Town surprised when time capsule opened 50 years later, found empty

DERRY, N.H. — A New Hampshire community waited 50 years to open an old time capsule and they were definitely surprised by what they found inside.

When the Derry library director started five years ago, the town's time capsule, which was sealed in 1969, sat safely on a shelf.

"Nobody touched it until last spring," Cara Potter told WMUR.

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On the 50th anniversary, Potter opened it with the help of town staff.

"I was considering running a library program around opening it and so I wanted to open it to make sure we could actually physically do that," said Potter.

The combination for the safe was conveniently posted on the back on the capsule.

"It took us several tries to get it open, because we had the combination and it's an older safe. So by the time we actually got it open, there were a number of staff people standing around watching," said Potter. "We were a little horrified to find that there was nothing in it."

Derry historians and town officials were notified and it turns out no one holds a list of what was originally put inside.

The capsule was supposed to be displayed at the Old Home Day Celebration in Londonderry this past weekend.

Officials said they have no idea who could have opened it and taken the items inside.

"It could have happened at any point. They have even speculated that nothing actually got put in there in the first place. We just don't know," said Potter.

A number of town keepsakes that will now always be remembered as a mystery.

"Because it was 50 years ago, we were speculating that there could have been some Alan Shepard items in there, because that was around 50 years ago. It was just the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, so we just won't know what happened to them," said Potter.

CNN/WMUR