Man Finds 60-Year-Old McDonald’s in House Walls

One man’s unusual discovery during a house renovation amazed the internet this week after he shared his find online.

Rob—who uses the handle slamminsammy2109—posted the picture on the popular Reddit forum r/mildlyinfurating. He said that he had “found this in my bathroom wall while renovating.”

The picture features four McDonald’s bags, but instead of the famous Golden Arches, the logos feature a mascot holding signs reading “I’m speedier” and “Custom built hamburgers.” Rob found the packaging—including one bag of half-finished fries—inside the wall of his home in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

A Business Insider article from 2016 shared similar pictures of McDonald’s packaging that was dated as being the fast food chain’s design from 1955 to 1961. It wasn’t until 1961 that the famous restaurant transformed its logo into the first version of the well-known Golden Arches.

The company mascot on the throwback packaging pre-dates Ronald McDonald. Speedee, the first McDonald’s mascot, was portrayed by Willard Scott of NBC’s The Today Show. Speedee was replaced by Ronald McDonald in 1967.

Rob told Newsweek: “We are currently renovating our kitchen and bathroom. While removing a fixture in the bathroom I noticed a piece of cloth stuck behind plaster and pulled it out to show my wife. It was balled up and we could tell there was something else inside. When we unwrapped it and found the old McDonald’s bag and fries we were very surprised and grateful that is all we found hidden.”

“You, sir, are officially an archaeologist,” wrote one commenter on the Reddit post. While another Redditor said: “Taking fast food shame eating to a new level. Hide it in the wall.”

“Our house was built in 1959,” explained Rob. “It is very close to a McDonald’s location that opened around then so I assume it found its way into our wall from the original builders.”

In 1955, one of the first McDonald’s restaurant was opened just down the road in Des Plaines, Illinois in a red and white tiled building finished with the famed Golden Arches. A few years later in 1959, the 48th restaurant in the chain was opened in Crystal Lake.

“You gonna finish those?” joked one commenter, while another Reddit user called them: “Forbidden fries.”

Amazed by how well the fries in one bag had been preserved, commenters asked if there was a smell from the wall.

“There was no smell and surprisingly no trace of mice,” said Rob. “It was such an odd find that I thought it was worthy of sharing.”

Other commenters on the picture suggested that the find may be worth something to a collector: “Dude, sell them to pay for the renovation,” wrote one Reddit user. Another commenter said: “Wow, that’s a blast from my past.”