If you want the modern equivalent of a treasure hunt, then look no further then shows like “Storage Wars.” The basic premise of this reality show franchise is that people will bid on an abandoned storage unit in the hopes of finding forgotten treasures.
Interestingly enough, they often won’t know the contents, so it’s definitely a hit-and-miss proposition. However, some individuals do very well. One example in particular would be a California couple in 2018. They bought a storage unit at auction, and it was UNBELIEVABLE just what they found…
After they submitted their winning bids, the couple went in to see what the contents of their new storage locker was. The first thing they found was a safe, and they had to hire someone to unlock it. Needless to say, they were in for a shock.
The safe contained $7.5 million in cash.
Of course, there are a number of reasons why a storage locker might be repossessed. Sometimes it’s because of nonpayment, sometimes it’s simply because the owner forgot about it, and sometimes the original owner of the storage locker passes away and other family members aren’t even aware that the unit exists at all.
What was the situation with this locker? It’s hard to say, but of course one has to wonder just why anyone who had $7.5 million sitting in a storage locker would have difficulty paying the rental fee.
This particular story was shared by “Storage Wars” reality show actor Dan Dotson. However, he wanted to respect the privacy of the couple who purchased the storage locker. That is why he made sure that this particular once-in-a-lifetime find wasn’t featured on the show.
Since this all went down, Dotson has kept the location of this locker and the couple’s name a closely-kept secret. In short, Dotson doesn’t want these individuals to be swamped by press coverage and phone calls.
Now, I know you don’t want me to say the “L” word, but you know that the “lawyers” are going to show up in this story sooner or later. Well, naturally the original owners wanted their money back, so the negotiations started.
First, the buyers of the storage unit were offered just $600,000 of the $7 million payday. However, there was some more negotiation forthcoming, and the new owners gained a settlement of $1.2 million out of the original amount. Part of the reason that the new owners went ahead and reported that they found the money is because they thought it might be “dirty.”
There is no question that Dotson has seen people see all kinds of terrific treasures in these storage lockers. However, even he admits that he has never heard of anyone finding millions of dollars in cash.
Of course, this story does bring up a lot of other questions: where did this money come from in the first place? How did it end up in that storage locker? What did the original owners initially think when they first discovered that the unit had been sold? What did the new owners think when they discovered all that cash?
It is akin to winning the lottery, and one truly has to wonder what kinds of things you would do with that immense and tremendous windfall.
Buying storage lockers was a trendy thing to do before, but this enormous prize will definitely stoke the flames and get more people interested in this pastime. What do YOU think about this amazing windfall being found in this storage locker?