A Utah woman’s video on TikTok is going viral after she shared the contents of her high school backpack. What made it particularly interesting is that she herself used to attend Columbine High School in Colorado, site of the infamous Columbine Massacre.
Posted by TikTok user Littlestickerhoodshop, Cindy gives a play-by-play of what her backpack from high school still had. It had been relatively undisturbed for nearly three decades—not since 1999, when Cindy was just 15 years old. “This backpack is exactly how it was that day.” However, she says she disposed of an old Lunchable (which she discusses in a follow-up video).
The first pocket contains typical items for a 15-year-old girl, such as lotion, lip gloss, and a compact. There’s also a lollipop and a small catalog of keychains. Most importantly, she had a bunch of different notes from her friends, and she wrote to one another.
Other pockets contained unfinished homework, notes, and even her old school schedule. “This is how we used to get our schedules back in the 90s and early 2000s.” Kids these days still get written schedules, so it hasn’t changed at all.
In the biggest pocket—and this hasn’t changed either—were a multitude of notebooks, binders, and school books. A sign of her time was the collage of celebrities and teen heartthrobs from the 90s and 2000s. “I don’t know if it was just me or if all us 90s girls decorated our binders with pictures like this,” Cindy says in her TikTok video.
One assignment was particularly eerie. It had been dated the day of the school shooting. Cindy notes it was work done during her third-period class, two whole periods before the nightmare of Columbine would unfold. “This is kinda crazy to see,” Cindy says.
After showing a few more notes, the backpack is empty. “It’s kind of like a time capsule. This holds a lot of memories for me,” Cindy says, and considers the backpack something she’s “emotionally trauma bonded” to.
People Online Were Spooked By Cindy’s ‘Time Capsule’
On TikTok, people in the comments were morbidly fascinated by Cindy’s old high school backpack. Some TikTok viewers left comments to help those who may have missed the fact that Cindy had been a survivor of the Columbine Massacre. “I feel like no one is picking up the weight of the day you are referring to,” a TikTok viewer wrote.
Other viewers, who understood the backpack’s significance, considered it a piece of history. “That’s an actual piece of American history,” wrote one viewer. “It’s been 27 years… 😳 …and yet nothing has changed in the USA regarding gun laws. 😔” wrote another.
It was eerie seeing the contents dated so far back and how undisturbed everything was. TikTok user Shanneon Leigh picked up on this and wrote, “The paper with the date 4/20/99 gave me chills.”
Another commenter, TikTok user Mellary, shared how her mother “made it a point” to make April 20th a “day full of random acts of kindness.” It had been spurred on by the fact that her mother’s friends had gone to Columbine, too. Cindy commented on the post, saying, “That is so wonderful that she made it a day of kindness and service. I love that.”
