Joe, a middle-class man had recently developed an interest in bidding. He had heard a lot about the people striking it rich by bidding on stuff in auctions. All in all his experience was good so far. Just like previous times, he made and won his bid on a storage unit. The unit had a lot of stuff crammed in it. Unfortunately, most of them irreparable. Now, the man began to wonder if he made a mistake. While going through the stuff, he got his attention caught by a container. Well, he could not hold his curiosity and opened the container that turned all his dreams into a nightmare. What worse, the man found police knocking at his door after a couple of hours of opening the container.
He was still in doubt. It was nothing short of a gamble. He was either going to have something precious or lose everything he has earned till now. The man was scared but he was hopeful too. If succeeded he was going to change his life for the better.
The man wasn't a professional bidder. He was yet to get a hang of it. As they say, man learns from practice. Betting on storage containers is full of risks. You don't know what is inside them. They could be full of garbage or hiding something precious. Many bidders had earned big bucks through this and then there were some who regretted it later.
The man had heard stories of people finding classic cars, precious gems, and antique items that get sold in millions. He too wanted to give it a shot. Who knows maybe he too would find something precious. His wife was too excited about this purchase.
So far, he had a smooth if not great experience in bidding. Every time he succeeded in selling the contents in a bit higher amount than he bought them in. However, the work does not end at buying the containers. The man has to do all the work from sorting, cleaning to look for the right and interested owner. Well, that was too much for him and so he had decided that if he doesn't get anything big in this container, he was going to quit bidding.
Many people have this hobby of bidding. Some like to bid on ancient artifacts and some bids on objects that are considered junk by many people. Joe had this experience of making money out of the junks. He knew what can earn him something and what can't.
Joe was not alone who had come to the auction for the container. The auction was going to start in a while and there was already a crowd. He did not know why people have so much interest in storage containers. There were about 15 to 20 people more. All of them were curious to see what that 5 x 15 Unit (75 sq. ft.) container held.
Well, it was impossible for the people to see all the items stored in one glance. The giant container had the capacity of keeping a couch, sporting equipment, business merchandise, bicycle, and chair with a small dining set.
The best part of any auction is bidding. It gets really fun sometimes. The bidding did not have high drama, pushing, shouting, and screaming but a peaceful one. Joe wanted to win the bet but at the same time did not want to spend too much. He did not want to go over the budget.
The container was crammed with furniture and other stuff. The man got irritated as he wanted to see each of the items but could not as they all were badly packed. Soon the bidding began. The bidding started at $100. Well, it was not an easy one as a woman was upping the bid constantly.
No doubt, the amount was huge but the container too had a lot of stuff in it. He wasn't going to give up so soon. So he bet again and the woman upped it a bit more. It went on. Who do you think was going to get the storage container?
The amount had reached up to $350. Neither the woman nor the man seemed to be willing to quit. Before they knew they had touched $400 that got followed with $450, $460, $470. In no time the bet had gone up to 500 dollars. No doubt it was too big an amount and soon the woman backed out. Joe had finally won the bet.
Well, he got the unit at $500 but was it really that much worth? He was happy and doubtful both. Maybe he had spent too much on the container. Now, he had to make at least 500$ out of it. He took the key from the auctioneer and headed towards the storage unit. The man got congratulated by many people on the way but he wasn't sure if he had done the right thing.
Well, the crowd started to disperse. Many of them went away but a few stayed to see the new owner step into the room. The people standing outside wanted to know what was inside that room. Well, when he opened the door, he could see nothing but junks. There was old furniture, fans, and many other things.
Joe entered his newly bought 5 x 15 unit with curiosity. The room had furniture scattered everywhere. There was not much space in the room just enough for a person to walk around. Well, there was nothing significant to catch his eyes. Now he began to regret his decision. The old furniture was not going to cover the expense.
Joe's eyes caught the sight of a grey container while scanning the room for any good object. The container was kept beside the chest of drawers. The man wondered what could be inside it so he decided to open it. Well, the safe was locked and there was no key around. So how was he going to open it?
Joe got an idea. He asked one of his friends to come over the place with a drill. He was planning on drilling a hole in the safe. The man had to do it very carefully. Luckily, he had some hands-on experience in drilling and stuff.
Joe put the drill through the lock to get it open. After succeeding, he carefully removed the lid only to get surprised. Joe saw a bunch of old VHS tapes. He stood back up and began to get them out. That was not it. When he was done with pulling the tapes out of the box, Joe saw a note.
The note did not have much written on it but just a word. It read "don’t." Once again, Joe went through the videotapes and spotted some dates written on it. Except for that, there was no other information. Beads of sweat broke on his forehead. Had he landed himself in some kind of trouble? He was lost in hope when another realization sent a chill down his spine.
The man got a strange feeling of being watched. He felt as if someone was standing right behind him. He turned around but much to his surprise there was no one. There was no one else in the storage container other than he. Was he seeing things?
