A LETTER FROM THE PAST — It’s not uncommon for mail to get lost or delivered later than expected, but one family is grateful to have recently received a letter that was lost for 80 years.

The letter, addressed to an Illinois couple, Lavena and Louis George, was postmarked June 23, 1943, but never made it to its intended recipients. The letter randomly turned up at a post office in DeKalb, Illinois, on Dec. 18, 2023.

Since re-appearing, the letter and the story behind the letter has gotten attention from news outlets and people across the world.

“A message from the past seemingly showing up out of nowhere, that’s pretty incredible,” Jeannette George, daughter of Lavena and Louis George, told 23 WIFR. “Everybody was Gobsmacked like what is this?”

A DeKalb postal worker who came across the letter went the extra mile and tracked down surviving members of the George family. The worker found an obituary online for Lavena from 2012 and then got in touch with the family by using social media.

The letter was delivered to Grace Salazar, Jeannette’s sister. Grace and Jeannette are the only two surviving children.

As they read the letter, they discovered it was sent from Louis’s first cousin. She was sending her condolences to the couple who’s daughter died from cystic fibrosis.

“It put me in touch with my parents grief and the losses my family went through before I was even born,” Jeannette explained.

The post office employee said the most likely reason why the letter wasn’t delivered in the first place was because it was missing a house number on the envelope.

RELATED | Letter from 1943 resurfaces; daughter says it reconnects her to family

The post You have to see this! Lost letter from 1943 appears at Illinois post office, employee tracks down family appeared first on East Idaho News.

MONSTER WAVE — A video of a “rogue wave” in California that swept people off their feet went viral over the weekend.

Colin Hoag filmed the video Dec. 28 and shared it to his Facebook page where it has over 44,000 views on his Facebook alone. Countless news outlets have shared the heart-stopping footage.

Hoag’s caption said the video was filmed at the seaward wall in Pierpont, which is in Ventura, California.

In the video, waves are seen approaching land as people begin to run away from the water. The explosive waves quickly flood the streets and video shows the water slam into a hotel near the shore.

“Everybody was running for their lives and screaming,” Hoag told Inside Edition. “I’ve seen big waves but I’ve never seen something that looked similar to a tsunami.”

Inside Edition shared more footage of the waves knocking people to the ground, including kids trying to run for cover. Nine people were taken to the hospital, according to KTLA5.

The post You have to see this! Massive ‘rogue wave’ slams into beachgoers appeared first on East Idaho News.

A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION — A Michigan mom had two special reasons to celebrate this month after welcoming a baby girl who then accompanied her across the stage at her college graduation.

Grace Szymchack planned to attend her Dec. 15 commencement at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, three days before she was due, according to ABC News. Plans changed when her daughter Annabelle arrived early.

“The doctor made it sound like she didn’t think I was going to make it to the 18th so we were hoping that she’d come early enough that I could still walk right after graduation,” Szymchack said.

Szymchack delivered Annabelle on Dec. 6, and 10 days later, Szymchack and her newborn baby were at the graduation ceremony.

A video of Szymchack that shows Annabelle tucked inside her mom’s graduation gown has gone viral. Comments on the video shared by Inside Edition praise the mother for her “hard work” while acknowledging the “beautiful moment.”

“It was important for me to walk because I’ve been working on this degree for a long time,” Szymchack said. “And with lots of support from my husband and family, I was determined to actually walk and I wasn’t ready to leave (Annabelle) with anyone yet.”

Szymchack, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, said Annabelle slept the entire time. She hopes her story can inspire other parents, especially moms, who want to receive their college degree.

“I hope it inspires other moms … to go back and finish the degree that they want or to start the degree that they have been hoping for,” she said.

The post You have to see this! Mom walks at college graduation with her 10-day-old baby appeared first on East Idaho News.

AN UNEXPECTED ENDING — Passengers on a hot air balloon were taking a ride in the sky to celebrate a birthday, but they didn’t imagine it coming to an end the way it did.

Arizona homeowner Kara Giugliano recorded the moment the hot air balloon — with a pilot and eight passengers on board — snagged a light pole next to her backyard causing the balloon to deflate.

“It just ripped,” she is heard saying in the video filmed on Dec. 7 in Phoenix.

The footage shows the balloon fall into Giugliano’s backyard and onto a portion of her home.

“I’m right under here. What do I do?” Giugliano said. “Oh my gosh! It’s on top of our house!”

Giugliano ended up running outside to try and help the passengers. She told Inside Edition she often sees hot air balloons passing over her home but never ending up on her property.

“It was overwhelming. It was wild. It was chaotic,” she added.

The pilot for Hot Air Expeditions was getting to the end of his fuel supply, and was planning to land in a vacant lot next to the home when the accident happened.

No injuries were reported.

The post You have to see this! Massive hot air balloon snags light pole, lands on woman’s home appeared first on East Idaho News.

CHRISTMAS SHENANIGANS — An off-duty Indiana officer has made headlines after helping a family find their missing and mischievous ‘Elf on the Shelf.’

The video, recorded by the family’s mom, Beth Baranski, shows Officer Lewis with the Elkhart Police Department standing on the front porch of a home. He’s talking to four boys inside who hadn’t been able to find their elf at home all day.

“We had some fairies and Santa’s helpers drink a little too much eggnog, and they were causing some issues,” the officer told the boys. “We’re trying to get them all home without taking them to jail. This guy says he knows you.”

The boys peak there head out the door but don’t see anyone, except for the patrol car’s flashing lights. The officer asks if they would go out to his vehicle and see if they can identify who’s inside.

