Winter Camp Future Society / Reference / Theguide / Encyclopedia WinterCampica - Time Capsule
Encyclopedia WinterCampica - Time Capsule
One of the ongoing projects of the Winter Camp Future Society has been sponsorship of the Winter Camp time capsule projects. The retrieval, inspection, refilling, and re-planting of the annual capsule are now familiar parts of Winter Camp. The first time capsule was buried at Winter Camp XI and retrieved one year later. At Winter Camp XII, a more ambitious 10-year capsule was also buried at the CHR Memorial Site (see "10-Year Time Capsule" on page 151). This capsule was unearthed at Winter Camp XXII in 1998. Beginning in 1995 at Winter Camp XIX, a 5-year time capsule has also been buried each year-in the future, the capsule unearthed at each Winter Camp will be the one planted five years previously. This plan was diverted from its full realization with the first 5-year capsule, which remained in the ground for eight years before being recovered at Winter Camp XXVII.
Taking ambition to perhaps its ultimate limit, the Society also supports ongoing efforts to place a 1000-year time capsule where it might be found in 2976, in time for a suitable revival event commemorating Winter Camp M. Society members have diligently researched various aspects of this project, and a WCFS vote has directed that this capsule be placed at Winter Camp L in 2026.
Noteworthy time capsule contents over the years have included a vacuum-packed pickle, a yard of Sausage, and the key to the Candy machine. Winter Camp has built up a small repository of knowledge about durable wrappings and containers-the only item that has ever destroyed its wrapping in the time capsule is a portion of Steve Donohue's vomit, a product of his mysterious digestive malady, that was preserved at Winter Camp XVII. During 1994, the highly acidic sample [in Steve's own words: "The hurl consisted primarily of oranges, nearly everything else having already been evacuated from my system (one way or another)."] ate through the plastic and foil wrappings (obliterating the message "Do Not Eat" inscribed on the foil) and was working on the second layer of plastic. However, at Winter Camp XXVIII, it was unintentionally discovered that storing contents under pressure, such as a can of shaving cream, underground for eight years is probably a bad idea. The can in question leaked and destroyed most of the rest of the contents.
Also unintentionally, Winter Camp has dug up two eight-year time capsules, which stayed in the ground for three extra years. At Winter Camps XXIV and XXV, inadequate mapping resulted in the wrong time capsules being dug up, and the 5-year capsules for those years stayed below the Earth's surface until Winter Camps XXVII and XXVIII, respectively. Jeff Rand has taken steps to map future time capsules, and though it was thought that this problem had been solved in 2007, the recovery that year of an unintentional 10-Year Time Capsule buried at Winter Camp XXI called that progress into question.
Entry Created: 01/15/1999 Last Update: 01/16/2007
See also:
- 10-Year Time Capsule
- Ailments
- Beaver Creek
- Catchphrases
- CHR Memorial Site
- Clearwater Rebellion
- Condiment Tree
- Goon Brew
- Hunter-Gatherer Meal
- Hurling
- Kmart Toys
- Lantern Launch
- Matchbooks
- Polaris Access Road
- Pythonesque Day
- Return Of The Lenape
- Temporal Paradox
- Winter Camp Future Society
- Winter Camp Soundtrack
