15 Mysterious Safes And Their Unexpected Contents
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? The Reddit What'sInThisThing page has a bevy of stories about safes being opened and weird stuff showing up where you least expect it. It’s rare that you find a safe in your home or on your property, but, when you do, it’s best to take step-by-step notes in order to showcase your sleuthing skills and build a mystery. That's so that, when you inevitably find a cache of Confederate money or a series of items relating to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, you feel like you’ve provided a satisfactory story for everyone involved. Of course, not all mystery safes opened contain the spoils of a bygone era; some of them are just full of spiders. Keep reading to find out which safes are full of secrets and which ones are just kind of gross.
What would you do if you found a mysterious safe in your home? Would you immediately run out and rent a blowtorch to crack it open? Or would you grab the first heavy thing within reach and start smashing the handle? On this list of mysterious safes, you’ll see a variety of methods for opening lock boxes that contain everything from incredibly illegal material to neat-o relics from history. If these stories of people finding cool things in safes inspire you, start boning up on your lock-picking skills and start hunting for safes; maybe you’ll even become Reddit famous.
What Would You Guess Was In A Women's Suffrage Time Capsule?
To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the International Council of Women (ICW) in 2013, the folks who worked at the New York City headquarters of the ICW decided to open a safe that had been sitting in the corner of their offices for longer than anyone could remember. Prior to the opening of the safe, there was mass speculation online as to what could be contained within, with guesses that included everything from historical documents to old booze.
When the safe was opened, the ICW found items that ranged from the 1930s to the 1950s; these included a change purse that held currencies from Mexico and France, letters pertaining to ICW business from back in the day, and miniatures of murals commissioned for the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.
The coolest thing that they found was a replica of Susan B. Anthony's gavel, used when she presided over the ICW.
Man Opens Safe And Finds A Treat
Back in 2013, a man in Toledo, Ohio, ordered a fancy new 1,000-pound safe from the Champion Safe Co. of Provo, Utah, and he discovered something totally groovy when he opened it up. The safe, which Champion Safe Co. made sure to say was built in Mexico, held 10 28-pound packages of marijuana, a value of $420,000.
In some instances, that would be considered excellent customer service, but this isn't the kind of "thanks for your business" that the customer was expecting. The owner of the safe – who has remained anonymous – was cleared of all charges by the DEA, but the independent driver who delivered the safe from Mexico has since been reported missing.
A Man Found A Perfectly Preserved WWII Case In His Back Yard
While digging out a septic tank area for an outdoor toilet at his cottage in Besh-Küngöy, Kyrgyzstan, Lukichev Dmitry stumbled upon an Army field locker of the Third Reich buried in his backyard. After cleaning off the locker, he discovered that the box was a baggage parcel from 1944 or '45, and a rubber seal around the edges had kept the contents moisture free and perfectly preserved.
Inside, he found the effects of a Wehrmacht officer, including a jacket, gloves, a sweater, removable collars, braces, socks with foot bindings, dust masks, and a clothes brush.
How Much Would You Pay For A Live Grenade?
If you were purchasing a safe off of Craigslist from a guy who said that his ex-tenants were taken to prison, and all that was left was a safe, would you want to pay more or less for the safe? When this happened to a Redditor going by the name "cakegirl8," she got more than she bargained for the moment she opened a used safe in 2015 and found a live grenade and a hard drive full of child pornography.
She contacted the local authorities; they picked up the contents; and she likely soaked her new safe in hand sanitizer.
The Contents Of This Canadian Safe Make Perfect Sense
In January 2017, a safe kept in the historic Dineen building in Toronto was busted open, and, after years of speculation, safe-heads across the world were treated not to gold bars or a cache of 100-year-old maple syrup, but to some documents and very old skates.
The owner of the building, Clayton Smith, hid his disappointment when he told the CBC: "It's kind of nice to have stuff to mill through. There's bound to be some interesting documents. There's everything from what porta-potties rented for 55 years ago... It's kind of neat in the developer's world." Sure it is, Clayton. Sure it is.
Confederate Money Was Found In An Old Northern Safe
In the heart of the Massachusetts State House, sits an ornately decorated safe the size of a small car, and, until 2013, no one knew what was inside. When the safe was finally opened, the contents proved to be eclectic and contained Confederate money from 1864, WWI savings bonds, and metal stamps with the engraved signatures of former treasurers, including Foster Furcolo, who became the state’s 60th Governor in 1957.
Along with those items, were vintage photographs, stock certificates, and magnetic tape from 1971 that contained antique computer files. No one was sure how so many varied items ended up in one place.