The Mystery Of A 60-Year-Old McDonald's Meal Stashed In A Wall

There's something about fast food that can make it the most delicious-looking thing in the world to something that makes your stomach churn. Who hasn't indulged in crispy, hot McDonald's fries, only to become revolted once they've cooled into soggy wet potato sticks? It's safe to say that fast food is better eaten immediately rather than kept in the fridge for leftovers. 

But have you ever wondered just how long fast food can last? You may have heard that your Mickey Dee's contains preservatives and wondered how long the food can last. Of course, fast food isn't a stranger to preservatives: In 2014, CNBC ran a report decrying that even a "simplified" fast food menu would still contain preservatives and additives, but just how long can a Happy Meal last until it starts to turn?

Many have stepped forth to try and answer this nauseatingly fascinating question. Everyone from middle school students conducting a science experiment to Ripley's Believe It or Not has covered and reported the rate of decay your average fast food meal undertakes. One woman even has gone so far to keep entire cabinets of aged preservative-filled foods from pizza to McDonald's fries on display just to show how long this junk food can last (via TikTok). One man in Illinois, however, has proof that fast food can stick around for quite a long time — in the walls of his own home, that is.

While renovating your bathroom is enough to make you work up an appetite, you probably wouldn't be expecting to find food nestled in the nooks and crannies of your latrine. This was the case for one Redditor named Rob who posted about performing renovation work in his home. As New York Post reports, Rob was working when he noticed a balled-up piece of cloth shoved behind some plaster. He unraveled it and found a crumpled mess of McDonald's bags, including a half-finished bag of petrified fries.

These weren't any normal McDonald's bags either. The faded, dirty bags featured Speedee, the original hamburger-headed fry cook mascot that came before Ronald McDonald. For context, the last time "Speedee" was the face of the Golden Arches was sometime back in the 1960s. The Redditor told Newsweek that his house was built in 1959 and was close to a McDonald's that was open around that time. He assumes it was probably the forgotten lunch of one of the original builders of the house.

Rob isn't the only one to have ancient fast food laying around the house. Another man, David Whipple from Utah, claims to have kept a hamburger from Mcdonald's on a shelf in his house since 1999 (via The Daily Mail). While the burger looks the same as it was two decades ago, the only thing that didn't last was a single pickle.