Can you solve word puzzles? State Archives needs your help

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.

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The documents are written in an outdated handwriting style with large swirls and long tails.

"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.