. Great post, Marja! As you know, my mother just sold her house and we're going through her things as we pack. We haven't found anything pleasantly surprising yet but you never know.
    The last time I moved, I did find a $20 bill I'd stashed (and forgotten about) in one of the books in my bookcase. Not anything historical but nice. LOL

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    1. I know that you have an attic to work on, Pat. That may be where you'll find some surprises. I hope so. : ) Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  5. It's amazing what you can find going through old boxes. I've been helping a friend with some reorganization projects, and it's funny the things we've found. Some items bring up the "I wonder why I have/kept this?" question, while other times it's a eureka moment in finding something misplaced or forgotten. Unfortunately, we've gotten rid of very little, only found a new spot for it within the existing chaos, LOL.

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    1. I have to laugh because there's so much I can't bring myself to throw away, Heather. It's a trait we share. I hope you find some major Eureka! things. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  6. I'm also going through boxes and boxes of things that I thought I couldn't part with years ago (in preparation for a move). But I'm not making much progress because when I find old photo albums I spend hours looking at them. Or reading old manuscripts that I started and never finished, wondering if they're worth rewriting. : )

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    1. You're as bad as I am, Jean. LOL I can't just sort. I've got to stop and look at things. Sometimes those old manuscripts are priceless and well worth the time to work on them. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  7. This past summer my daughter went through a box of old records and pictures from my mother. She found a poem my grandfather wrote to my grandmother while they were courting. It was original and over 100 years old. (So that's where I got my writing chops. Hmm? Nope, it was my mother who got the poetry talent.)

    I really like your comments here.

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    1. Thank you, Norma. What a wonderful item to find. I'm sure your daughter's heart was touched and it brought a huge smile to her face. It even gave me a smile. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  8. You just never know what you'll find and where you'll find it. A couple of years ago, my husband bought a bunch of old books for a dollar each at a garage sale. One of the books was about the prohibition era in Chicago. As he glanced through the pages, he was surprised to see a picture of his uncle standing next to Al Capone. The caption said that he was Al Capone's body guard. My husband had no idea..

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    1. Oh, my gosh, Evelyn! That was an amazing find. You just never know what lies between (or on) the pages. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  9. Your post reminds me of something I tell all my adult and senior writing students: don't throw anything out. They know I mean diaries, journals, photos, news clips -- anything that may be of use in writing their stories and memoirs. I live by that rule and yes, my children will have some work to do after I'm gone. Thanks, Marja.

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    1. You're welcome, Eileen. I have a feeling I'd really enjoy your class, and that's excellent advice. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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  10. As you might remember, I found an old gravestone in my backyard this summer. Nope. No body to go with it, but it certainly was a surprise. So in my fifth book in the Eve Appel series, I'm uncovering a body. It's both a surprise and a clue.
    Those photos certainly were strange as also was your comment that your grandfather was the photographer. Do you know what that's all about?

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    1. I remember the story about the gravestone, Lesley. Excellent find and an excellent clue for a book. I discovered the photo after both of my grandparents were gone, so I have no clue why he was there or how he took the photo. It matched all of the other photos he took at the time, and he was in the Navy in that area at the time. Unfortunately, I've already packed the information the retired historian gave me. I do know that my grandfather was part of the original Yangtze River Patrol between 1904 and 1907. It may have something to do with that. I wish I knew more. Thank you so much for stopping in!

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