WEBVTT - What Can Be Found at the Paris Bureau of Found Objects?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey, Brainstuff, Loaur

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<v Speaker 1>and vogelbaumb Here. Losing things is part of being human.

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<v Speaker 1>Your wallet can fall on the floor of a cab.

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<v Speaker 1>Your phone could slip from your pocket as you're walking.

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<v Speaker 1>You might set your umbrella down on a bench and

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<v Speaker 1>forget to pick it back up. If you're very lucky,

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<v Speaker 1>you might be able to track down your misplaced possession.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're in Paris, retrieving it might just be an adventure.

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<v Speaker 1>On the city's Rue des Mourrian, you'll find a massive

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<v Speaker 1>storage facility with a fascinating collection everything that's been lost

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<v Speaker 1>in Paris. The Bureau of Found Objects is a centralized

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<v Speaker 1>lost and found Things misplaced at airports and museums, on

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<v Speaker 1>trains and buses, or simply dropped in the street all

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<v Speaker 1>make their way here to be categorized and stored, waiting

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<v Speaker 1>for their owners to arrive. The office receives more than

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred items every day. The Bureau of Found Objects

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<v Speaker 1>is administered by the Police Prefecture, a part of the

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<v Speaker 1>French Ministry of the Interior. It's a relatively modern operation now,

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<v Speaker 1>but the French have been in the business of reuniting

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<v Speaker 1>people with their stuff. For centuries during the Middle Ages

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<v Speaker 1>and under the feudal system that ruled the Kingdom of

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<v Speaker 1>France until the Revolution, a lost objects were to be

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<v Speaker 1>brought to the local lord, who would have the local

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<v Speaker 1>church publicly announced the find three sundays in a row.

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<v Speaker 1>After that, if no one stepped forward to claim the object,

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<v Speaker 1>the lord would keep it. In eighteen oh four, the

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<v Speaker 1>lost and found system was centralized and the police took

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<v Speaker 1>over a found objects were collected in police Commissioner's offices

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<v Speaker 1>and then brought to the prefect of Paris. As Still,

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<v Speaker 1>the service wasn't very well known or widely used until

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen fifty, when it moved into a new building near

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<v Speaker 1>the Palace of Justice. It took off, and according to

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<v Speaker 1>the Prefecture, it received nearly ten thousand objects every year.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen thirty nine, the office moved to its current location,

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<v Speaker 1>a huge basement space at thirty six Rue des Marian.

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<v Speaker 1>It's an ornately wood paneled office with heavy wooden furniture

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<v Speaker 1>in a functional but beautiful early twentieth century brick building

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<v Speaker 1>the visitors say feels like a step back in time.

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<v Speaker 1>The guarded back room houses tall stacks of seemingly endless,

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<v Speaker 1>gray metal shelves filled with items tagged, bagged, or rubber

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<v Speaker 1>banded together with an inventory slip back. In two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and four, the bureau celebrated its two hundredth birthday. The

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<v Speaker 1>prefecture stops short of calling it the first Lost and

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<v Speaker 1>Found office of its kind, though The New York Times

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<v Speaker 1>called it that in two thousand and five. But certainly

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<v Speaker 1>they say it is one of the oldest in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>But the goal of the office isn't simply to house Paris'

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<v Speaker 1>misplaced items. Their work is much more proactive. The service

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<v Speaker 1>allows people to register lost items and actively attempts to

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<v Speaker 1>identify owners and return their property safe and sound, partially

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<v Speaker 1>through a now automated service where people can register found

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<v Speaker 1>items as well. In the best case scenario, an object

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<v Speaker 1>might be reunited with its owner the very next day

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<v Speaker 1>after arriving at the bureau. The office now receives over

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and forty thousand items every year, and its

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<v Speaker 1>employees spend a great deal of time and effort reuniting

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<v Speaker 1>people in their things. Items with a return address of

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<v Speaker 1>like wallets containing IDs and driver's licenses are easy enough

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<v Speaker 1>to mail out a some detective work is done for

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<v Speaker 1>precious things, like a golden flute that had a conservatory's

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<v Speaker 1>stamp inside the case. Other lost items are reclaimed by

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<v Speaker 1>owners who come looking, speak to someone at a window,

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<v Speaker 1>fill out a slip describing the thing they've lost, and

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<v Speaker 1>pay eleven euro in custody fees. Although the physical pickup

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<v Speaker 1>process was curtailed during the pandemic, but the office is

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<v Speaker 1>known as a place of joy and wonder. People sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>are so emotional to be reunited with an object that

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<v Speaker 1>they accidentally leave something else there in the process. About

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<v Speaker 1>one in four items that find their way there are

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<v Speaker 1>reunited with their owner. The others are kept for either

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<v Speaker 1>four months or a year, depending on their perceived value. Sometimes,

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<v Speaker 1>if an item's been turned in by an individual, no

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<v Speaker 1>one has come looking for it, and the office has

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<v Speaker 1>been unable to find its original owner, the classic principle

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<v Speaker 1>of finders keepers applies, although not if the object is

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<v Speaker 1>a computer, smartphone, or something else that would contain the

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<v Speaker 1>owner's personal data like a notebook or by extension, a key.

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<v Speaker 1>Unclaimed items like that are eventually destroyed. The bureau sends

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<v Speaker 1>keys to be melted down for scrap and works with

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<v Speaker 1>recycling services for electronic waste, to avoid those items going

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<v Speaker 1>in with regular trash, and if possible, to wipe the

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<v Speaker 1>data and donate the equipment in Other things after a

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<v Speaker 1>certain period of time are auctioned off to help fund

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<v Speaker 1>this and other government programs. New jewelry, cameras and other

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<v Speaker 1>small valuables are the most often auctioned, but they do

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<v Speaker 1>keep a few things to brighten up the stacks. One

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<v Speaker 1>floored ceiling shelf is bursting with unclaimed stuffed animals, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's a small collection of unclaimed things the particularly interesting,

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<v Speaker 1>historically significant, or just plain weird, displayed in a corner

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<v Speaker 1>of the storage area that functions as a small museum

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<v Speaker 1>of sorts, though it's not open to the public. The

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<v Speaker 1>collection includes multiple human skulls, an old prosthetic leg a

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<v Speaker 1>five foot replica of a Parisian street lamp, a Napoleonic

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<v Speaker 1>era saber, legion of honor medals, a helmet from World

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<v Speaker 1>War One, a tripod and telescope from Victorian England, shards

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<v Speaker 1>from the World Trade Center, found along with the New

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<v Speaker 1>York City Transit employees orange safety vest after nine eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>A wedding dress rumored to have been left in the

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<v Speaker 1>cab after a lover's quarrel, a crumbling taxidermid lobster, and

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<v Speaker 1>a boxed set of two hundred blue monarch butterflies. After

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<v Speaker 1>setting up a database online and upgrading their shipping capabilities,

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<v Speaker 1>the office can now accept online claims and mail out

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<v Speaker 1>found objects. Every day, objects lost in Paris are boxed

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<v Speaker 1>up and sent off back to their homes around the world.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the prefecture, the joy of finding your lost

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<v Speaker 1>object is universal. Today's episode is based on the article

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<v Speaker 1>From human Skulls to Handguns. The Paris Lost and Found

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<v Speaker 1>has Seen it All on Houstuffworks dot com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Kate Morgan. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with Housetuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klain.

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<v Speaker 1>For four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.