After a long day of shopping at the Jackson Target Saturday, 38-year-old Connie Shepherd couldn't wait to try out her brand new handbag.

"I opened the zipper and found a stack of giftcards in the purse," she tells us.

Not one, not two, not seven, 10 or 15--- 24 giftcards were nestled neatly in the inside pocket. The cards were from, well, anywhere but Target: Talbot's, Toys R' Us, Kohl's, J. Crew, you name it.

Shepherd found her hands piled with pre-loaded plastic.

"$100, $25, $40," she lists as the amounts on the back of the cards. "Then you're really freaking out."

"There's several hundred dollars worth of gift cards here," says Jackson Police Deputy Chief John Holda.

Shepherd called the Jackson Police first thing Sunday morning. When they investigated the cards, they found that they had balances on them-- some had been partially used, some were new.

"They're not mine, so I don't want to get in trouble. I don't know why they were there. It was just the right thing to do," explains Shepherd about why she returned them.

"She thought it doesn't belong to me, maybe I'll get it back to the right person," Holda says.

There are a lot of theories about how the giftcards could have gotten in the purse. Secret Santa? Pick-pocketer stashing goods in a purse at Target? But at this point, it's all speculation.

"It's possible someone had a lot of giftcards they weren't using, they wanted to give someone an early Christmas present," Holda says.

Target's Alana Ruvolo, who works human resources at the Jackson location, says it's doubtful someone returned the item with the cards in them, because they go through all items before they go back on the shelf.

She adds no one has called to say they've lost the cards.

"This is definitely a different side of things, especially coming out of Black Friday," Ruvolo says.

"Do you think someone was trying to brighten your holiday?" we asked Shepherd. She laughed. "I never thought of it that way... Maybe if there was a note in there that said Merry Christmas!"

No note, just giftcards, and a strange shopping surprise.

Jackson police say there have been no recent reports of pick-pocketers in the area, so they're not exploring that as a possible explanation.

If they do not find the rightful owner of the giftcards after a certain amount of time, the cards will be returned to Shepherd.