Lost But Not Forgotten: 40 Misplaced Things That Were Eventually Found

One of the most stressful things in life is losing something valuable. There’s always the tension and frantic searching to find whatever you lost; turning your house upside-down or spending hours retracing your steps from work is exhausting. Unfortunately, not all lost things are found. Perhaps that’s why, when we find something we’d once resigned ourselves to never seeing again, there’s an indescribable elation we feel. Whether it’s money hiding in the dryer lint trap, or a childhood toy hiding in your parent’s attic, there’s nothing that compares to making that discovery. For some, there’s the immediate release of pressure that was bubbling under the surface for days, months, or years, and others are flooded with nostalgia at these discoveries. These moments are so exciting, and people can’t help but share their joy. For some good vibes, check out these 40 “lost” items that the owners happily recovered.

Late to the concert

The British band Duran Duran was a revelation in the 1980s, being part of the musical culture that ushered in the New Romantic scene. They quickly became everyone’s favorite due to their musical and fashion style. Here’s a pretty old ticket lost by someone who bought the tickets before they sold out.

It dates back to when the band was still popular, and it just meant a lot. It stinks that the ticket got lost on the day of the show and was only discovered years later, neatly kept in a book. Is this a sign from the universe to read more?

Justice League to the rescue!

This is every parent’s nightmare: losing your child in a crowded area like a mall. This child got lost at a huge convention, which is way worse than at the mall. It is incredibly difficult for a grownup to find their way around the place, much less a child.

The child had no chance on his own, so he turned to adults that could help — superheroes! The Flash and Wonder Woman cosplayers became heroes at Comic-Con by getting the child to his mother. Let this be another reason why superheroes are so loved.

Don’t forget to floss

Have you ever had to move from one apartment to a new one? It is not uncommon to suddenly realize that some item gets lost during the move. We often feel restless during such events, like this guy who lost his wedding ring. But he found respite soon enough when he found it again.

Thinking about where he found it, you’d realize just how unusual it is. Who else keeps their wedding ring in a bag of floss picks? He probably would have found it easily anyway if he prioritizes his dental hygiene much as we’d like to think.

Where is my favorite tie?

You hate it, don’t you? When you search your wardrobe and cannot find your favorite clothes (underwear, pants, or shirts). The few ones we love the most give us a level of comfort, and we immediately feel immense stress when they go missing. This guy wasn’t having a good day when he lost his favorite tie.

This guy later found it at his librarian wife’s office when he visited. The woman decided to dress up the Harry Potter display instead of making her husband wear it around his neck. We admire her apparent love for her job, by the way.

A productive fishing trip

We think a successful fishing trip would involve you taking a lot of fish home in the cooler. A family had become familiar with some of the best fishing spots around this lake. But guess what they found on this fateful day? They found a wallet their father lost about 20 years ago!

And it looks as good as new! Maybe it is not as fresh as it was before it got lost. It appears soggy, and the leather might have deteriorated. But maybe the credit cards he had stacked up then can now be reactivated.

Video game treasure trove

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to those lazy Saturday mornings when we would lie back and play Game Boy. Those were good times, when we had no responsibilities or expectations other than our goal of beating the next level.

This person was quite happy to have found some of their old games in their parents’ attic. Do you think that they spent the next few days playing nonstop? This discovery was truly a treasure trove. If this person has kids, it will make a great “heirloom.”

Paid for the same book twice

This lady lost her favorite book two decades ago, and well, you know how that can feel if you love reading books. She forgot about it and continued to enjoy other books. Years later, she decided to get a replacement copy of her old favorite book.

When the delivery came, she was surprised to find the spitting image of her lost book. The young woman later found out that the book wasn’t just a copy; it was actually the one she had lost. Call it luck or fate, the bookstore preserved it in great condition.

Lost and found payday

Every worker has a day they relish the most in their 9-to-5 job; that is the day they get paid for their month-long hustle. It could also be the worst day ever for you to lose money. That is getting this person panicking like crazy after losing money at the office.

The money remained out of sight until they checked underneath the keyboard. It was quite the relief. That doesn’t seem too farfetched; if someone had indeed lost the money clip on the desk, it made sense to check the desk thoroughly before panic fully sets in.

Did you check under the hood?

People lose stuff all the time, sometimes in unexpected places. Leaving your phone in the fridge, or distractedly tossing clean clothes in the dirty hamper are rare, but possible. And, of course, there are countless places you can leave your glasses.

