Letter in film canister washes up on Outer Banks beach after 36 years

A New Jersey boy had to wait 36 years to get his pen pal.

Rob Stober was 11 years old in 1983 when he slid a handwritten letter into a plastic film canister and tossed it into the sea from a pier in Ocean Grove, N.J., reports OBX Today.

He had been doing this every August on his birthday trips to the shore in hopes that someone would write back to him.

“Having a pen pal in the ’80s was all the rage, so I figured this would be a great way to get one,” Stober told OBX Today.

No one responded and the idea was long forgotten.

Until Nov. 23.

On that day, April Lovin of Colington, N.C., found the canister with the undated note while beachcombing on Pea Island in the Outer Banks.

Message in a film canister washes ashore on the Outer Banks 36 years later: https://t.co/CAMAraHHtD

— OBX Today (@OBXtoday) December 5, 2019

“When I opened the canister I found a folded pencil-printed ruled notebook paper pen pal letter,” Lovin told OBX Today. “It was a sweet letter with charming facts about his life and a request that if found to write back and send a picture.”

Lovin surmised that letter had been written long ago and began searching for the author, OBX Today reports, and she found someone with a similar name near the sender’s hometown.

“I sent a private message that just said, ‘This is a strange question but did you ever write a pen pal letter, put it in a film canister and throw it in the ocean?’ ’’ Lovin told OBX Today.

“That is a strange question” was the reply.

“I shot him a picture of the letter and he was blown away,” Lovin told OBX Today.

Lovin told OBX Today she plans to send the canister and letter back to Stober.

He finally got his pen pal.

Read more of the story at OBX Today.