Kentucky tornadoes: Photo from damaged home found 130 miles away in Indiana

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Many lives were impacted by Friday night’s tornadoes that struck western Kentucky. Houses were demolished and possessions were scattered.

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Still, an Indiana woman was stunned to find a photograph stuck to the window of her car Saturday. The photograph had blown 130 miles from a home in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, to New Albany, Indiana.

“It almost looked like someone left me a note on my car,” Posten told WLEX-TV. “It looks like it’s probably a picture of a picture. Which means who knows if the original is still around and it might be the only one they have left.”

The black-and-white photo reads “Gertie Swatzell and JD Swatzell 1942″ on the back, according to WDRB-TV. The woman in the photo is wearing a headscarf and a striped sundress while holding a boy.

A few hours later, Posten, 30, discovered that the photo had made a long journey -- 130 miles as the crow flies, or almost 167 miles by car -- on the back of the monstrous winds generated by one of the tornadoes.

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“Seeing the date, I realized that was likely from a home hit by a tornado. How else is it going to be there?” Posten told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Sunday morning. “It’s not a receipt. It’s (a) well-kept photo.”

New Albany is just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, and Posten quickly realized the photograph was a family heirloom. She went on social media and posted a copy of the photo, hoping to find its owner.

“It was dated in 1942, so I took a picture of it, posted it on social media,” Posten told WLEX. “If I don’t find either of them, but the likelihood we find a family member hopefully is high. But it’s still a needle in a haystack.”

A family member, Cole Swatzell, responded to Posten after he was tagged by friends on social media.

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“He was really surprised,” Posten told WLEX. “I think initially he didn’t recognize the name, He was surprised to see it was his family but also that it traveled so far.”

Cole Swatzell did not respond to a Facebook message left by the AP.

Posten said she plans to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime this week.

“It’s really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, that makes you consider how valuable things are -- memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things,” Posten told the AP. “It shows you the power of social media for good. It was encouraging that immediately there were tons of replies from people, looking up ancestry records, and saying, ‘I know someone who knows someone and I’d like to help.’”

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