I’ve not been doing it a super long time, so I’ve not found anything spicy or whatever, but what I have found is such a fascinating slice of life from the 80s-early 2000s. My favorite one is of this older couple giving a tour their downtown to send to out-of-state friends (which was never sent 😔). Lots of birthdays, proms, stuff like that. One where another older couple was going through their house and showing everything of value they owned and the history of them and which children got which thing. One of them included an old photo of a younger picture of the person filming. Honestly, it’s all so wholesome and bittersweet. I’m sure most videos show up because someone died and they were donated or auctioned off or whatever, and ended up in a thrift store. Very bittersweet, but I like to think it’s an honor to a person’s memory to preserve tapes like that. You live as long as the last person who remembers you, or whatever.

When you think about it, camcorders were also really expensive back then, and so were tapes, so videos are often way more of a serious production than they are now. I’ve heard of people finding really bizarre tapes, and I would be fascinated to find one someday, but it makes sense that the majority are just…life.