When A Little Boy Unearthed A Message In A Bottle, His Mother Immediately Picked Up The Phone

The cold seeps into Heather Baird and her son Ryder Goggin’s bones as they explore the beach. Then something strange catches their eye. It glints in the low sun, and as they get closer, they are delighted to find an old message in a bottle. But who can have sent it? Heather and Ryder have no clue, but they intend to find out.

A tricky mystery

How exciting! Who doesn’t love a good mystery? But as Heather and her young son were about to find out, solving this conundrum proved to be far from simple. And quite frankly, we’re surprised that the mom even had the time to dive into it. She already had plenty on her plate.

Busy bee

A resident of Mendocino, California, Heather not only plies her trade as an event organizer, but she also has another job. Yes, the parent is a wellness advocate for doTERRA Essential Oils USA too. Plus she helps run the Mendo Coast Mamas Facebook page as well. That’s a lot of work!

Most important role

And on top of all that, we can’t forget about Heather’s most important job. Taking care of her son. Ryder has been her number one priority since she welcomed him into the world during the last few hours of 2010. So, with that in mind, let’s head back to that intriguing day on the beach.

Celebrating a birthday

It was New Year’s Eve in 2015, and Heather had chosen to take Ryder to a shorefront in Fort Bragg, California. The youngster was turning five that day, so what better way to mark the occasion? To explain what happened next, the event organizer spoke to FOX 40 in January 2016.

Finding the bottle

Heather recalled, “We were crossing the bridge, and Ryder decided to cross over the creek.” Apparently, her son was quite adept at uncovering crustaceans once he reached the beach. On this occasion, though, the birthday boy spotted something very different. It was a seemingly empty Original New York Seltzer bottle.

“I definitely thought of pirates”

Yet upon closer inspection, Heather and Ryder noticed that a piece of paper had been stuffed into the container. Before she knew it, the mom’s imagination was ignited. What could be written on that note? As she told FOX 40, “I definitely thought of pirates and maybe even a treasure map.”

Bugs!

So the mom and son attempted to get into the glass container, only to be met by some surprising “guardians.” Yep, several insects had made themselves at home around the bottle top. Yikes. That’s quite the deterrent, wouldn’t you agree? We’d probably run a mile! It didn’t scare Ryder and Heather off, though.

The message

Instead, Heather worked her way around the insects and twisted the top off. She then got the note out. Pirates? A treasure map? Nope! As it turned out, this scrap of paper was an old message dating back nearly 30 years. And it was written by a boy who hadn’t been much older than Ryder at the time.

“Call me when you find this”

Want to know what it said? Okay then. The message read, “Hi — my name is Chris. I am ten years old and in the fifth grade. I live in Sacramento. Call me when you find this to let me know where it floated to shore. September 5, 1988.” A phone number was provided as well.

Making the call

That’s so cool! It was like a cute little time-capsule of sorts. At that point, Heather instinctively pulled out her phone and studied the number once more, ahead of a big moment. She said, “I gave the number a call, and of course it was disconnected.” Bummer. What else could she do?

Heather’s next move

Well, one thing was for sure: Heather had no intention of giving up. So, the mom took to Facebook and posted a few images of the bottle and its message. She hoped that someone could aid her search, as additional clues were very thin on the ground. Mind you, no one could’ve predicted what transpired next.

Going viral

Yes, Heather’s post blew up on social media after it dropped in December 2015. It earned close to 2,000 likes and around 4,000 shares. On top of that, it also generated more than 400 comments from Facebook users, with some of them doing their part to find the mysterious Chris too.

Helping hands

One person decided to follow Heather’s lead and try the phone number again. Would they have better luck than the Mendocino resident? The user then shared, “I called the number on the paper. It rang three times and then went to static, and then a woman quietly said it was disconnected.”

Yearbooks

Meanwhile, a different user offered up an intriguing suggestion. They wrote, “Has anyone tried looking through yearbooks from the year Chris would have graduated? [I] don’t know how many schools [are] in the area, but it would be worth a try.” That would’ve been quite the paper trail for Heather to follow!

Stepping up the search

Speaking of which, that brings us back to FOX 40. After Heather spoke to the station in January 2016, researchers there decided to get involved as well. This wasn’t just restricted to social media now — it was a proper, news-led hunt. Talk about escalation. But would it do the trick?

Local records

To start with, workers at the station visited the Sacramento Public Library. The hope was that they’d be able to find something in the “public records archives” relating to Chris and the phone number. Yet there weren’t any matches from 1988. It wasn’t all bad news, though, as they went a little further back.

A welcome lead?

Yep, the station’s researchers honed in on 1981. That year, a guy known as Cliff Farnsworth was using the phone number from the note. Finally, a solid lead to work with! Surely this was the breakthrough Heather had been desperate for? Well, whatever positivity it might’ve generated withered away quite quickly.

Dead ends

You see, FOX 40 attempted to reach those with connections to Farnsworth, hoping that would lead to Chris. It didn’t work. Then the researchers decided to call local people who went by the name and would’ve been in the right age range. But none of the Christophers or Christines on the list matched up.

The search continues

Sounds frustrating, right? Then again, it didn’t mean the end of the search. After that disappointment, Heather came forward with a new piece of information. Her aunt worked for the Library of Congress in the nation’s capital and had managed to identify a different individual who had used the phone number in the late-1980s.

