LOST LUGGAGE CHALLENGE—Claim a Bag, Tell Its Story
“Attention passengers: A number of unclaimed bags have been left at the terminal. Please come to the Lost and Found desk to claim yours.”
Each bag contains mysterious, emotional, or uncanny items. Choose a suitcase and write a story, poem, or scene inspired by what’s inside.
How to Play:
Pick a bag (or more than one) from the list below or upcoming posts. Lost luggage is collected once a week, so you can expect to find new bags every Friday.
Use the contents as your prompt.
Write anything—a drabble, full short story, poem, or create a moodboard.
Tag your post with #WriteblrSummerfest2025 and #LostLuggageChallenge so we can reblog it!
You can interpret the items literally, symbolically, or weirdly. You’re the writer. You decide what the items know.
Now boarding the strange and the forgotten! Let’s see what the terminal left behind...
LOST LUGGAGE BAGS
Bag #1
One damp paperback
An unmarked key
A boarding pass to a canceled flight
A handwritten letter that ends mid-sentence
Bag #2
A cracked snow globe of the Taj Mahal
Three teeth wrapped in tissue
A cassette tape labeled “Don’t Play on the Plane”
A pink shoe with the laces burned
Bag #3
A sleep mask embroidered with someone else's name
A prescription bottle filled with glitter
A folded napkin with a phone number and no area code
One airline wing pin snapped in half
Bag #4
A taxidermied squirrel dressed as a pilot
An open envelope containing plane tickets from 1976
One photograph of a boarding gate under water
A torn-up employee badge for “Gate Agent #23”
Bag #5
A bloodstained boarding pass
A child’s drawing of a plane with no windows
A full can of unopened soda…from a brand that doesn’t exist
A notebook with every page reading: “NOT THIS FLIGHT”
Bag #6
A wedding ring tied to a paper crane
A skydiving brochure with a face scratched out
A bag of sand labeled “return to sender”
One Polaroid of someone waving from the runway
Bag #7
A perfume bottle filled with salt water
Boarding pass stamped "FINAL FLIGHT"
A napkin from “The End of the World Café”
A journal entry reading only: “She followed me aboard.”
Bag #8
A driver’s license that expired 40 years ago
A notebook containing pages of flight manifestos; all names are crossed out
A single red feather
A warning card that reads “DO NOT OPEN DURING DESCENT”
Bag #9
A scarf with a blood type embroidered on the hem
An origami map with no landmarks
One walkie-talkie, turned on
A crumpled post-it note that says, “Don’t let them look in your eyes”
Bag #10
A dead phone with one unread text: “Don’t get on the plane”
Three coins from countries that don’t exist
A plastic airline cutlery set wrapped in barbed wire
A child’s boarding pass, destination blank