News Summary
A local man in Hatteras Village stumbled upon a glass bottle containing a note dated from 1956, leading to a heartfelt family reunion. The note, belonging to Betty Willis, reignited memories for her family, who ponder how the bottle traveled through time before resurfacing in a creek. This unique find not only serves as a memento but captures the essence of history and nostalgia in the community.
Hatteras Village, Dare County, N.C. – A local resident made an extraordinary discovery while walking his dog in Hatteras Village. Mike Garrett found a small glass bottle containing a note dated back to 1956, prompting a family reunion of sorts and sparking curiosity about the bottle’s nearly 70-year journey.
While enjoying a stroll with his dog, Garrett noticed the bottle bobbing in a nearby creek. Initially mistaking it for a typical medicine bottle, he then observed that a crab was pulling the bottle underwater. After a brief tug-of-war with the crab, he successfully retrieved the bottle using a dip net and caught the crab, which he later released back into the creek.
Upon examining the contents of the bottle, Garrett discovered a piece of paper that simply read, “Betty Willis, 1956.” Surprised by the find, he decided to visit nearby neighbors Eugene and Jan Willis to identify the name on the note.
Eugene Willis confirmed that the note belonged to his sister, Betty Jean Willis, who was 11 years old at the time of writing. The Willis family, which included ten children, lived in Hatteras Village during the mid-20th century, not far from where the bottle was discovered. Eugene reminisced that during that era, garbage piles frequently accumulated near ditches and creeks, potentially explaining how the bottle resurfaced after so many years.
The bottle was subsequently passed to Eugene’s brother and sister-in-law, Virgil and Belinda Willis, who contacted Betty Willis, now known as Betty Willis Fisher. Upon receiving the note, Fisher expressed a blend of disbelief and nostalgia, as she did not recall writing it. Fisher, along with her siblings, spent a significant amount of their childhood near the Pamlico Sound shoreline, close to the site of the bottle’s discovery.
The absence of an address on the note led Fisher, who moved away from Hatteras Village in 1964 and now resides in Jacksonville, N.C., to speculate about how the bottle ended up in the creek. She considered that it might have been tossed into the water during a hurricane or storm, particularly referencing Hurricane Isabel, which occurred in 2003.
Fisher’s brother later mailed the bottle back to her, arriving on May 5, 2025. Upon receiving it, she noted that the lid remained tightly sealed and the bottle was in remarkable condition. Fisher plans to keep the bottle as a unique memento for her children, a physical connection to their family’s history.
The discovery of the bottle has sparked reflections on its mysterious journey over the decades. Fisher described the experience as reminiscent of a “Reader’s Digest” story, pondering how the bottle may have navigated the waters of Hatteras through changing times and conditions.
This unexpected find not only serves as a family keepsake but embodies the essence of nostalgia and history, reminding the community of the importance of stories that travel through time.
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Additional Resources
- WITN: Message Bottle Finds Its Way Back
- Wikipedia: Hatteras
- ABC11: Search Warrants Show Teen Center
- Google Search: Hatteras message bottle
- Daily Journal: Message in a Bottle
- Google Scholar: message bottle
- Encyclopedia Britannica: message bottle
- Google News: Hatteras news
