Cold case
Couple finds 60-year-old McDonald’s fries behind bathroom wall – and they’re still crispy
They don’t look that fresh, the fries from the 50s. These come fresh out of the fryer.
© Jakub Porzycki / Picture Alliance
They thought they found a body in her house wrapped in a towel. But instead of bones, they revealed a half-eaten menu from McDonald’s. A relic from the middle of the last century.
The shock ran deep when a US couple from Illinois discovered a package wrapped in a towel during renovation work in mid-April. They immediately thought they were at a crime scene and suspected they had found a corpse in their house. “We were both like, ‘Oh my god, we’re going to expose a mysterious case,'” Grace Jones told NBC News. She shielded her children in case they discovered dried blood on the find. But as it turned out, what they unwrapped from the towel had nothing to do with a crime.
They say old houses tell stories. If that’s true, then Grace and Rob Jones’ house tells a tale of old fries. French fries that have survived for decades behind the bathroom wall without going to waste. They probably come from the early days of a US fast food giant. The couple had pulled the remains of an ancient McDonald’s menu out of the towel: two burger boxes and a half-eaten bag of fries. They were relieved. “No old detective story, just old fries,” commented Grace Jones.
Well hung fries for sale
How old the fries are can only be guessed at. But the packaging gives a hint. Because on this one you can still see the old mascot “Speedee”, which was replaced by Ronald McDonald in 1963. Accordingly, the menu probably comes from the late 50s to early 60s. This is also supported by the fact that one of the first McDonald’s shops opened its doors not far from the house in 1959. The Joneses’ house was also built in the same year. “We just assume whoever built the house probably went there for lunch and it fell in there or it was done on purpose,” Rob Jones said on The Today Show.
The ravages of time did not gnaw at the potato sticks. Although these are around 60 years old, they look unappetizing, but are still crispy brown and have a surprisingly stable consistency. “We saw the fries and we were like, ‘This is amazing. How on earth are these fries still in that bag and how are they in such good condition? It was crazy,'” said Grace Jones. The couple would now like to turn the leftover food into cash and sell the menu, which is getting on in years. What if nobody wants it? “We’d probably keep it as a cool piece of history,” said Grace Jones.