This mechanic must have been out of sorts, thinking that his glasses had gotten lost while working. He searched frantically on the floor but couldn’t find it. He looked up and found that the lenses were stuck under the car. It needs cleaning, though, not a replacement.

A present from his 9-year-old self

This is one lucky guy! He rediscovered a wallet lost since fourth grade in his childhood bedroom. In grade school, we don’t think much of our savings, so upon finding the wallet, he expected $20 at most. The lost wallet has aged over the years, but it still had about $300 cash inside it!

We think he should clean his room more often. Who knows? He could have lost something more valuable. So far, we have realized that all you need is an extra look, even in the heat of the moment, to find something missing. He might regret not searching harder in fourth grade, but it’s still useful now.

Rechargeable Television Remote?

People tend to forget things more easily as they age. Just think of how often your grandparents misplaced things. If you find that things are often out of place, cut them some slack. Still, we can just imagine the shock on this guy’s face when he sat in his grandfather’s living room and wanted to change the channel.

Looking for the television remote, he found a phone, and when he when to put it in the charger, he found it occupied. It’s an honest mistake, really. And just look at how well the remote fits in the phone base. Anyone can make that kind of mix-up, you will agree?

Saved for later

Makeup items can be quite expensive, which is why you’ll see both men and women using every last drop of the product. And quality items are treated as prized possessions. Think about a good pair of fake eyelashes; you really don’t want to lose them.

This woman panicked when she thought she had lost her pair of fake lashes. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find it. Several months later, she opened a book to find them neatly taped inside for her future self to find.

Gardening gone wrong.

A young woman’s mother lost her wedding ring in the ’90s while doing a little work in the garden. After spending some time searching, they gave up hope and moved on with their lives. Many years later, the mom worked in the garden once again.

With all that searching, they probably accidentally covered up the ring even further. All was lost until this heroic carrot chose to grow right where the ring was buried. It turns out that vegetables aren’t just good for our bodies, they help our souls, too.

Happy belated birthday!

It sounds cliche, but giving gifts can be a joy. Sure, we all like being on the receiving end, but there’s a special feeling that comes with finding the perfect gift for a loved one. Sadly, this person’s parents lost their son’s birthday present before his special day.

The parents later found the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy they meant to give him over 30 years later. Chances are, he’s not as obsessed with TMNT as he once was, but it’s better late than never, right? After all, it’s the thought that counts.

Blast from the past

Just how lucky is this person? We all hope to find some lost precious item when washing clothes and even cars. While cleaning out the car’s interior, guess what dropped from the vanity mirrors? A piece of paper that turned out to be a ticket stub.

Apparently, this person bought their first-ever ticket to a Tool concert in 2006 but lost it sometime after. Fortunately, they lost it after the concert and didn’t miss out on anything. But finding it hiding in their car must have been a pleasant surprise.

Clean up your toys

When our parents kept asking us to clean up our toys, we just thought they were being strict and overbearing. But, it turns out, it wasn’t just for their sake. It’s good for everybody when things are organized and kept in the right place.

When kids don’t take care of their toys, there’s a chance they’ll get lost. This person shared that they had misplaced a toy while at their grandparent’s house. Despite hours of searching, it seemed like a lost cause. But years later, they found a tree had taken to playing with the toy.

Wrong car…

This picture has a funny backstory. A father was in haste to get to work but suddenly realized he didn’t have his keys. He asked his wife, and she had no idea where the car keys were. When they asked the kids, his son claimed to have borrowed them.

It seemed unlikely that his two-year-old son would need the car keys. But that turned out to be true when they found the car keys safely lodged in the ignition system of his son’s plastic riding car. That’s one smart kid. The parents have to keep an eye on him as he grows up.

Hours of entertainment

Collecting classic items relating to pop culture while you were young was pretty cool, and many of us did that. Old Nintendo games, CDs, and even posters of our favorite celebs. They were all pretty interesting items to us while they were trending.

Age often steals the vibe from these things, and we tend to lose most of our collections. This person was stoked to find their old collection of rap tapes. This pile of treasures contains some of the best rap tracks of that era. What a cultural goldmine!

Watch your step

A few months before this picture was taken, this person’s family went on vacation. During that time, their mom lost one of her earrings. The family searched everywhere but found nothing. Fast forward a few months, when this photo was taken…

The mother glanced under her shoes and found the lost earring safely tucked into the grooves. We know earrings can’t speak because, if they could, she would have heard “that hurts!” every time she took a step. Best of all, it doesn’t seem all that damaged.

Where’s book 6?

