Found a notebook in a coffee shop with a weird method for reading old letters

I picked up a forgotten journal at The Daily Grind last month. It had a page that said to hold faded ink under a blacklight to see the writing again. I tried it on my great aunt's 1920s postcards with a cheap blacklight from a hardware store. The ink glowed bright enough to read every word. Has anyone else found a trick like this for old papers?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt_chen862mo ago

Blacklights are cool but why not just take a photo and up the contrast?

brian3032mo ago

Wow, that's genius! @wyatt_chen86, I used lemon juice once, same idea.

king.river1mo ago

Try explaining that to your great aunt's ghost when she sees you waving a purple light over her private letters lmao. My guy just casually turned a hardware store blacklight into a time machine for reading old secrets. Wyatt's photo idea is fine but where's the fun in that, you miss the whole vibe of glowing ink in a dark room.