A woman dubbed the “real life Nancy Drew” has revealed her latest shocking find – a letter from the 1800s detailing an attempted murder of a family of 12 people on Christmas Day.
Chelsey Brown, 28, from New York, finds diaries, letters, and family heirlooms and reunites them with the descendants of those behind them.
One such find was a letter dating back to 1886 – which revealed a shocking plot.
In a video, Chelsey says: “I cannot believe what I just read. I just read a letter that revealed an attempted murder from 1886.
“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 shared the shocking find on Instagram with her 93,000 followers, with the post racking up more than 3,600 likes.
One person commented: “Wow this is spooky hun. Well look after yourself.”
“Wow you always find such intense stories!!” another user said.
Someone else said: “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 couples as many of us have had to do our own detective work around our family tree. What a gift.”
Another follower added: “This is crazy interesting!!”
“Many people would actually really like to find something like this about their ancestors,” said someone else.
Another fan dubbed her a “real life Nancy Drew”.
Despite finding various items over the years, Chelsey said the letter left her stunned.
“I sourced this letter from an online vendor – I saw the date and immediately purchased it as I knew it would be interesting,” she told Jam Press.
“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, jealously, work dispute, etc.
“I am still trying to locate court files from the 1800s so I can get more information.
“I love finding artifacts 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.”
