Mystery Solved: The University of Chicago Received Mail for Indiana Jones Due to a Bizarre Post Office ErrorS

Through a combination of strange luck and postal incompetence, the University of Chicago's admissions office received a mysterious package addressed to a "Henry Walton Jones, Jr" late last week. At first, they assumed it was sent to the wrong department, and it was placed in separate pile. Some time later, a student-worker realized that Henry Walton Jones, Jr is actually Indiana Jones, who was, as you might remember, a famous, if fictional, University of Chicago alumnus.

When the office opened the package, they discovered a replica of a journal from fictional University of Chicago professor Abner Ravenwood, a character from The Raiders of the Lost Ark. After digging around on the internet, the staff found a similar diary on eBay, although it wasn't an exact match. Here's the department's description from their Tumblr:


There was no actual U.S. Postage on the package, although there were photocopied versions of old stamps. In addition, the package was addressed to the office's exact building and was damaged enough that it appeared as though it'd been shipped from somewhere.

After Lucasfilm contacted the department to assure them the diary wasn't part of an elaborate viral marketing campaign, the department attempted to contact the eBay user but had no luck until yesterday evening.

The eBay user, or "Paul from Guam," had just received a letter from the USPS in Honolulu, alerting him that they'd found the wrapping for a package he'd sent the week before. According to Paul, the diary was on the way to a customer in Italy, of all places, when it somehow fell from its wrapping.

The Postal Service, however, didn't let a little thing like not having valid stamps stop them from delivering the interior package, which, in keeping with the diary's hyperrealistic design, was addressed to Professor Ravenwood's real/fake address at the University of Chicago.

Paul the eBay user offered to make a new journal for his original client, allowing the University to place their copy in the school's Oriental Institute because, as the office's Tumblr notes, "it belongs in a museum."