Message in a Bottle Sent From Sweden by Three Kids in 1992 Is Returned From Panama 22 Years Later

photo via Erik Runestam

Back in 1992, Swedish siblings Erik (then six years old) and Lina Runestam, and childhood friend Christoffer Högström made a fake pirate map, added a message, placed it in a bottle, and dropped it in the sea near the harbor town of Hunnebostrand in Sweden. The pirate map featured burned edges and old-timey staining while the note (in Swedish) informed the recipient that the kids were stranded on a desert island. The message also included an address, which was not a desert island, but Högström’s home in Sweden.

22 years later, Högström received a reply, all the way from Panama, from a man named Leonard Pearson. The letter, dated November 6, 2014, explains that Pearson had found the bottle on a beach in Panama, translated the message with Google Translate, and was replying to the return address in hopes of reaching the kids. Pearson did not leave a return address–Erik reports that he and his fellow map makers are trying to locate Pearson to send him a reply.

photo via Google