Something was definitely wrong with this storage container. He had managed to find something extraordinary but that was too much for him to deal with. Two hours had gone by and Joe was still confused and terrified both. His anxiety doubled when he saw cops at his door.
Well, that was something he had not expected at all. It was all getting confusing minute by minute. First the safe, tapes, notes and now the cops, what was going on?
After a bit more investigation, he found bundles of yellowed wax paper. There were many bundles inside the safe and he picked one to unwrap. He gently unlayered the bundle and got stunned on finding $50 bills. Thereafter, he unwrapped all the other parcels only to see they were all full of money.
Joe recalled that he had shared the pictures of the safe's content with his girlfriend and friends on social media. It was no surprise that the police were knocking at his door. The man had counted $1 million and the counting was still on. He went to the officers and talked to one of them. It is then he learned that there were more people after the content of the safe other than the police.
In total, there were $7.5 million hidden in some safes around the containers. They had counted everything from pink slips for cars, nickels, to $100 bills. However, big trouble was afoot for Joe. The original owner had learned about the findings and paid a high-profile owner to get him his fortune back. It was not going to go well for Joe.
In fact, things began to get worse for him. What he thought to be a perfect dream turned out to be a nightmare. Joe wondered who would have stashed such a big amount in a storage container. Was it a good idea? Why the owner of the money let it be there and most importantly what was there on the VHS tape?
Well, the arrival of the police quickened the process. Joe received a call from the lawyers who told him that he would have to return the money and that he can keep $600,000 as a fee for finding. Joe had to do something to save himself from the mess.
The VHS tape had been holding Joe's curiosity. He was asked to stay away from the findings until the case winds up. The man could not hold his curiosity for long and decided to open the tapes. He detangled the plastic bag and picked one of them and pushed it into an old VCR. Thereafter, he pressed play.
What Joe saw on the tape was way beyond his imagination. He was full of fear after watching the tape. He regrets watching it now. From the day he watched it, Joe has kept mum about the tape. It seems as if he wants to forget that. He even got many nightmares about the tape.
The owner had a lot of questions going on in his head. He wondered if the owner knew about it. If they do then would they chase him? Should he not discuss this with anyone in order to avoid any problems. So, what was there on the tapes?
The curiosity of Joe had brought him here. The man had ended up finding something he had not hoped at all and now had turned his life completely upside down. The man is silent about the contents of the video. He has not shared it with anyone yet. Also, why the tape was kept inside the safe?
Joe was not going to give up so easily. The man asked his friends for a piece of advice and learned that the unit once sold is no more a property of the delinquent tenant. He was entitled to keep whatever he finds in the unit with himself.
The owner increased the finders fee to $1,200,000. Clearly, they wanted the findings at any cost. They had no idea what could they do. It was difficult to digest that someone had forgotten $7.5 million dollars in a neglected storage rental.
Does that mean he was going to get only 1.2 million? No doubt, it was a huge amount but was nothing compared to the amount he had discovered. He wanted to keep it but at the same time, he felt being challenged by their morals. The money was all his but still, he wondered if keeping the money he didn't earn was right or not.
The man wanted to be fair. He thought of spitting money down to the middle. The previous owner had not paid for the container for more than a couple of months. They were not even responding to the letters of the store owners and that is why the container was in the auction.
His wife approached the famous TV host Dan Dotson and told him about the entire scenario. Dan said, “An older Asian woman at the table next to me kept looking at me like she wanted to tell me something.” “Eventually she walked up and told me her husband works with a guy who bought a unit from me for $500 and found a safe inside.”
Dan Dotson, host of “Storage Wars” explained, “The first person that they called to open the safe couldn’t, or didn’t.” “They called a second person and when that person opened it up … inside the safe they’re normally empty, but this time it wasn’t empty. It had $7.5million (£5.8million) cash inside.”
Finding a safe with so much money in it is quite rare. Laura Dotson, "I'd feel so worried. I don't feel like it'd be clean money." "If they were offering it to me then, I would say alright then, they washed it, they made it clean and I'll accept that $1.2 million."
The finder's wife said, "They moved away, perhaps a person went to jail. Who knows what it was?" "But you know it happens all the time. This is the modern day treasure hunt." Truly, it was nothing short of a treasure hunt for them but it was to see if they were getting to keep the money or not.
“I really don’t make much money out of auctions – it’s to try to cover our expense. 90 percent of the time I don’t cover my losses. One unit may have cost me $600 and the person bids at $400, so my revenue has still suffered a loss,” a storage owner explained. “An unpaid unit does not make any money. The sooner the delinquent tenant can be moved out, the sooner a paying tenant can move in.”
Have you ever come across a treasure hunt of this sort? The man who initially suspected that he made a mistake by buying the storage unit became the owner of millions. Who knew the storage he had bought in $500 was going to get him a lot of money!