Woman Discovers Piece of History in Suitcase

EAST CLEVELAND – Rose Spencer was just cleaning out her house, but she believes she’s discovered an important piece of American history.

Spencer, 62, recently asked her grandson to dig through the suitcase she bought for $1 at a thrift store in the late 1960’s. She planned to throw it away.

“So the minute he opened it up, there was a few clothes in there, cause I only used it that one time,” Spencer said. “When he went to close it back up, the cover flew open and this is what I found, a treasure map, dated from 1898.”

The map appears to be aged, and Spencer believes it documented a ship’s journey around North and South America. Now, she plans to find an expert to authenticate the document.

‘We were totally shocked by how mint condition it was and how it had been here all these years…a piece of history,” Spencer said. “I never really opened that part of it up until I asked him to take the clothes and it just flew open by itself. I’m truly glad we did.”