Ring Lost Nearly Two Decades Ago Resurfaces on Carrot

This is just one of those perfectly serendipidious stories you love to hear about. In 1995, a Swedish woman named Lena Påhlsson set her custom-made white gold wedding ring aside as she did the traditional Christmas baking. Amidst the hustle and bustle the tiny treasure vanished, and after years of searching she and her husband Ola accepted that the ring was likely lost forever. That is until this year, when Lena found a surprise in her vegetable garden.

While harvesting carrots at the couple’s home, Lena was shocked to find her long-lost ring encircling a small orange taproot. The experience apparently was so shocking that she let out a scream that startled her daughter. Ola told The Local:

“Our daughter Anna was at home at the time and she heard an almighty scream from the garden[.]”

The remarkable find caps off years of searching, which involved checking underneath the kitchen floorboards during a period of renovation. The going hypothesis is that the ring somehow got mixed in with the compost, and was eventually spread over the garden plot. However, Ola believes that the couple’s sheep might have eaten the ring along with some table scraps. After working its way through the wooly beasts, he believes that the ring-laden manure was spread over the garden as fertilizer.

Though the Påhlsson family has been gardening for years, there had been no sign of the ring. However, this was apparently the first year the family cultivated carrots by simply throwing the seed at random across the garden, instead of in neat rows. Seriously, the layers of chance are getting ridiculous in this story.

Regardless of the astronomical odd against such an occurance, congratulations to the Påhlssons on their incredible discovery. Though the couple is no doubt happy to have their ring back, it will be some time before Lena wears it again. Apparently the intervening 17 years has caused Lena’s fingers to widen somewhat, but it’s nothing a quick resizing from a jeweler can’t fix.

Now let’s just hope that this ring isn’t an evil sentient being that is hoping to be found and refuses to be lost. That would be just tragic, wouldn’t it precious?

(story and image via The Local, via Daily What)

Relevant to your interests

• Someone else found a long lost ring and it didn’t turn out so well
• You can turn carrots into bacon. Just sayin’.
• Carrots don’t you mean WAFFLES? Oh, wait.