A Man Drops to His Knees When He Sees a Safe Inside a Storage Container

Many people use storage facilities to hold their treasures and junk when they have no more room in the house. Over time, they may forget to pay the fee or decide they don’t want the items. Instead of cleaning out the container, they often leave everything for someone else to do.

There are a handful of people who will bid on the storage containers. If they win with the highest dollar amount, they get whatever is inside. This can go awry, as some only contain trash. However, it’s possible to “hit the jackpot” if you’re lucky, and that’s what this man hoped for!

Dream Come True

The man won the storage container with a final bid. However, the contents might be worthy or just trash. Then, he discovered a locked safe within and became ecstatic. However, he never expected it to bring the police to his door just a few hours later…

Thrilling Bids

The man was getting comfortable while bidding on the storage containers up for auction. Spending money like this was a huge gamble because you didn’t know what was inside. However, he’d heard stories of classic cars and riches, so he hoped for the best!

So Far So Good

He had been lucky to that point, often selling the contents of the containers for a bit more than he’d paid for the full lot. However, it took a lot of effort and work to go through other people’s junk. He was sorting it all, cleaning, and finding buyers.

Might Be Done

The thrill of the unexpected kept him going, but he was getting tired. Therefore, he decided that he would be done for the day if he didn’t find anything big in the next auctioned container. Would things work out for him?!

Getting a Peek

Joe stood outside this container with 15 to 20 others. Everyone wanted to see the inside of this 5×15 unit. They were too big to really see anything because they could hold the contents of any one-bedroom apartment!

Bid or Lose

The bids didn’t happen like you see on television, with shouting, drama, and screaming. However, it was still fun, especially when Joe went into a bidding war with an interested buyer. He liked to win, but he had a budget to stick to, so he had to be careful!

Wrapped Up Now

Joe couldn’t stop himself now. This container was full of furniture, and that was often a good sign. He could put a high price on it if it were old. Plus, there were some other things he wanted to see. However, one woman kept upping the bids.

Hefty Bidding

Things started out at just $100, which was petty high. However, he realized the container was nearly full. Therefore, he matched the bet, but the woman raised it a little more. It continued that way, and he had to wonder how much he should spend!

Reality Hit

He was in for $350 now and was adamant. He couldn’t give up that container, but it kept going higher and higher, with $500 as the winning bid. Joe won and started shaking because he’d realized that he might have spent too much.

Hidden By Stuff

Most of the onlookers moved from the site because they didn’t win the bid. However, a few wanted to see Joe enter and start sorting through things. Once he saw what was inside, he wished he hadn’t been the one who had to deal with it…

Going Through It

Slowly, Joe walked into the unit, thrilled and afraid about what he might find. The container was full of old furniture, and that made him feel a little better. However, there was a slight gap between everything, allowing him to walk around to view it all.

Breaking Even

Now, Joe felt sweat trickle down his neck because he realized that the furniture wouldn’t cover the price he’d had to pay for this unit. While they were nice pieces, he needed something better to break even. He started searching desperately.

The Chance Find

Joe’s eyes moved over the room and fell to the dull gray container lying beside a chest of drawers on the floor. Immediately, he rushed to it and tried opening it. However, it was locked. He called a friend for a drill, hoping he was in luck!

Break the Lock

Joe had to drill deep to force the lock, and then he removed the lid carefully. He found a collection of VHS tapes, pulling them out to dive deeper. Under the tapes, he saw a note which triggered chills to his body.

Mysterious

The note only had one word on it: “Don’t.” Overall, the handwriting was rough, and Joe went through the videotapes separately. Some had dates on them, but there was no other information on the labels provided.

Feeling Watched

Have you ever felt like you were being watched? It creeps in slowly, and that’s what Joe felt. In fact, he believed someone was looking at him. However, he turned to view what was behind him and saw nothing. Joe was alone.

Investigation

Things weren’t going to be easy for Joe and his amazing find. About two hours after the discovery, he heard a knock on his door. Police officers were swarming the container! What was he involved in now, and what did he find?

A Windfall

The safe held yellowed waxy paper, and Joe unwrapped a bundle to find $50 bills. As he kept going, he saw more and more money. How did it get there, and who was the rightful owner? Why were the authorities interested in this?!

Evidence

Finally, Joe realized what he had done. He was so excited to see the safe that he’d sent photographs to his girlfriend. Then, he uploaded the contents of the safe to his social media platforms. That’s why the police came.

