The photo was at the back of a Lord of the Rings book – which was sold in Australia
The old photograph Conor found in his home – which was shared widely on Reddit
We’ve all been there – randomly browsing social media while killing time before work, on a bus or during a lunch break. But you can imagine how shocked you’d be if, while scrolling, you came across an old family photo that’s been missing for decades.
And that’s exactly what happened to one Cork man this week, who stumble upon a long-lost picture of his late grandmother while quickly skimming Reddit. The dusty, worn photograph was shared by Carrigaline resident Conor Lynch, who discovered it while tidying away a box of second-hand books in his home. Speaking to Cork Beo, Conor said he picked it out from the back of an old Lord of the Rings book he’d never opened before and can’t even remember buying.
He said: “It was like a thick, cardboard slip. I noticed it sticking out at the back of the book, it was on the second last page. I knew it wasn’t anybody I knew, but I guess I thought since it was in my house, it must belong to someone in my family. I asked around to everybody, but after exhausting that, I started thinking about how I could get it out there, find the family who owns it. I thought of Reddit. I don’t really use social media a lot, but I thought I’d post it there and give it a try.”
Conor shared the photo in the r/Cork subreddit – for all things Cork related – and asked if anybody could help him find its true owners. And they had one clue to help. On the back of the photo was the date the woman died, written in the message: “Mam died 7th of March 10 to 8 in the morning.” It wasn’t long before his post gained some traction and social media sleuths started helping out. Commentors tried everything to help identify the woman – from pulling up years of death records to removing the old picture’s wear and tear with AI.
The back of the photo
Things got even more complicated when one person spotted the label ‘Dymocks’ at the back of the Lord of the Rings book – the same name as an Australian store, where Conor now believes the book was originally sold.
There was a break in the case however when a stranger replied to Conor’s thread on Reddit – just a few hours after his original post – and claimed to be the woman’s grandson. At first, Conor didn’t believe it – thinking it was nearly impossible that one of her living relatives would find his post that quickly. He said: “I was thinking, this was too quick, too much of a coincidence. I posted one evening, just checking the next morning on the off chance, and he had already replied.”
However, the stranger was able to tell Conor a few important details that only a relative could have known, including that the woman’s name was Mary. Conor then looked her up on findagrave.com – only to find the picture in his home was also on the woman’s headstone!
The back of the book
Mary’s grandson was living out in Crosshaven and – by chance – had been driving past Conor’s house on his commute to work for years. Ultimately , the young man had no idea how the photo ended up in a Lord of the Rings book that was sold in Australia – but offered one theory that might explain it.
Conor said: “He was delighted to find it, a really nice guy in his 20s. Obviously he never would have expected to see it online, it was quite a shock and he sent the Reddit post around to all his family. The family actually have loads of copies of that photo but could never find the original. It’s only a guess, but his brother was really into Lord of the Rings and was actually living over in Australia for a while. So maybe he bought the book and put the photo in there. But that’s just conjecture.”
Conor handed over the photo to Mary’s grandson this week – returning it to its rightful owners after many years. The Carrigaline man is delighted he could help, and still can’t believe how quickly he got the whole thing sorted: “It was all under 24-hours – from my original post, to handing over the photo to Mary’s grandson!”
