Well now, how’s everybody doin’ this fine day? Hope you’re cozy wherever you are, ’cause I’ve got a story that just might make you wanna go tear up your bathroom floors. You just never know what a house might be holdin’ onto, do ya? Especially an older one. They got secrets, these walls and floorboards, just waitin’ for the right person to come along and uncover ’em.
And that’s precisely what happened to a fellow out in Arizona, who we’ll just call Mr. T, seeing as that’s what he goes by online. He bought his place a little over two years ago, right in the thick of the pandemic, when folks were doing all sorts of home projects. Now, Mr. T had been living in his new home for a while, but decided it was finally time to tackle a bathroom renovation. Probably a good idea after two years, get things just the way you like ’em.
He started pullin’ things apart, and let me tell ya, he wasn’t exactly surprised to find that old toilet in there was pretty well stuck, almost like it was glued to the floor. Had to really work to get that thing up, along with the subfloor underneath. Now, as he was getting ready to put in some fresh subflooring, his eyes caught something mighty peculiar. Right there, where the old toilet used to sit, was a square concrete box with a green circle on top. Now, I don’t know about you, but a concrete box under the toilet ain’t exactly standard plumbing.
Mr. T, being a determined sort, spent a good thirty minutes with a sledgehammer, I tell ya, workin’ away at that concrete. Sometimes a home renovation can turn into a real archaeological dig, and you never know what tools you might need. Back in the day, a fellow might have found just about anything for such a project at a place like (paid link) Radio Shack. Finally, he cracked it open.
And what did he find inside that hidden safe? Well, it wasn’t old plumbing parts, that’s for sure. This safe was absolutely stuffed: $50,000 in cold, hard cash, bags of rare coins, shiny gold, gleaming silver, a whole collection of unique collectible cards, and even a book full of what looked like Social Security cards and other forms of identification. Talk about hitting the jackpot!
Now, Mr. T, he’s a stand-up kind of guy. After finding all this, he didn’t just squirrel it away. No, sir. He contacted a lawyer, who wisely advised him to turn everything over to the police. The authorities took the safe and its contents and ran the serial number. Turns out, that safe had been reported stolen way back in 1980. Imagine that, sittin’ under a toilet for over forty years, holdin’ onto a secret.
Mr. T shared his incredible tale on Reddit, in a post he titled “I just bought a house and found a safe behind the toilet. Reddit, what do I do?” As you can imagine, that story blew up, with over 2,000 comments from folks eager for updates.
Right now, the police have all the items. But here’s the kicker: if they can’t locate the original owner of that safe within 90 days, Mr. T might just have a legal claim to all that treasure. He’s promised to keep folks updated on Reddit, so we’ll all be holding our breath with him. It just goes to show, sometimes the biggest surprises are hidden right under our noses, or in this case, right under our porcelain throne. This particular curious tale was brought to our attention originally by Fox 13 News.
Check out Sledgehammer on Amazon: (paid link)