Why This Locked Crypt Won't Be Opened For Over 6,000 Years
Dr. Thornwell Jacobs didn't just pick 6,000 years or so out of his hat and call it a day. The Oglethorpe website states that he used the oldest date known to history, the year 4241 B.C., to figure in the opening date of his Crypt of Civilization. In 1936, that first recorded year was 6177 years in the past, so he set the opening date that many years in the future to symbolize the extent of our historical knowledge. So if the millennia pass the way Jacobs hoped they will, that is, without having done any damage to his time capsule, the Crypt of Civilization will be opened on May 28, 8113.
The crypt is 20 feet long, 10 feet wide, and buried under two feet of stone beneath Oglethorpe University's Phoebe Hearst Hall. Jacobs had its stainless steel door welded shut for good measure. He strove to condense the previous 6,000 years of history into this limited space, using artifacts like newsreels, recordings, and more than 640,000 micro-film pages of information. Future folks will also find a Donald Duck doll, a set of Lincoln Logs, and tons of other quotidian things from early 20th century life. He did not include anything thieves would want, such as gold, jewels, or other precious metals or stones. Just the facts for those people of the future, whoever they may be.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunCBmG9rbG9frLW6edOhoKxlnKSwrLHDZpqrsaCperi7za1km51dpL2musSdZJ%2BnomK8t7HRZm1paGBixqat0axm