Another Message In A Bottle Hoax

In February 2003 12-year-old Emily Streight tossed a message in a bottle into the creek near her home in Carlton, Oregon. She gave her name, her age, her height (which she described as 6-foot-2, a slight exaggeration), listed two boys she had a crush on at school, and added, "If this is a guy who finds this, send a picture."

In October of this year she got a response from 16-year-old Keoni in Hawaii. Somehow her bottle had traveled down Panther Creek, into the North Yahmill River, then into the Yamhill River, then the Willamette River, the Columbia River, out into the Pacific Ocean, and all the way to Hawaii. A pretty incredible journey.

Of course, it never happened. This was yet another message in a bottle hoax. They seem to be popping up all over the place lately. The truth:
According to the CBS TV station in Hawaii, a man has admitted that he found the bottle several years ago, not far from where an Oregon girl launched it in Panther Creek, Oregon. According to the report, the man who only would identify himself as 'Tom' moved to Hawaii and found the bottle recently while unpacking, then sent the letter to Straight, pretending to be a 16-year-old boy.
Other message-in-a-bottle hoaxes from this year include the high-speed message in a bottle (Scotland to New Zealand in 47 days), and the angry-reply message in a bottle.

Exploration/Travel

Posted on Mon Oct 30, 2006


Comments

So the "man who could only identify himself as 'Tom'" now has to rely on myspace to hit on 12 year old girls, I guess.
Posted by JoeDaJuggler  on  Mon Oct 30, 2006  at  09:30 AM
As I mentioned on a recent thread about messages in bottles, I threw some into the water from a pier at Atlantic City, NJ back in 1998 and into the Pacific about four years ago on the Oregon coast and I've yet to hear from anyone. Hey, what does it take??? Sheesh.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Mon Oct 30, 2006  at  06:45 PM
hey... my brother found a bottle with a message in it off Island Beach State Park in New Jersey this Summer... I can only paraphrase, but i think it read: "Anyone dumb enough to open a bottle that washes up on a New Jersey beach should bust that filthy, dirty, medical waste-covered bottle over their pointy little head, and pray that God washes them out to sea when the tide changes." I think it went like that. No wait, it said "Eat or Go Home". I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds less painful that a bottle bonk and a nap with the fishies
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Mon Oct 30, 2006  at  07:11 PM
Uh, Cranky Media Guy, maybe it's because you aren't a 13 year-old girl? Or even pretending to be one?
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Tue Oct 31, 2006  at  11:01 AM
I've never found a message IN a bottle, exactly, but I've found some bottles with messages ON them. I recall one in particular. It said, "Budweiser."
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Oct 31, 2006  at  01:45 PM
JoeDaJuggler is a lot like the media and cannot do simple math. The girl was 12 in 2003.
Posted by Dave  on  Thu Nov 09, 2006  at  03:18 PM
In 1972, my cousin and I put a note in a bottle and dropped it in the ocean approximately 6 miles from the shore in Newport, Oregon. I have never received a response.
Posted by Kim  on  Sat Mar 14, 2009  at  08:33 PM
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