Amy Benson of Marquette is seen with the bottle she put a message in as a child. The bottle, which washed up thousands of miles away, was recently returned to her by the finder. (Photo courtesy of Amy Benson)

MARQUETTE — More than 20 years ago, a young girl in the Upper Peninsula tossed a message in a bottle into AuTrain Bay on Lake Superior, never expecting to see it again. Today, that bottle — which traveled over 1,000 miles and washed ashore in the Outer Banks of North Carolina some years ago — has finally been returned to its sender, now grown up and living in Marquette.

“I remember writing the note and throwing the bottle into Lake Superior as a child,” said Amy Benson (then Amy Kuivanen). “To be reunited with it after all these years feels like a little miracle.”

The bottle’s journey is as remarkable as it is mysterious. After floating for years, it washed ashore on the Atlantic coast, where a young woman named Aimee discovered it in the early 2000s. She kept it through many moves, displayed in her window as a keepsake. Recently, she decided it was time to send the bottle back to its original owner.

Adding to the mystery, Amy recalls receiving a phone call about 20 years ago from someone who had found the bottle in the Outer Banks. “They told me it had likely been floating for 5-7 years before washing up,” she said. “But after that call, I never heard from them again. To have the bottle actually make its way back to me now is surreal.”

“This story is bigger than just a bottle,” Amy added. “It’s about how small the world really is, and how something as simple as a childhood message can come full circle decades later.”