Last Thursday, 13-year-old Addison Logan of Wichita, Kansas, was spending time with his grandmother, Lois, visiting garage sales around town. About a mile away from his grandmother’s house, one item caught his eye. An old Polaroid camera.
How much did it cost? Only a dollar. After all, Polaroid doesn’t make the cameras or their film anymore. It’s obsolete. But even the popular photo-sharing app Instagram has recognized how iconic the look of those instant photos has become. There’s a whole cult of devotees out there nostalgic for the square, washed-out, glossy photos. Addison figured his dollar was money well spent, if he could get the camera working. It was, in his words, “pretty cool.”
When he got home, Addison got on the Internet and looked up how to take a picture with his garage-sale find. He managed to open up the camera. He was surprised to find an exposed photograph still stuck inside. It had been there for Lord knows how long.
Addison took the photo out and studied it. A young man and woman, sitting on a sofa. Addison took it to his grandmother.
Lois held the photo in her hands. “Where did you get this?” she asked her grandson. He told her.
“Addison, this picture is of my son, Scott. Your uncle,” Lois said.
Scott had died in a car accident 23 years before. Lois guessed the picture was taken 10 years or so before his death. Never seen by her, or anyone in the family, until now. The picture was taken with an old girlfriend. The home selling the camera had no connection with Scott, or the girlfriend. The seller said he’d picked it up at another garage sale, but he couldn’t remember when or where.
“I’m just shocked,” Addison’s father and Scott’s brother, Blake, told The Wichita Eagle. “The more time that passes, the more in disbelief I am. So many things have to come together for that to happen. It just seems supernatural. It’s almost like he’s reaching out to us, saying he’s still with us.”
At Guideposts, we’ve heard so many stories of a mysterious photograph providing solace to loved ones. In our June issue, you’ll read a story from Marie Olson of Colton, Oregon, who found comfort at a campsite while greiving the loss of her husband.
And its not just comfort that can be found in a photo—a discovered snapshot can also fulfill a wish, as it did for Kathy Pierce of Houston, Texas, on her trip to Israel.
Has a photograph comforted you in an unexpected way, a snapshot you discovered under strange circumstances? Did a photo reveal something wonderful and previously unknown? Send your photo to us, and your story. We’d love to share it with our readers!