All four boys followed the officer outside and when the door opened up, to their surprise, they saw an elf buckled up in the back seat.

“That’s Dumbledore!” one of the boys is heard saying.

The officer tells the boys to wait so he can put on gloves and place the elf in a container before giving him back to the family.

“Hopefully he can be good for you guys because he was not good for us,” Lewis tells the kids. “Try to keep an eye on him. Keep him out of trouble, please.”

The post You have to see this! Officer plays along with family’s ‘Elf on the Shelf’ activities by arresting him appeared first on East Idaho News.

SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER — A country superstar’s holiday version of his No. 1 hit song is featured in a Michigan family’s home Christmas light show, and the fancy light display has gone viral.

The Bostick Family Light Show synced Christmas lights to Walker Hayes’ song ‘Fancy Like Christmas,’ a holiday mix to the same melody as ‘Fancy Like,’ the song Hayes is best known for that reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country and Country Airplay charts.

The incredible display showcases a tree and ornament decorations with lips moving along to the song, pictures projected onto the house, light beams coming from the top of the home and countless decorations in the yard.

Not only have people commented on videos of the family’s show saying “Your displays are the best!” and “Awesome song and sequence,” but Hayes himself praised the Bostick family by leaving fire emojis in the comments of the family’s TikTok video.

The post You have to see this! Family’s Christmas light display goes viral, attracts country superstar’s attention appeared first on East Idaho News.

A HAPPY ENDING — An Illinois cement truck driver is being called an “angel” and a “hero” after saving a stranger’s life.

Jeff Hanus was listening to music while sitting in his truck when he noticed a woman pulled her car off to the side of the highway and in front of his truck. Video footage shared by Inside Edition on Nov. 19, 2023, shows a distressed woman get out of her car and make her way towards Hanus.

“The truck driver saw she had one hand to her throat, then she raised both hands,” the news outlet explained. “She was giving him the international symbol for choking.”

Without hesitation, Hanus quickly jumped out of his truck, got behind the woman and performed the Heimlich maneuver. On the third attempt, the food she was choking on came out.

The truck driver helped the woman back to her car, and that’s when he noticed two toddlers sitting in the back seat.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Hanus said. “I did, in my opinion, what most would have done.”

The Chicago Bulls basketball team gave Hanus and his family courtside seats for his heroic deed.

The post You have to see this! Truck driver saves woman who was choking appeared first on East Idaho News.

OH DEER — A deer gave quite the scare to restaurant diners in Tennessee after the animal crashed through the restaurant’s window.

Security camera footage shared by 6abc Philadelphia on Nov. 16, 2023, shows six people sitting at a table near a window in a Martin, Tennessee, restaurant. Out of nowhere, a deer jumps through the giant window causing broken glass to fall all over the floor and on customers.

“It’s sliding on the glass, it can’t get its footing. It’s frantically trying to get up,” Alicia Owens, who was sitting near the window, told The Tennessean. “I couldn’t comprehend it was actually a deer. We’re in the middle of town, across the street from the University of Tennessee Martin. It’s like, what in the world?”

The viral video shows the unexpected guest then run through the restaurant and behind the bar as customers and servers quickly moved out of the deer’s way. Someone standing near the bar opened a side door and the deer ran out the building.

The Tennessean said the deer’s back hoof caught the shoulder of Ruby Hayes, 13, opening a deep gash that required 11 stitches to close. The girl’s parents took her home after she was treated at the hospital.

Although Hayes was in pain, she smiled and laughed with her family as she left the hospital, according to Owens.

The post You have to see this! Deer crashes through restaurant window, runs through building appeared first on East Idaho News.

LION ON THE LOOSE — A circus lion that escaped over the weekend in an Italian town has made headlines after it was seen walking down a residential street.

The adult male lion, named Kimba, escaped from the Rony Roller circus on Saturday in the seaside town of Ladispoli, near Rome, which is home to around 40,000 people, according to the New York Post. The lion was seen roaming around heavily populated streets for hours and walking around parked cars and in front of the gates of houses.

“The town’s mayor, Alessandro Grando, took to Facebook to warn residents to stay inside while circus staff and law enforcement officers worked to contain and recapture the lion,” the New York Post explained.

With the help of Italy’s state police, local police, the Carabinieri military police force and local volunteers, the lion was eventually sedated and captured by authorities.

Although the New York Post said the lion sent the town into a “state of panic,” the good news is there were no injuries reported during the lion’s stroll.

The post You have to see this! Escaped circus lion roams streets of Italian town appeared first on East Idaho News.

GETTING CREATIVE — Employees at an auto business in Ohio came up with a creative way to detain a man after he broke into one of their cars.

The employees at Arlington Auto Wrecking in Akron were tired of people breaking into their shop and stealing from them, according to 19 News. On Oct. 17, 2023, employees discovered a man had broken into one of their cars and was still inside. Employees claim this was the third time the man had broken in, and they weren’t going to let him get away.

While waiting for police to arrive, workers decided to get the forklift and raise the car with the man inside about 20 feet in the air.

“It was pretty impressive, honestly,” an officer is heard on body cam footage telling other officers after the incident.

Police said the 26-year-old man had a sawzall cutting tool, sawzall blades and several other hand tools.

“Alright man, well here’s the deal, there’s been a serious amount of break-ins and converters cut off (in this lot) and you got a sawzall and you’re in a private area of the business not open to the public,” an officer told the man. “So, what do you got the sawzall for?”

The man’s response: “Uh, copper to be honest brother, not gonna lie.”

The post You have to see this! Man breaks into car at auto business, employees use forklift to raise man in air until police arrive appeared first on East Idaho News.