Stefanie Marco Lantz was a 9-year-old little girl from Glastonbury, Connecticut on a trip to Martha's Vineyard with her family 40 years ago in 1982 when this whole thing started.

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We found a little bit of information on Facebook, but then found a podcast on Connecticut Public Radio by Chion Wolf and were able to dig deeper. I also reached out to Stefanie on Facebook and she was happy to help me with the use of pictures and answer any questions I had. Now, here is the story.

According to the information from Chion's podcast, in 1982, a young 9-year-old Stefanie Marco of Glastonbury, Connecticut was on a trip with her family in Martha's Vineyard  when her mom had a neat idea. She thought it would be cool to put a "message in a bottle", seal it up, and drop it in the water. Well, they did just that and dropped it in the water somewhere near Martha's Vineyard, maybe it was in Vineyard Sound or Nantucket Sound or somewhere else, not really sure.

Chion Wolf
Chion Wolf
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Forty years go by and then one day not long ago that exact bottle shows up at the doorstep of a thrift store in Statesville, North Carolina, almost 1000 miles away if you travel down the coast and then go west. Not only does it almost magically appear, but it is also in near-perfect shape and the note was intact. The bottle was found by Tommy and Lana Simmons of North Carolina and they own the Yokefellow Thrift Store where the bottle was left. Of course, they opened the bottle and found the note from young Stefanie.

Carl Lantz
Carl Lantz
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Tommy said it took his wife, Lana, about 30 minutes to find Stefanie Marco Lantz on Facebook. Stefanie's first reaction was "shock" after seeing the proof and immediately wanted to tell everyone. The North Carolina Thrift Store Owners packed up the precious package with the finest bubble wrap money could buy and shipped it to the waiting Stefanie and her husband Carl. As soon as they received the package, both couples joined in on a Facebook live "unwrapping" of the bottle and sharing of the remarkable story.

Carl Lantz
Carl Lantz
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There are plenty of unanswered questions about how exactly that bottle made the journey and was kept in such pristine shape, but those may or may not be answered at some point in time. Nonetheless, it is a remarkable Connecticut story.

Stefanie Marco Lantz is an artist who lives and works in West Hartford, Connecticut and you can find her work right here on Facebook. The recent 'message in a bottle' experience inspired some new art by Stefanie, check it out.

Carl Lantz
Carl Lantz
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My thanks to Chion Wolf, Tommy and Lana Simmons, and Stefanie and Carl Lantz for the help and use of the pictures for this article. Not only that, but I made it all the way through without mentioning a certain pop song by a certain group that has a guy in it with a one-word name that is comparable to what "bees" do. For more stuff written by this guy, you can tap or click right here, including a recent story about a Q & A we had with a local realtor. Thanks for hanging out with me and see you all again real soon.

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