Bad news

Okay then, here we go. Heather must’ve believed she was close this time. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit, actually. Once the mom had shared the name with the station’s researchers, they discovered that the man was no longer alive. And none of his relatives knew anything about a message in a bottle.

Never give up

Just like that, Heather was right back to square one. We can only imagine how difficult that would’ve been for her. Where could she even go from here? Despite all that, though, the event organizer still showed no signs of giving up, with the following comments shedding some light on why.

“It would be great to find Chris”

Heather told FOX 40, “I think it would be great to find Chris. And find out where he put the bottle in the water. Well, I hope we find out really good things about how his life went.” Her drive clearly hadn’t been affected, then. Yet the fact remained that the leads didn’t go anywhere, leaving her in a tough spot.

The turning point

Mind you, when all appeared to be lost, a man named John Lewis got involved in the mystery. He was an employee at Intellaegis, which is a “data analysis” business. Anyway, thanks to his connections, John was able to locate another person who had the number in 1988. And the resulting conversation was hugely significant.

“I wrote that note”

To go into more detail on that front, John spoke to Inside Edition in January 2016. He said, “When we called, and I asked [the woman about the message], she immediately said, ‘Oh my God. That was my son, wasn’t it?’ She knew. I texted her the picture, and she said, ‘I wrote that note.’”

Learning more

A positive breakthrough! It’s about time, right? We’re not sure how much more disappointment we could take, let alone Heather. So who was this lady? And what’s the story behind her son’s message? Well, it all became clear when she stepped forward to speak with Inside Edition after John got in touch.

“See what happens”

The woman’s name is Jan Popp, and she scribed the note for Chris when they went out camping one day in 1988. She said, “We thought it would be fun to put a note in a bottle like you see on TV and throw it in the ocean and see what happens.”

Jan’s reaction

We don’t think either of them would’ve believed that it’d take nearly 30 years for someone to find the bottle. After all, Jan could barely contain her shock and surprise when Heather’s search eventually led back to her. She recalled her initial response during her continued chat with Inside Edition.

“It was surreal”

Jan told the program, “It was surreal. It’s just like, ‘This can’t be happening!’ Because you read stories like this in the local newspaper and stuff. But when it was actually your kid, and it was you that was there, it’s pretty cool.” Her enthusiasm in that chat was infectious.

Coming together

So what happened after that interview? Simple really — Jan wanted to meet up with Heather and Ryder at her house in Sacramento. Inside Edition lent a hand in that respect, bringing the two moms together in early January 2016. Plus the program’s camera crew captured the big moment as well.

Full circle

It was incredibly sweet, as Jan shared a hug with both Ryder and Heather. The little guy even handed the bottle back to her, bringing the story full circle. The scene wouldn’t have looked out of place in a heartwarming Hollywood movie. Then again, there was one more twist on the horizon.

Chris’ silence

As you’ve probably noticed, we haven’t heard anything from Jan’s son Chris since the mystery got wrapped up. Why’s that? Unfortunately, the pair weren’t on good terms when the bottle was uncovered. In fact, they’d been estranged for close to two decades by the time Heather and Ryder went to her house.

“I just want to talk to him”

That’s quite a gut-punch, wouldn’t you say? And the pain was still clear on Jan’s face when she touched on the situation with Inside Edition. You might need a few tissues here, folks! The heartbroken mom said, “I just want to see [Chris] again. I just want to talk to him.”

Reaching out

Anyway, taking inspiration from the note that she helped him write all those years ago, Jan decided to scribe another one. Only this time, it was directly addressing Chris. We don’t know what it said exactly, but the Sacramento resident also had a verbal message for her estranged son too.

“Move forward”

Speaking right into Inside Edition’s cameras, Jan told Chris, “The past is the past. I don’t really give a hoot about that anymore. I would just like to move forward and have some type of relationship with you.” It was a powerfully raw moment, to say the least. Would it work, though?

Present for Ryder

Before Jan found out, she continued to spend time with Heather and Ryder during their visit. Chris’ mother even pulled out a present for the latter as a way of saying thanks. How thoughtful of her! He looked absolutely delighted. The program eventually uploaded the clip to YouTube via its channel.

The response

Since then, the emotional video has earned more than 1.1 million views and roughly 16,000 likes. On top of that, it’s garnered over 900 comments as well, with some users sharing their sadness about Jan and Chris’ relationship. One wrote, “Spoiling the boy for finding the bottle… she must really miss her son. She’s such a mom!”

“I teared up”

Meanwhile, a different user wrote, “I teared up during the mother’s message to Chris. You can see the sadness and regret in her eyes. She just wants her son back.” Someone else echoed that response, adding, “I feel for this woman. I’m her son’s age, and I hope they reunite one day.”

A sad update

Speaking of which, that leaves us with the big question. Did Jan and Chris eventually come together again off the back of this story? Well, a couple of months later, Heather provided an update via the comments section of her original Facebook post in March 2016. And it wasn’t good news.

“Didn’t want to be found”

Heather wrote, “Chris didn’t want to be found. He was located but did not respond to being contacted. Unfortunately he hasn’t reunited with his mother, either. I’m still remaining hopeful that he will come around and talk with his family again.” It was a sad end to a truly remarkable tale.