The first letter ever written was sent by Queen Atossa of Persia in around 500 BC. It has been cited as the most important letter of all time.
Born in 550 BC, Atossa became queen at the age of 28. Meaning “skilled or learned”, her name echoed the fact she was well-educated and could read and write. She was a strong woman, with plenty of influence.
According to the ancient historians, Atossa wrote the first documented letter, or epistle, when she was around 50 years old. Unfortunately, there is no record of its contents. Its importance however, was because it “established the genre”.
People wanted to become literate to emulate the queen. It made letters a “normal and effective” form of long-distance communication. Over time, it created whole industries for the manufacture of writing materials and eventually formed the basis for the postal service that is still flourishing today.
Santa Claus' Main Post Office (Finnish: Joulupukin Pääposti) is a tourist destination in Santa Claus Village in the Arctic Circle, about 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Rovaniemi. It is the only official Santa Claus´ Post Office and part of the Finnish postal services. It is open all year and over 100 international media and about half a million visitors from around the world are welcomed by Christmas-dressed postal elves. In 1985, Santa Claus’ Main Post Office received over 17 million letters. In 2014 Santa Claus received most letters from China, Italy and Poland. In Santa Claus' Main Post Office visitors can also read letters sent to Santa. A letter writer can arrange to have a letter mailed to them from Santa before Christmas.
In 1950, Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of Franklin D. Roosevelt, made a visit to Rovaniemi. Roosevelt Cottage was built to commemorate her mailing the first letter sent from within the Arctic Circle with a special stamp on November 6, 1950. The cottage is still in front of the Santa Claus' Main Post Office.
Western Union was a service, founded as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in 1851, that allowed people to wire money or send letters across great distances.
Western Union received a letter from Dr. Emmett Brown back on September 1, 1885, and were instructed to hold on to it for seventy years, and deliver it to the exact location of the future Lyon Estates at an exact time on November 12, 1955. The letter had some legendary reputation, and the employees placed bets on whether they'd meet that McFly and hoped that he'd give some light to the origins of the mysterious letter.
Much to the letter deliverer's surprise, Marty McFly was there at the same location and time, in the middle of the street in the rain to receive the letter. The deliverer stated that some of the boys back at the office placed a bet on whether Marty would actually be present, and that he (the deliverer) had lost. After Marty signed for the letter, he opened it and exclaimed when he found that Doc had written it seventy years prior. The deliverer was understandably confused, but offered Marty his help. Marty gently refused, explaining that there was only one man who could help him:
Western Union delivery man: "Kid, are you all right? Do you need help?"
Marty: "There's only one man that can help me."
— Western Union letter deliverer and Marty
One of the spookiest letters ever, the "From Hell" letter (also known as the "Lusk letter"😉 was a letter sent alongside half of a preserved human kidney to the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, George Lusk, in October 1888. The author of this letter claimed to be the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who had murdered and mutilated at least four women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London in the two months prior to Lusk receiving this letter, and whose vigilance committee Lusk led in community efforts to assist police in efforts to identify and apprehend the perpetrator.
The letter was postmarked on 15 October 1888 and was received by Lusk the following day:
From hell.
Mr Lusk,
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif[e] that took it out if you only wate a whil[e] longer
signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk
An examination of the kidney revealed the individual from whom the organ originated had suffered from Bright's disease. The author of this letter claimed to have fried and eaten the other half.
In the autumn of 1864 Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew wrote to President Lincoln asking him to express condolences to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow believed to have lost five sons during the Civil War. Lincoln's letter to her was printed by the Boston Evening Transcript:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
Along with the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address, the above letter has widely been praised as one of Lincoln's finest written works.