RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- If you're looking for a new hobby and want to decode the mystery locked in 300-year-old handwritten documents, the State Archives of North Carolina has just the thing for you.
It needs help deciphering court records of North Carolina during the colonial period -- the late 1600s through the 1700s.
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One expert describes them as being full of "colonial chicken scratch."
You can look at the records on the NC Transcribe website and take a stab at decoding them.
The documents are written in an outdated handwriting style with large swirls and long tails.
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"The handwriting can be quirky and the terms antiquated," the State Archives wrote in a Facebook post. "Transcribing them will be like solving a word puzzle."
The website has tips on how to decode the items that include slave trade documents.