Kicker: Message in a bottle

MARY REICHARD, HOST: In the summer of 2010, a young boy grabbed pen and paper and wrote a letter to no one in particular. 

10-year-old Max Vredenburgh began his letter in very neat handwriting this way: “Hello, my name is Max. Whoever is reading this letter, please write back.” 

Max told a little bit about himself next: He liked the color blue, apples, the beach, animals, cars, and outer space. 

Then he rolled up the paper, stuffed it into a glass bottle and tossed it into the ocean off the coast of Rockport, Massachusetts. 

Someone named G. Dubois found the bottle and responded. 

Max told WCVB …

VREDENBURGH: This actually worked?! I was like, are you kidding me?!

It did work. It just took nine years. Dubois sent a map showing the exact location where he found the letter in a bottle washed ashore—in southern France, nearly 4,000 miles away!

VREDENBURGH: Oh, speechless because I didn’t think it would even make it there. And if it did make it there, I didn’t think someone would actually like write a letter back.

Now 19-year-old Max Vredenburgh posted photos of his original letter and the reply and added—quote—“I am mind blown.”

BASHAM: I am, too!

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Max Vredenburgh, CNN)

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