Northeast

Rare and mysterious whiskey bottles found washed up on beach

Published

12 months ago

March 17, 2025

Rare and mysterious whiskey bottles found washed up on beach

A whiskey river wasn’t on Austin Contegiacomo’s mind when he found an ocean of it — a Prohibition-era stash, to be exact — washed up on a New Jersey beach while he was walking his dog last month.

Even for a guy who doesn’t drink, it was a rare find. And it has made an even better story to tell.

“The history behind it is part of the mystery and really adds to the allure,” Contegiacomo, 28, a Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer from Northfield, New Jersey, told Fox News Digital.

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He had just gotten off a 24-hour duty and decided to take his fuzzy sheepadoodle, Koda, for a walk near Margate Pier, south of Atlantic City.

“I take him to the beach to play just about every day,” Contegiacomo said.

“I was throwing the ball — and my dog tends to rub himself in stuff that smells weird. So there’s this brown bottle in the sand and he starts rubbing on it.”

A New Jersey resident found nearly a dozen Prohibition-era bottles of whiskey that appear to have been perfectly preserved since the 1930s or so. (Austin Contegiacomo)

Contegiacomo said his dog forgot about playing and became very focused on whatever was in the sand.

“I thought, ‘Oh man, it looks like a bottle of pee,’” he said.

“So I was yelling at him to get off it, then maybe five feet ahead was another one. And as soon as he got off that one, he ran up to the next one and started rubbing on that.”

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After Koda discovered a third bottle, Contegiacomo said he began to realize they’d stumbled on something much more interesting than he’d originally thought.

“They were pretty much at the surface,” he said. “And there were a ton of conches and shells and all types of other debris on the beach that day.”

Austin Contegiacomo’s dog Koda is shown sniffing around, head on the sand, on the beach near Atlantic City, New Jersey — where man and dog found 11 mysterious bottles of whiskey. (Austin Contegiacomo)

He added, “I think it was from dredging because they’ve been repairing the beaches and they do it in the winter to get ready for the summer. There hadn’t been any storms, but it was a crazy amount of stuff washed up.”

In total, Contegiacomo and his dog found 11 completely full glass bottles of rare, old whiskey, all with the name Lincoln Inn etched on them.

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Contegiacomo called a friend who did a quick internet search. They learned that Lincoln Inn was produced at a distillery in Montreal in the 1930s and that the company went out of business in the 1970s.

“He said, ‘Dude, there’s really not much info on this, but it looks like it’s old,’” Contegiacomo said. “He said I should definitely keep it and find out more about it.”

Contegiacomo and a friend did some research into the whiskey bottles that turned up on a New Jersey beach. They learned the distillery was located in Montreal and dated back to the 1930s. (Austin Contegiacomo)

So Contegiacomo took off his jacket. He picked up all the bottles — each positioned not far from the others — and stashed them in his jacket.

Then he tied it up like a sack.

‘Bottle-digging’ community

After he got them home, Contegiacomo posted about his find on Reddit, where a “bottle-digging” community as well as a group of whiskey aficionados began to weigh in on the discovery.

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Members of the groups directed Contegiacomo to a diamond shape that was embossed on the bottom of the bottles. It was a mark that was initiated in 1928.

“The bottles have a flask shape,” Contegiacomo said, “and given the type of screw and stuff, most people said it was between 1930s and 1940s.”

The diamond symbol embossed on the bottom of the bottles dates back to 1928, according to some whiskey aficionados who weighed in. (Austin Contegiacomo)

Some of Contegiacomo’s work buddies went back to the beach the next day and found one more bottle — bringing the discovered treasure to an even dozen.

Contegiacomo decided to gift a bottle to each of his friends and to his father.

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“A lot of the guys thought it was super cool,” he said.

“There’s about 10 of us. A lot of the guys are from New Jersey and most people have family around here, so it’s kind of a part of New Jersey’s history – so I ended up giving pretty much all the bottles away to guys I work with.”

A few of the whiskey bottles were clear and others were hazy, which Contegiacomo learned could have to do with filtration.

The shape of the bottles and the screw-top style are among the indicators of the year the whiskey was produced. (Austin Contegiacomo)

“Given the age of it, some people said that could be due to the way it was filtered or the charring, because they used to burn the [whiskey] barrels,” he said.

“The one that I kept for myself is probably the best quality one.”

Contegiacomo said the fact that the bottles were all still sealed and the whiskey at relatively the same level in each bottle gives him hope the liquor inside is still good.

“The ocean temperatures usually don’t get anywhere near 70 degrees, even at the bottom of the waters in New Jersey,” Contegiacomo said.

At left, Contegiacomo is shown on the beach in New Jersey with his dog, Koda, and his wife, Brooke; at right, one of the bottles he found, cleaned up and gleaming now — but still unopened. (Austin Contegiacomo)

Exactly how the bottles of whiskey ended up in the water remains a mystery.

“Apparently [bootleggers] used to bring it down to about the Jersey Shore – and then small boats would take off from the Jersey Shore and they would pick the liquor up. I guess the boardwalk was pretty much a hot spot for rum running and stuff during Prohibition.”

That’s why Contegiacomo said he’s not interested in drinking it or cashing in on his find.

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“If any of us intend to try it, I don’t think it’d be me that opens it,” Contegiacomo said.