This family is fun and competitive, not in soccer or any Olympic sport but in reading books. There’s always one competition or the other to see who reads the most books. They don’t argue about sports or celebs, but they’re always bickering about the next book release or the latest reading.

This reader has been hunting for days for the sixth book in a series. And it was quite surprising after all, the family had procured the book, and it was somewhere in the house. That’s right! The book is on the shelf, carefully disguised as the ninth book in the series.

Fireproof

Without a doubt, one of the best consoles produced in the early video game era is the Nintendo 64. People would often indulge in countless sleepovers, gaming parties, and late weekend nights, enjoying hours of fun playing the games with friends.

This person was pretty excited to find their old Nintendo 64 console, which they thought had been lost in a house fire. Instead, it had been in storage for years, and the games were still intact. It would be hard to resist the urge to plug in the console and start playing the games instantly.

Gone fishing?

If you go out fishing, it’s vital to remember to keep everything on the boat at all times. This includes stowing your personal items, so that they don’t fall out of the boat and float away. The owner of this wallet lost it in a lake, presumably for good.

Twenty years later, a fisherman was out on that same lake and got an interesting catch. The outside seems pretty destroyed, but clearly, there was some identification still intact that allowed the fisherman to reunite this person with their lost wallet.

Class ring found three decades later

This woman dropped her class ring on a boat trip in Virginia, and she had given up on ever finding it. Many years later, now living in Tennessee, a call came through with the great news that the ring had been found.

It must have been devastating when she lost the ring. It remained missing for 34 years, though we’d never have guessed that looking at the ring. It needs a polish, and you’d never be able to tell that it was lost for three decades.

Hidden in the weeds

You will always have to worry about weeds, no matter how good your lawn is. Any good lawn owner knows that weeds are the bane of a perfectly kept yard. You don’t want ugly crabgrass cutting and drawing water and nutrients away from your fresh grasses.

Hence, the reason why weeding is so important. In addition to keeping the lawn, you never truly know what you will find. This guy pulled up a weed and found one of his dog’s old tennis balls that had been lost for months.

Piano or toy chest?

When we were young, we all had special hiding spots in corners of our homes that acted like treasure troves where we kept stuff we didn’t want our parents to see. We’d hide our toys where they couldn’t be picked up by our parents when playtime was over.

This person found a surprise waiting inside their piano. Perhaps they were giving it a tune-up, but instead of dusty strings, they found a time capsule from childhood. If this person’s parents were around, there must have been a lot of questions as to why the toys were there in the first place.

Missing socks finally found!

Eh, washing machines! Heroes on some days, cruel villains on other days. Not all function at the same level, but some washing machines might steal more socks than others can manage to do. Apparently, the washing machine loves to eat socks and has been doing that for years.

After a long time, the owner finally thought to pull back on the rubber to discover the sock trap that had swallowed years’ worth of lonely socks. Look at them, all bright and sparkling after years of continuous washing up. They’d be the cleanest clothes ever.

Perfect timing

We all dream of a great vacation, but this guy had it start out quite awfully when he lost his wedding ring in the ocean. But not all hope was lost when this woman came along to save the day.

She used her metal detector to help the man find his lost wedding ring. It had been four hours since he’d last seen it, but with the help of a metal detector, it didn’t stay lost for long. The man was so grateful he even paid her for her services.

G.I. No

G.I. Joe used to be a really popular toy back in the day, at least for the boys. Women often stick with the Barbies and toy figures of their favorite Disney princesses. Action figures were the thing to mess around with at the time, and they often were subject to cruel treatments.

Some get wounded beyond repair or get lost or forgotten. This G.I. Joe figure went through all three ordeals, destroyed, forgotten, and stuck where it is. This doesn’t seem like a good way to lose a toy. No kid will play with that while it is embedded into the tree.

Temperature resistant

One of the most dreaded moments with your smartphone is when it slips out of your hands and falls in slow motion towards the floor. You wonder if it’ll land harmlessly, or crack, or worse, bounce away into some place where you may not find it.

This guy was both lucky and unlucky. He dropped his phone in the dead of winter — very unlucky. One month later, he found it frozen in his driveway. Amazingly, after some careful thawing, the phone still worked — insanely lucky!            

Tie a ribbon around the tree next time

After spending hours ice skating in a pond on a morning, smelly feet are inevitable, which can be quite gross. Parents will never let you in the house with the smelly skates. Hanging them outside by a tree near the pond to return for them the next day is the perfect solution.

But what if you can’t remember which tree you used as a skate rack? Worse still, what happens when you forget that you left them at all? This person shared a pair of skates left by their grandfather, placed there when he was a kid!

