1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey, Brainstuff, Loaur 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: and vogelbaumb Here. Losing things is part of being human. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: Your wallet can fall on the floor of a cab. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: Your phone could slip from your pocket as you're walking. 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: You might set your umbrella down on a bench and 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: forget to pick it back up. If you're very lucky, 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: you might be able to track down your misplaced possession. 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: If you're in Paris, retrieving it might just be an adventure. 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: On the city's Rue des Mourrian, you'll find a massive 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: storage facility with a fascinating collection everything that's been lost 11 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: in Paris. The Bureau of Found Objects is a centralized 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: lost and found Things misplaced at airports and museums, on 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: trains and buses, or simply dropped in the street all 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: make their way here to be categorized and stored, waiting 15 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: for their owners to arrive. The office receives more than 16 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: five hundred items every day. The Bureau of Found Objects 17 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: is administered by the Police Prefecture, a part of the 18 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: French Ministry of the Interior. It's a relatively modern operation now, 19 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: but the French have been in the business of reuniting 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: people with their stuff. For centuries during the Middle Ages 21 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: and under the feudal system that ruled the Kingdom of 22 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: France until the Revolution, a lost objects were to be 23 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: brought to the local lord, who would have the local 24 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: church publicly announced the find three sundays in a row. 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: After that, if no one stepped forward to claim the object, 26 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: the lord would keep it. In eighteen oh four, the 27 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: lost and found system was centralized and the police took 28 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: over a found objects were collected in police Commissioner's offices 29 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: and then brought to the prefect of Paris. As Still, 30 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: the service wasn't very well known or widely used until 31 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, when it moved into a new building near 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: the Palace of Justice. It took off, and according to 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: the Prefecture, it received nearly ten thousand objects every year. 34 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty nine, the office moved to its current location, 35 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: a huge basement space at thirty six Rue des Marian. 36 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: It's an ornately wood paneled office with heavy wooden furniture 37 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: in a functional but beautiful early twentieth century brick building 38 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: the visitors say feels like a step back in time. 39 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: The guarded back room houses tall stacks of seemingly endless, 40 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: gray metal shelves filled with items tagged, bagged, or rubber 41 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: banded together with an inventory slip back. In two thousand 42 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: and four, the bureau celebrated its two hundredth birthday. The 43 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: prefecture stops short of calling it the first Lost and 44 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: Found office of its kind, though The New York Times 45 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:46,959 Speaker 1: called it that in two thousand and five. But certainly 46 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,399 Speaker 1: they say it is one of the oldest in the world. 47 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 1: But the goal of the office isn't simply to house Paris' 48 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: misplaced items. Their work is much more proactive. The service 49 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: allows people to register lost items and actively attempts to 50 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: identify owners and return their property safe and sound, partially 51 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: through a now automated service where people can register found 52 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: items as well. In the best case scenario, an object 53 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: might be reunited with its owner the very next day 54 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: after arriving at the bureau. The office now receives over 55 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: one hundred and forty thousand items every year, and its 56 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: employees spend a great deal of time and effort reuniting 57 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: people in their things. Items with a return address of 58 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,839 Speaker 1: like wallets containing IDs and driver's licenses are easy enough 59 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: to mail out a some detective work is done for 60 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: precious things, like a golden flute that had a conservatory's 61 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: stamp inside the case. Other lost items are reclaimed by 62 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: owners who come looking, speak to someone at a window, 63 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: fill out a slip describing the thing they've lost, and 64 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: pay eleven euro in custody fees. Although the physical pickup 65 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: process was curtailed during the pandemic, but the office is 66 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: known as a place of joy and wonder. People sometimes 67 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: are so emotional to be reunited with an object that 68 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: they accidentally leave something else there in the process. About 69 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: one in four items that find their way there are 70 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: reunited with their owner. The others are kept for either 71 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: four months or a year, depending on their perceived value. Sometimes, 72 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: if an item's been turned in by an individual, no 73 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: one has come looking for it, and the office has 74 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: been unable to find its original owner, the classic principle 75 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: of finders keepers applies, although not if the object is 76 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: a computer, smartphone, or something else that would contain the 77 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: owner's personal data like a notebook or by extension, a key. 78 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: Unclaimed items like that are eventually destroyed. The bureau sends 79 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: keys to be melted down for scrap and works with 80 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: recycling services for electronic waste, to avoid those items going 81 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: in with regular trash, and if possible, to wipe the 82 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: data and donate the equipment in Other things after a 83 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: certain period of time are auctioned off to help fund 84 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: this and other government programs. New jewelry, cameras and other 85 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: small valuables are the most often auctioned, but they do 86 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: keep a few things to brighten up the stacks. One 87 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: floored ceiling shelf is bursting with unclaimed stuffed animals, and 88 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: there's a small collection of unclaimed things the particularly interesting, 89 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: historically significant, or just plain weird, displayed in a corner 90 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: of the storage area that functions as a small museum 91 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: of sorts, though it's not open to the public. The 92 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: collection includes multiple human skulls, an old prosthetic leg a 93 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: five foot replica of a Parisian street lamp, a Napoleonic 94 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: era saber, legion of honor medals, a helmet from World 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: War One, a tripod and telescope from Victorian England, shards 96 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: from the World Trade Center, found along with the New 97 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: York City Transit employees orange safety vest after nine eleven, 98 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: A wedding dress rumored to have been left in the 99 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: cab after a lover's quarrel, a crumbling taxidermid lobster, and 100 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 1: a boxed set of two hundred blue monarch butterflies. After 101 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: setting up a database online and upgrading their shipping capabilities, 102 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: the office can now accept online claims and mail out 103 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: found objects. Every day, objects lost in Paris are boxed 104 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: up and sent off back to their homes around the world. 105 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: According to the prefecture, the joy of finding your lost 106 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: object is universal. Today's episode is based on the article 107 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: From human Skulls to Handguns. The Paris Lost and Found 108 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: has Seen it All on Houstuffworks dot com, written by 109 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: Kate Morgan. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership 110 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: with Housetuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klain. 111 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: For four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 112 00:06:53,000 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.