Portland resident Jolynn Winter already had a lot to say about the home she bought 10 years ago.
It was previously owned by celebrated author Chuck Palahniuk, who used to house chickens in the coop he built in the backyard. He had lived in the home since 1997, one year after Fight Club hit shelves, and two years before the David Fincher-directed film adaptation appeared in theaters.
Winter didn’t know that when Palahniuk added a half-bathroom upstairs in 2002, the author decided to leave a time capsule in the wall of the house with a note, a signed copy of Fight Club, some newspaper clippings and photos. The writer even included the plans for his bathroom remodel.
The current resident, who is in the throes of her own remodel 15 years after Palahniuk, said her contractors found an old backgammon box when they tore out the ceiling. She posted photos of the box and the letter the author left her to Facebook Wednesday. Two days later, the box appeared on Portland’s local Fox station, KPTV.
“We’ve been very happy in this house,” Palahniuk’s letter reads. “We hope you’re as happy in this house as we’ve been. We’ve done our best to leave it much nicer than we found it.”
In another post on Facebook, Winter wrote that she and her husband placed Palahniuk’s box with all its contents, including the autographed book, back behind the wall. They followed the author’s lead and added their own time capsule.
“Paying it forward!!! We hope the next family that finds it has as much fun with it as we did,” she wrote.
Home renovations can lead to quite the discoveries. In May, a long lost love letter finally found its way to a World War II veteran after it was found beneath a staircase during a home remodel in Westfield, New Jersey.