“Opening it and then seeing it empty or even half-empty kind of detracts from it. Even if it’s a great whiskey or something, I don’t think I’d appreciate the whiskey itself nearly as much as I appreciate the story and how it got here.”

Sydney Borchers of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.

Gretchen Eichenberg is a contributing reporter for Fox News Digital.

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Northeast

New York AG orders Manhattan hospital to resume gender-transition treatment for transgender youth

Published

2 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

New York AG orders Manhattan hospital to resume gender-transition treatment for transgender youth

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New York Attorney General Letitia James is instructing a Manhattan hospital to resume offering gender-transition treatment to transgender youth after it ended such treatments last month over funding threats from the Trump administration.

NYU Langone’s decision to close its Transgender Youth Health Program violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws by “jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” James wrote in a Feb. 25 letter first made public this week.

James’ office threatened “further action” if the hospital does not immediately resume offering hormone therapies, puberty blockers and other treatment to transgender youth.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is instructing a Manhattan hospital to resume offering gender-transition treatment to transgender young people. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

NYU Langone, one of the city’s largest hospital systems, said last month it would stop providing certain gender-transition treatments for patients under the age of 19.

“Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,” NYU Langone spokesman Steve Ritea said in a statement at the time. “We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change. This does not impact our pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue.”

The hospital ceased admitting new patients into its transgender youth program last year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which aims to restrict gender-transition treatment for people under 19.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced a proposal to cut federal Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide these treatments to transgender young people. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Referencing Trump’s order, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services later announced a proposal to cut federal Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide these treatments to transgender youth.

But the Feb. 25 letter signed by the attorney general’s health care bureau chief, Darsana Srinivasan, said the proposal did not officially change federal law and did not affect a “medical institution’s existing duties and obligations under New York law.”

“The sudden discontinuation of medically necessary transgender healthcare can have severe, negative health outcomes,” Srinivasan wrote. “Accordingly, the Attorney General is extremely concerned by your institution’s decision to cease the provision of care to this vulnerable, minority population.”

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NYU Langone said last month it would stop providing certain gender-transition treatments for patients under the age of 19. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The letter gives the hospital until March 11 to show its compliance, although it is unclear what steps would be taken if it fails to resume the treatments.

Several other hospitals across the country have also halted transgender youth treatments following Trump’s executive order and funding threats.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Boston, MA

Charlotte plays Boston on 5-game win streak

Published

4 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Charlotte plays Boston on 5-game win streak

Charlotte Hornets (31-31, ninth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Boston Celtics (41-20, second in the Eastern Conference)

Boston; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Celtics -6.5; over/under is 214.5

BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte is looking to keep its five-game win streak alive when the Hornets take on Boston.

The Celtics are 27-13 against Eastern Conference opponents. Boston is sixth in the NBA with 46.2 rebounds led by Nikola Vucevic averaging 8.8.

The Hornets are 19-21 in conference matchups. Charlotte is 7-8 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 15.0 turnovers per game.

The Celtics average 15.5 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.7 more made shots on average than the 12.8 per game the Hornets allow. The Hornets average 16.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.1 more made shots on average than the 13.9 per game the Celtics allow.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jaylen Brown is averaging 29 points, 7.1 rebounds and five assists for the Celtics. Payton Pritchard is averaging 17 points and 5.8 assists over the past 10 games.

Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 22.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Celtics: 8-2, averaging 109.4 points, 50.7 rebounds, 27.1 assists, 6.1 steals and 6.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 98.5 points per game.

Hornets: 7-3, averaging 117.3 points, 47.8 rebounds, 27.4 assists, 8.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 106.2 points.

INJURIES: Celtics: Jayson Tatum: out (achilles), Neemias Queta: day to day (rest).

Hornets: Coby White: day to day (injury management).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Pittsburg, PA

2 young girls found dead in suitcases in Cleveland, police say

Published

4 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

2 young girls found dead in suitcases in Cleveland, police say

The bodies of two young girls were found inside suitcases in Cleveland, Ohio, police said on Tuesday.

In a press conference, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said on Tuesday that the bodies of the two girls were found in suitcases buried in shallow graves on Monday evening. One of the girls was believed to be between the ages of 8 and 13 years old, while the other was believed to be 10 to 14 years old. Neither girl was identified as of Tuesday night.

“This is a priority,” Todd said during Tuesday’s press conference. “This is a traumatic event for our officers, for the community, and this is just such a tragic incident, but we are trying to develop any leads we can.”

Police said there are no active missing persons reports in Cleveland that match the two victims.

Officials said someone walking their dog near East 162nd Street and Midland Avenue found what appeared to be a body inside a suitcase around 6 p.m. on Monday. When officers responded to the scene near Ginn Academy, they found one of the bodies stuffed in a suitcase in a shallow grave. The second shallow grave with the body stuffed in a suitcase was found after officers searched the area.

“This is a field close to the school over there,” Todd said. “This is just a residential neighborhood that I’m sure a lot of people do frequent.”

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office has custody of the bodies and will identify the girls. Todd said there is no clear indication of possible causes of death for the girls or how long the girls were there.

“It was some time, so it’s not something that was recent,” Todd said.

There is no suspect, Todd added. Anyone with information can contact the Cleveland police at 216-623-5464.

“Usually in residential areas, you know what’s happening in your neighborhood, something just seems a little bit off,” Todd said. “That’s why we’re asking that anyone who has anything that they believe to be information directly related to or suspicious, that they give us a call.”

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