Hey, what happened to the Randhurst time capsule?

It sounds like the work of Time Bandits.

In a grand ceremony in March of 1962, officials celebrated the construction of Randhurst Center in Mount Prospect as the world's largest shopping mall under a single roof by hoisting a time capsule to the top of the grand dome in its center.

"It is our wish that Randhurst Shopping Center will fulfill all of the dreams of those who have been a part of converting the corn fields of yesterday into the merchandising realities of many tomorrows," read a statement dropped into the time capsule copper box by then-Mount Prospect Village President C.O. Schlaver.

Tomorrows came and went, corn fields gave way to merchandising, executives passed away, and the old mall of the future was torn down to make way for a new mall of the future.

And the time capsule?

"We will be opening up the time capsule from Randhurst Shoppping Center," promised a flier for last month's fundraiser for the Mount Prospect Historical Society.

But the time capsule hadn't been recovered by the time of the event.

"People were a little disappointed, but we still had a pizza buffet and entertainment," says Greg T. Peerbolte, the 25-year-old executive director of the historical society and a vocalist and rhythm guitarist for 5000 South, the band that provided the entertainment.

"We'd joke around that we hope it's not Al Capone's vault," Peerbolte says in reference to the infamous, much-hyped TV special in which Geraldo Rivera hinted of opening the mobster's vault to reveal dead bodies and treasures, only to find nothing more than a few empty bottles. "Now that joke is coming back to haunt me."

Friday, construction crews tore down the 64-foot-wide dome at the center of the mall.

"We cut open the centerpiece, and to our surprise, there was no time capsule," says Rob Seiter, project manager for Casto Lifestyle Properties, developers of the new shopping center.

The steel hexagon was integral to the dome's support, Seiter says, and, judging from old photographs, didn't have room to house the time capsule, which looked to be a copper box maybe 2-by-3-feet, with the words "Randhurst Center" on the top.

So where is the time capsule?

"We don't know," Peerbolte says. "We're just kind of keeping the word out on it and hoping somebody will contact us."

Perhaps the time capsule was merely a photo op, never made it to the top of the dome, and wiled away its days in an office until the original mall owners went out of business.

Maybe the futuristic dome, designed by architect Victor Gruen, was some sort of time portal, and the missing time capsule has already transported to the year 2062.

"There's a theory that it could have been placed somewhere else," offers a more-grounded Peerbolte, noting that the construction crew "took that dome apart piece by piece" and a copper box couldn't have been overlooked in the rubble.

Perhaps someone swiped the time capsule as a prank.

"Maybe somebody found it in the '80s (during remodeling), said, 'Oh, this is crap,' and sold it for scrap," Peerbolte suggests, quickly adding, "We dare not think we're not going to find it."

Given the price of copper, the box has a value beyond its historical worth. An online search for "time capsules" doesn't turn up any clues, but if you still want a Hallmark 2000 Millennium Time Capsule ornament for your Christmas tree, e-Bay bidding starts at $2.99.

Anyone who might have clues about the time capsule's mysterious disappearance is asked to phone the historical society at 847-392-9006.

It's a nice box, but according to 1962 newspaper accounts, the time capsule contains copies of speeches made that day, the blueprints of the mall, a few newspapers and a dollar bill. Not nearly as interesting as if they'd marked 1962 by filling the time capsule with Marilyn Monroe's obit, a copy of the Oscar-winning film, "West Side Story," a newspaper column about John Glenn orbiting the earth, a pair of women's shoes, a man's hat, the most popular undergarments of the day and a collection of the year's top, newfangled 45 records such as Elvis' "Good Luck Charm," Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and even "Monster Mash," by Boris Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers.

When they open the new mall, scheduled for 2011, maybe they should be timely and practical with a time capsule by throwing in one of those modern "as seen on TV" gadgets that helps people find their lost car keys.