Grab hold of your thinking fedoras, everyone -- it's mystery solving time.
The University of Chicago received a bizarre package on Tuesday (pictured above) addressed to a " Henry Walton Jones, Jr ." At first, nobody thought twice about it. Whatever , they figured, we get the wrong mail all the time .
[More from Mashable : WTF? Referee Tries to Swat Kris Humphries Free Throw ]
But then it clicked. This wasn't just any "Jones" the sender was hoping to reach. This was the whip-snapping, Nazi-fighting, Holy Grail-hunting legend of a professor himself: the Indiana Jones .
SEE ALSO: Epic 'Indiana Jones' Cover Will Knock Your Fedora Off
[More from Mashable: 10 Videos to Help You Survive the Apocalypse ]
"It's finals week around here and everyone's in a bit of a haze," said Grace Chapin, a senior admissions counselor at the university. "Once we realized it was addressed to Indiana Jones we opened it up immediately -- and it got a lot weirder."
Inside was an elaborately detailed replica of a journal entry from Abner Ravenwood , a University of Chicago professor that Jones studied under in the films. The journal was well-replicated, Chopin said, with pictures, maps and information about the Ark of the Covenant from the Raiders of the Lost Ark film.
According to the University's Tumblr page :
The book itself is a bit dusty, and the cover is teal fabric with a red velvet spine, with weathered inserts and many postcards/pictures of Marion Ravenwood (and some cool old replica money) included. It s clear that it is mostly, but not completely handmade, as although the included paper is weathered all of the handwriting and calligraphy lacks the telltale pressure marks of actual handwriting
The university set up a special email account -- indianajonesjournal@uchicago.edu -- for anyone to write to with information about the package. So far, they've received more than 40 emails.
"Some think it was a promotional stunt; others think it might be the beginning of a vast alternate reality game," Chopin said. "Really, we don't have a clue."
In the films, Jones was a student and professor at the University of Chicago. Chopin said the university's current admissions office, where the package was received, used to house the geography and geology departments -- Jones' area of study.
As of this writing, the Ark-sized mystery remains unsolved. What do you think? Publicity stunt? Finals week prank? Or awesome, fiction-turns-into-reality phenomenon?
Image courtesy University of Chicago
This story originally published on Mashable here .
Blog List
-
Kaley Cuoco Shows Off Fit Physique In Skin-Revealing Yoga Outfit - By Suzy Byrne Kaley Cuoco leaving yoga class in L.A. on Monday. (X17online.com)Kaley Cuoco gave new meaning to hot yoga on Monday when she emerged from cla...11 years ago
Pageviews
Popular Posts
-
Rufus, a Sussex spaniel, at Westminster (Holly Bailey/Yahoo News) One in a series on show dogs and their owners. NEW YORK Mary Jo Marsh reme...
-
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) The grief will not end. Yet the healing must begin. So as the shock of Newtown's horrific school shooting starts to ...
-
Windows 8 Windows 8 tablets that were set to be equipped with a new, energy-efficient chip from Intel ( INTC ) are reportedly...
-
Mashable's Anita Li contributed to this report from Toronto. Research in Motion , maker of the once-treasured but now beleaguered BlackB...
-
1. Dog Playing Keyboard Piano What this dog lacks in finesse, it makes up for in enthusiasm. Click here to view this gallery. [More from Ma...
-
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Imprisoned serial child sex offender Jerry Sandusky lives under tight restrictions for his own safety, a correcti...
-
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Frustrated by their inability to wring more "fiscal cliff" concessions out of President Barack Obama , ...
-
(Reuters) - Apple Inc shares fell 3.9 percent on Friday after the iPhone 5 debuted in China to a cool reception and two analysts cut shipmen...
-
New research points to a link between video games and happiness for senior citizens The question: Plenty of studies have suggested that vide...
-
BlackBerry 10 Technical Preview Program Release Date Research In Motion ( RIMM ) announced on Monday 120 select customers ...