McDonald’s fries found hidden in the wall of a family home for over 60 years appear incredibly well preserved

An American family renovating their home unearthed a bag of McDonald’s French fries that had apparently been sitting inside a wall for over 60 years.

Rob and Grace Jones were fixing their kitchen and bathroom on April 16 in Crystal Lake, about 75 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, when they discovered fast food.

Watch the video above to see what a 24-year-old McDonald’s burger looks like

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The northern Illinois couple were replacing a built-in toilet paper holder, requiring them to open a 10cm by 15cm section of the wall.

That’s when they spotted a towel inside the wall, wrapping around something the young parents initially feared.

“We expected the worst,” Grace said with a laugh Wednesday.

“We were both like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to uncover a cold case here.

“I was protecting my children in case there was dried blood.”

Instead, they found a bag with two burger wrappers and a remarkably well-preserved order of fries.

“Not a cold case, just cold fries,” Grace, 31, said.

“They were very well preserved.”

Their ranch-style home was built in 1959, and the Crystal Lake Historical Society has records of the first McDonald’s opening less than a mile from the home the same year, the Chamber of Commerce said.

It was just a take-out place, with burgers costing 15 cents, fries 10 cents and milkshakes 20 cents, according to city records.

The wrappers found by the Jones family had the McDonald’s Speedee mascot from the 1950s, which predated Ronald McDonald and emphasized the chain’s revolutionary fast service – at the time.

Jones, who grew up in nearby Woodstock, said one of her mother’s most vivid childhood memories was when McDonald’s opened in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois.

This is where Ray Kroc opened his first franchise of the California-rooted fast food empire, which was started by Richard and Maurice McDonald.

The couple posted photos of the fast food archaeological find on social media accounts, prompting them to learn more about their community’s history.

“It’s unreal. We didn’t expect it to take off like this. We just thought it was a cool find,” said Jones, an early childhood special education teacher.

“It was awesome, it was so much fun, it was neat, to learn about the history of our neighborhood.”

And no, the Jones family didn’t eat the aged fries.

The papers are now in a folder and the fries are in Tupperware, stored high up so their kids can’t get to them for a snack.

In 2020, an American grandmother left the internet in shock after revealing the condition of a McDonald’s burger left in a bag for 24 years.

A clip posted to TikTok shows the woman showing off the combination of burgers and fries purchased in 1996.

The video contains text asking subscribers “what happens when you leave a McDonald’s burger in a bag for 20+ years?”

TikTok user @aly.sherb posted the video to his page and it has since been liked over 500,000 times.

“So you want to see my burger?” He lives in a box,” the grandmother tells the camera before showing what’s inside.

“That’s the bag it came in and it advertised a Nascar race in 1996.

“The fries look like they fell under your seat about a month ago – they never rotted or rotted.

“The burger itself – the bun never got moldy, the meat never rotted.

“It’s never even broken, it’s completely intact.”

Naturally, social media was stunned, with several comments being left on the video.

“This burger is going to outlive me,” one person said.

“40 seconds in the microwave and it’ll be like new,” another joked.

“This burger is older than (sic) me n (sic) has even less damage,” one social media user added.

It wasn’t the first time a McDonald’s burger had stood the test of time.

A decade-old McDonald’s meal also remains almost completely intact and on display in Iceland.

The burger was purchased in 2009 when McDonald’s closed its stores in Iceland.

“The burger, which still shows no signs of decomposition, is now on display at Snotra House,” the venue’s website explains.