"Garfield" phones have littered France's coast for 30 years; mystery solved

[Jim K Global Moderator]

A little lighthearted news story...

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For more than 30 years bright orange "Garfield" phones have been washing up on the French coast to the bemusement of local beach cleaners, who have finally cracked the mystery behind them.

 

Locals had long suspected a lost shipping container was to blame for the novelty landline phones, modelled on the prickly feline cartoon character, that have plagued the northern Finistere beaches for decades.

 

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But it wasn't until a local resident revealed that he had discovered the container after a storm in the 1980s that they were finally able to locate it -- wedged in a partially submerged cave only accessible at low tide.

 

"He told us where it was... it was very, very dangerous," Simonin told AFP after an expedition to track it down.

"We found this incredible fissure that is 100 feet deep and at the very bottom, there were the remains of a container."

 

"Under the boulders in front of the entrance, we found 23 complete handsets with electronics and wires. They were everywhere," she added.

 

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