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MARATHON, Fla. (WBTW) — A message in a bottle sent from Myrtle Beach, Florida and dated 1987 was found Monday in Marathon, Florida.

It turns out, the letter wasn’t sent from Myrtle Beach, nor was it written in 1987. There’s not much to the letter, just a note challenging the person who finds it to return it to Zack Williams. 

Christopher Nolan found the message in a bottle in his mother’s canal in Marathon, which is in the Florida Keys. At first, he thought it was litter, so he picked it up. 

“I just noticed there was a piece of paper in it, so I dug it out,” Nolan said. “I figured nobody would’ve just stuffed it. It looked like a note. It took up the whole bottle. It was rolled up in there. I figured just take it out, and it’s this cool little note.”

The note was dated May 16, 1987 and said: 

“Dear person who finds this I want you to try to return it to me my name is Zack Williams and if I’m dead by the time you try to return the just keep it I put it in the ocean at Myrtle Beach SC.”

So, Nolan and his family began trying to find Williams. 

And find him, they have. However, it wasn’t actually Williams who wrote the letter — it was his son Noah. And the letter isn’t actually from 1987.

Williams said his son wanted to write a message, place it in a bottle and send it out to sea. However, Williams didn’t realize the message was placed in a canal while the family was vacationing in the Keys.