During a special tour of Edinburgh’s King’s theatre, a theatre enthusiast named Mike Hume was surprised to discover a 119-year-old message in a bottle.
He made the discovery when he was 40 feet above the stage, reaching into a gap behind a crown-shaped decoration.
Mike, who had contributed to the theatre’s restoration was on a tour of the £40million restoration project when he made the surprising discovery.
He expressed, “It really was like a scene out of Indiana Jones. It was a bit damp and there was all this crumbly plaster and stuff in there - then my hand stumbled on this solid object and I pulled out this glass bottle."
Although the top of the bottle was sealed with plaster, Mike could still sea a not inside.
Using his phone, he took a photo of the folded note and managed to barely make out of the name “W S Cruikshank,” who was the contractor responsible for building the Edwardian theatre.
Since the theatre staff couldn’t open the bottle themselves, they sent it to specialists who carefully cut off the bottom to access the note.
The note inside the bottle had stuck together over time, so experts used special methods and chemicals to carefully separate it.
After a lot of careful work, experts were able to remove the note from inside the bottle.
The note contained a list of people who helped build theatre in 1906 .
The King’s Theatre was originally built in 1905 for £50,000. As part of the renovation, two lifts are being installed and staircases are being widened.
The auditorium is also being improved with the restoration of the back wall, a new control room and an upgraded lightning system in the gantry and a new ventilation system.
