A Delivery Box from Salem Was Found on the Shores of Wales

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.@bangorstudents find “Salem News Box” whilst taking part in a beach clean https://t.co/aTwhkihhqx via @bostonglobe pic.twitter.com/khK0cqSk0A

— Bangor University (@BangorUni) February 17, 2016

The Salem News is reaching a global audience, apparently.

One of its delivery boxes made a trip across the Atlantic, recently washing up on the shores of Wales. Reports of its discovery surfaced this week after a Tidy Towns officer and students from Bangor University in North Wales found the box while cleaning Aberdesach Beach after a storm on January 31.

Officer Lee Oliver spotted the yellow box that faintly read “Salem Evening News” beside an image of a flying witch. The newspaper’s logo was a giveaway for Oliver.

“I knew it was not from Britain,” Oliver later told the Salem News. “Then I noticed the flying witch. I had heard of the witch hunts of Massachusetts, so I put two and two together…and then I googled it!”

Oliver proceeded to reach out to the newspaper which was founded as the Salem Evening News in 1880. Its name was changed to The Salem News in 1995, meaning the box is at least 20 years old.

An associate professor of geology at Salem State University estimated the box had only been in the water for a few months. He told the Salem News that it could have been picked up and dumped in the ocean with snow from last year’s intense storms.

Oliver saw the discovery of the box as an opportunity for awareness.

“The fact it was linked to a newspaper, I thought it would be a great way to highlight the issue of marine waste and how far it can travel,” Oliver told the Boston Globe.

He decided not to keep the box, saying it “was taken away with the rest of the waste.”

Have you noticed funky happenings lately? Tell me about them: mbilis@bostonmagazine.com, @madelinebilis.