At long last, the case of the téléphone Garfield — translation: Garfield phone — has finally been solved.
For almost four decades, beaches on the Iroise coast in northwest France have seen a number of phones shaped like the beloved, grumpy feline wash up on shore. In fact, the Garfield phones are such a thing that a French anti-litter group called Ar Vilantsou has been using them in their beach-cleaning campaigns. However, their origin was always a mystery — until now.
According to the BBC, a farmer remembered that the phones began appearing after a vicious sea storm in the 1980s. Speaking to Franceinfo.ou, he says they eventually "found a container aground in a fissure. It was open. Many of the things were gone, but there was a stock of phones." Yes, the Garfields were coming from a lost shipping container that settled in a sea cave only accessible at low tide. Imagine that.
Thankfully though, you don't have to necessary be an expert diver to procure one of the colorful handsets, as there seem to be plenty of functional Garfield phones still available for purchase via eBay. After all, in true Garfield fashion, we do love a lazy "ship to door" option.
Photo via Getty