Wallet Lost On Hersheypark Roller Coaster 4 Years Ago Returned

HERSHEY, PA — Since his wallet slipped out of his pocket on a wild amusement park ride four years ago, Jon Anson and his family have joked every time they visit Hersheypark, a theme park on the grounds of the Hershey Chocolate Factory, about a scavenger hunt to find the lost billfold.

It was quite a family ritual. Every time they’d visit Hersheypark, the Ansons not only joked about the missing wallet, the kids scoured the bushes and river in the search for it. “God love ‘em, they actually think they’re going to find it and they really look hard for it,” Anson told television station WHTM.

All you need to know about the Skyrush is implied by its name. The roller coaster climbs 200 feet in the air before flying downhill at 75 mph, according to the Hersheypark website. All kinds of things have flown out of the pockets of thrillseekers, mostly cellphones and sunglasses.

Anson recalled the moment four years ago when he realized the roller coaster had claimed his wallet.

“I’m walking down the steps and I just happen to pat my side,’ Anson told television station WHTM, “and no wallet.”

Maintenance workers weren’t searching for the wallet when they unearthed it this fall. It’s a little worse for the wear, but everything was intact — Hersheypark passes, gift cards that still had a balance, and credit cards, which Anson said were “moldy and green.”

Anson got a good laugh and sweet seasonal affirmation of honest people in the world when his wallet was returned. But Matthew, his 6-year-old son, confessed to some disappointment the game had ended for him and 8-year-old sister Katie with an answer to the 4-year-old family riddle.

“Now we can't do the funny story where they say, ‘kids look for my wallet in the bushes’and that stuff,” Matthew said.

File photo via Shutterstock