Other Interested Parties

Though he hadn’t counted all the money, he knew he could roll around in it. He was up to $1 million. Finally, he went to speak with a police officer, but he soon learned that the cops weren’t the only people interested in the safe’s contents!

Dirty Money

All in all, there was about $7.5 million in safes throughout the storage container. However, the issue was that the owner heard about the find and tried to get his fortune back by hiring lawyers. Joe knew he was in trouble!

Questions

After Joe found the money, he began receiving threats, which frightened him. It was becoming a living nightmare, and he had many questions. Who had hidden the money there, and why hadn’t they collected it? Plus, he was worried about the VHS tapes!

Finder’s Fee

Once the police showed up, things started moving fast. Soon after that settled, Joe received a call from the original owner’s lawyers. They said he had to return all the money, though he could keep a finder’s fee of $600,000.

Threats

Though the idea of receiving some money for his trouble made him feel better, he knew that the lawyers were just threatening him. He had to think about what he should do next. However, he didn’t want to deal with the safe’s original owner!

The Tapes

Joe was told not to touch anything in the container until the case was finished. However, he had to learn what was on the VHS tapes. Therefore, he opened one of the plastic bags, put it in the VCR, and pushed the play button.

Horrible Scenes

He claimed to witness something horrible, and he couldn’t unsee it now that he’d watched the tapes. In fact, he had nightmares! Though he tried to tell himself they were fake, he wasn’t sure of that.

The Dilemma

Joe had a dilemma on his hands. The owner of the safe could find out that he’d viewed the tapes and come after him. Though that might not happen, it was a possibility. Maybe he should stay quiet on the matter.

Concerns

Maybe the original owner of the safe and VHS tapes already knew he had watched them. He had felt like he was being watched a few times. Those sleepless nights caused the images to replay in his mind. What could have been on them?!

His Discovery

Though Joe’s curiosity got the better of him, he refused to say what he’d seen on the tapes. All we know now is that he was frightened for his life. Was the money worth dealing with these people? Did they know the tapes were in the safe?

The Law’s on His Side

After talking to friends, Joe learned that the contents of a storage container weren’t owned by the tenant after it had been sold. Therefore, he had the right to keep whatever was inside because he purchased it legally. However, the lawyers didn’t back down.

Higher Finder’s Fee

The lawyers thought they were helping Joe out, so they raised the finder’s fee to over $1 million. These guys played hardball the entire time. In fact, they were capable of just about anything. What would he do?!

Considerations

Joe started to wonder how a person could forget $7.5 million that was left in a storage rental. You don’t go delinquent on something like that. Clearly, the owner wasn’t a good person, but he worried that things would get much worse for him.

Returning the Fortune

Would he get $1.2 million? That’s a significant amount of money, but it’s not the large figure he’d had in his hands while unpacking. Plus, he was being strong-armed and didn’t like it. His thoughts were jumbled, and he didn’t know what to do.

A Fair Deal

After many death threats and thoughts, Joe chose to split the money evenly. The previous owners hadn’t been back in a year to pay for or use the storage container. That’s why the auction happened at all.

Self-Storage

Self-storage is similar to the real estate industry. You pay a company or person to store your items until you need them again. It’s possible to visit virtually whenever you want, but you must pay fees. Some require daily, weekly, yearly, or monthly payments.

How It Works

Just as you would pay the landlord of an apartment unit each month, you must make the payments on the storage unit on time. If you don’t, the storage facility has certain rights. In most cases, they allow auctions to recoup some of the money they lost and push the clean-up to others.

Options

If the storage facility’s tenant doesn’t pay, the landlord will deal with them by evicting them or auctioning off the items to recover some of the loss. While this seems unfair to some, storage facilities have fine margins.

Cover the Loss

One storage owner claims that he doesn’t make much money from auctions and is trying to cover his expenses. It often ends with a loss. Generally, unpaid units don’t make money. However, it’s crucial to get the delinquent tenant out for a paying tenant to come in.

Lucky Finds

It’s often risky to buy a storage unit without knowing the contents. You’re hoping to get lucky and find some money tucked away in clothing or rare and antique furniture that will bring in cash. However, it doesn’t always happen that way.

Joe’s Situation

In Joe’s case, landing a storage unit with safes of cash inside was a terrifying experience. He will probably be more wary of buying storage containers at auctions in the future, but he’s still likely to enjoy the thrill and excitement that goes along with it.