A woman who finds heirlooms and reunites them with descendants of the family who originally owned them has just shared her latest jaw-dropping discovery.
Chelsey Brown, who has been dubbed the 'real-life Nancy Drew', came across a letter from the 1800s which reveals the attempted murder of a family of 12 on Christmas Day.
The 28-year-old from New York says the letter dates back to 1886 and she couldn't believe her eyes when she read the contents.
Chelsey shared details of the letter in a viral video online, saying: "I cannot believe what I just read. I just read a letter that revealed an attempted murder from 1886.
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"Of course we are going to find the descendants of the attempted murderee, but before we do that let me share a bit of this letter.
"They said, [name redacted] did on the 25th day of December 1886 threaten to kill my wife and that you, meaning the family, would suffer by her act in some way.
"The said complainant is afraid and has good cause to fear that the said [name redacted] will do him or his family serious injury or will burn his house.
"Basically, a woman – for whatever reason – threatened and tried to kill a husband, his wife and his entire family.
"From some research that I did, this couple had 10 children.
"I just messaged an owner of a public family tree on MyHeritage – let’s see if someone responds.
"This is an example of an heirloom that I would return to a family – because it was so long ago and the descendants will probably find it interesting."
Chelsey's post on Instagram racked up thousands of likes and comments, with many sharing their shock over the letter.
One person replied: "Wow this is spooky hun. Well look after yourself."
“Wow you always find such intense stories!!” another user said.
A third wrote: "All I hear in my head is the intro to inspector Gadget. On a serious note this is going to be such a treasure to the descendants of this couple as many of us have had to do our own detective work around our family tree. What a gift."
While someone else added: "This is crazy interesting!!"
A different user dubbed her a "real-life Nancy Drew".
Despite having found lots of interesting items over the years, this letter has particularly stunned Chelsey.
"I sourced this letter from an online vendor – I saw the date and immediately purchased it as I knew it would be interesting," she admitted.
"I was in complete shock when I read it for the first time. It felt like something from a movie. I quickly began to start researching the names and verifying the information in the letter.
"It’s interesting to think about the possible reasons as to why this woman would have wanted to go to such measures to hurt a man and his family.
"Per my research, the woman was married at the time to someone else. It could have been an affair, jealousy, work dispute, etc.
"I am still trying to locate court files from the 1800s so I can get more information.
"I love finding artefacts with exhilarating stories behind them. There’s obviously way more to this story that hasn’t been uncovered yet, and that’s the beauty of this heirloom research.
"It’s all about solving mysteries. It just proves that every family has an incredible story behind their family's ancestry."
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