Get a kick out of this old ball

It was always a great treat to get autographs from our favorite athletes as a kid. Those autographs have no significant use in our day-to-day life except your trade them as some form of memorabilia. Hence, most of them just gather dust on one side while being forgotten.

This guy once had an autographed 1992 Liverpool football club ball which he misplaced, and forgotten it had existed in the first place. He found it years later, and he was completely overjoyed. If nothing else, a 30-year-old signed autographed ball could fetch him a couple of pretty pennies.

The case of the missing roommate

We’ve had missing items and objects but not a missing grownup. People sleep in totally weird and downright uncomfortable places. This one takes the cake as the worst possible hiding spot. How did she even fit in there? Does she think she’s a cat?

Was the bed not big enough? If she was small enough to curl up on a shelf, surely the small dorm bed would be big enough. There are several questions on our minds about this scene that we will never receive answers to. At least she looks pretty comfortable.

Soggy suitcase found six years later

A young couple went on a vacation to a lake house for the weekend, but they weren’t expecting to return home without some of their belongings. The young woman who once owned this suitcase was devastated to lose a suitcase full of personal items.

Six years later, the young man’s mother recovered a heavily waterlogged suitcase from the river. Just one look and she knew it was the same suitcase that went missing all those years ago. The luggage is a perfect time capsule of a long-lost summer day.

One ring…

Couples attach a lot of sentimental value to wedding rings. And rightly so because they symbolize the strong bond between two partners that is the basis of an investment of a lifetime. They do not take it lightly when the rings get lost.

It is a great relief to see people rediscover their wedding rings even after losing them. Let us not even mention where they tend to find them. This father lost his wedding ring, but found it fifteen years later while planting some bamboo!

Hidden iPod “shelf”

With Spotify and other music players, we’re not as dependent on iPods for our music anymore. But before such services were available, mp3 players were a must for every music lover. Losing your music player, much less an expensive Apple product, can be beyond stressful.

Her family joined up to help her find it but to no avail. She was distraught but would rejoice when the iPod popped up again a year later. Imagine that it had been sitting on a shelf beneath the kitchen table the whole time!

Tears like purple rain

E-tickets are convenient, but there’s a certain charm that came with printed tickets. You had to hold on to them for dear life, because without the physical printout, there was no hope of getting into a movie, concert or play. The only upside was the custom collage you could make with all of your tickets.

This person didn’t have much luck as he lost his ticket to go see Prince back in 1986, and he missed the entire show since he couldn’t get another ticket. Years later, he randomly discovered it tucked safely into a book. It’s not much of a consolation prize, though.

Childhood memories are perfect presents for adults

Thanksgiving is known more for turkey, feasts, and the Macy’s parade than it is for gift-giving. But there are still a few exceptions where people shower their loved ones with exceptional gifts. This family probably had the best Thanksgiving when this mother located some of her kid’s favorite old mugs and gave them as gifts.

Who wouldn’t love to drink a good cup of coffee from a ceramic dinosaur? It sounds awkward, yet it made for a pretty cool design on the cup. And even though it causes clutter in the house, such an item is worth keeping.

Old toy, new lawn ornament

Just like humans, our pets have their favorite toys. It’s extra cute when a cat or dog has a favored toy that they take everywhere they go. And like toddlers, they can be quite annoying and throw temper tantrums when they lose it, causing trouble for their owners.

This person’s dog passed away, and he was looking for the doggo’s favorite toy. Two years later, he found it had grown into a lovely lawn ornament. Our pets never leave us, and it’s always heartwarming to find reminders of their love.

Spider-Wallet

This has happened to us before. Somehow, you get in the car, leave an item, a piece of trash, a bottle or can, or your phone on the roof, and then drive off. Depending on your luck, the item left on the car’s roof stays, or it goes flying, and you never see them again!

This guy got lucky with his wallet because as he drove off, the wallet slid down to the car door panel. He got lucky that the magnet held it in place and he was able to find it quickly, too. Anyone could have walked by and conveniently stolen away the wallet hanging freely.

Did you check under the seat?

Everyone loves free things, especially when it is free money. If you have a car you are looking to sell, be sure that you check under the carpets before you put it up for sale. You never know; a few coins might have found their way underneath the seats as the years go by.

These people didn’t just find some spare change; they got enough to pay for a full course meal! You will be surprised at how much all these coins could amount to if you keep saving them in a bucket by the door. Who knows? You might have your own mini savings plan in place.