56. Student Buys Flea-market Sofa, Finds Venetian Painting Inside
Location: Berlin, Germany
Year Discovered: 2018
Est. Value: $27,630*
Students often hit up thrift stores as a way to find cheap furniture. One lucky student shopper purchased a pullout couch for just $215 at a store in Berlin, Germany. When she unfolded the couch at her home, she discovered a painting worth around one hundred times that amount.
Student Finds Painting in Couch (not actual couch) ©kasarp/stock.adobe.com
After having it authenticated, it was determined that the 10” x 15” painting was “Preparation to Escape to Egypt,” created by an unknown artist working with Carlo Saraceni, a famous Venetian painter, from 1605 to 1620. How the painting survived in such good condition was amazing, and it was later sold at auction for nearly $28,000 in Hamburg.
57. Tombstones Found Washed up at the Beach
Location: Ocean Beach, San Diego, California
Year Discovered: 2012
Est. Value: $1,000-$3,000 per tombstone* (Adj. For Inflation)
Well, this is certainly a good way to put a damper on a fun beach day. In 2012, two beachcombers discovered something unusual on Ocean Beach in San Francisco. They found the tombstone from twenty-year-old Emma Bosworth, who died in 1876. Just a month after this discovery, yet another tombstone floated ashore.
Tombstones Wash Up at the Beach @barnonetwork/Pinterest
This one was dated back to 1890, and it belonged to Delia Prescot, who died at just twenty-six-years-old. The tombstones found their way onto Ocean Beach because San Francisco moved cemeteries within city limits to Colma, CA. During the movie, tombstones were left behind, where they were repurposed into a sea wall. When parts of the seawall broke off, these stones washed ashore to creep out beachgoers.
58. Mysterious Cone-shaped Structure Found in the Sea of Galilee
Location: Sea of Galilee, Israel
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: Unknown
There have been a lot of strange things found at the bottom of oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water. Researchers were testing sonar equipment in Israel’s Sea of Galilee when they found something unusual at the bottom of the water.
Mysterious Cone-shaped Structure Found in the Sea of Galilee @ancientorigins/Pinterest
The cone-shaped structure confused scientists, as it was massive, stretching 230 feet in width with a height of 39 feet. It was estimated that this giant undersea cone weighed as much as 60,000 tons. The structure is similar to other burial sites discovered nearby, so it could be a ceremonial structure. But, because it is so deep underwater, it is hard to study, though researchers have estimated that the cone is 6,000 years old.
59. Couple Discovers 1950s Suitcase Packed with $23k in Rafters
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Year Discovered: 2016
Est. Value: $23,000*
While doing renovations, a couple in Cleveland, Ohio made a valuable discovery worth tens of thousands. They found a suitcase from the 1950s that was jam-packed with cash wrapped in wax parchment paper. The total value of the cash was $23,000. Based on a Plain Dealer tucked in the suitcase, the cash was hidden in 1951.
Couple Discovers 1950s Suitcase Packed With $23k in Rafters @dailymail/Pinterest
The anonymous couple, who said that they would be using the cash to pay off their mortgage, had been living in the home for years before making the discovery. He and his wife had been focusing on improving the century-old house, and this renovation task was one of the last items the couple had to accomplish.
60. Mysterious Figures Found Inside an Alabama Cave
Location: Alabama
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: Priceless
For one thousand years, the largest cave art in North America remained hidden. That is, until 2022 when researchers conducting 3D scans found massive Native American cave drawings in the dark, cramped interior of the Nineteenth Unnamed Cave, located in Alabama (the name is kept hidden to keep the cave from being vandalized by thrill-seekers).
Mysterious Figures Found Inside an Alabama Cave @S. Alvarez; illustration by J. Simek /allthatsinteresting.com
The drawings include four humanlike figures in elaborate outfits and an eleven-foot-long diamondback rattlesnake. The true history behind these figures is unknown, though some historians believed that they might depict spirits, as Native Americans regarded caves as sacred portals to the underworld.
61. A Huge, 2000-Year-Old Cat Figure Found Carved into Peru Hillside
Location: Nazca Lines, Peru
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: N/A
People have been cat-lovers for millennia. In Peru, archaeologists were conducting remodeling on a lookout point at the Nazca Lines, a UNESCO heritage site. During this process, they found the faded figure of a cat. At first, the geoglyph was hard to see because it was on a steep slope and had suffered erosion.
A Huge, 2000-Year-Old Cat Figure Found Carved into Peru Hillside @thenationalnews.com/Pinteresr.com
Peru’s Ministry of Culture said that they believed the cat outline was at least 2,000 years old, as the style of artwork indicates that it was likely created during the Late Paracas Period. It spans 121 feet long, and its lines are between 12 and 16 inches wide.
62. Treasure Trove of ‘Lost’ Hollywood Posters Found Under Floorboards
Location: Alberta, Canada
Year Discovered: 2009
Est. Value: $600,000*
When people move into a new house, they tend to start doing at least some renovation work. Certain renovations require pulling up the floorboards, and that can sometimes yield a treasure trove. One lucky homeowner in Alberta, Canada found a vast collection of “lost” film posters beneath his feet during his home repairs.
Treasure Trove of ‘Lost’ Hollywood Posters Found Under Floorboards @displate | @barnett1527/Pinterest
Posters for The Dance of Life, Red Headed Woman, and more were among the hoard. Though the posters had been tucked under the floorboards for years, their colors were still vivid, and they were in near-pristine condition. The total value of the posters was estimated by Heritage Auctions at $600,000.
63. Medical Student Finds the Fabled Forrest Fenn Treasure
Location: The Rocky Mountains
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: $2 million*
Years ago, an antiquities dealer buried $2 million worth of treasure deep in the Rocky Mountains. Forrest Fenn was an unusual man, and he created a treasure hunt that a handful of people died trying to attempt. The former art mogul invited treasure hunters to try to find what he had hidden, and years passed before someone was successful.
@Artnet News/Twitter.com
An unnamed medical student managed to find the treasure that eluded 300,000 people. The art dealer published his treasure hunt clues in The Art of the Chase, and he said that he was a mix of “sad” and “glad” when the student cracked his code.
64. Two Kids Find a Ferrari Buried in Their Backyard
Location: Los Angeles, California
Year Discovered: 1978
Est. Value: $853,000*
This is a wild story, and it all starts with two boys digging in their yard in California. They stumbled upon a rare 1974 Ferrari Dino GTS a few feet underneath the dirt in their yard. The Dino was crudely wrapped with towels and a tarp, indicating that its former owner meant to exhume it one day.
Two Kids Find a Ferrari Buried in Their Backyard @obafemee80/autojosh.com
But, that’s only half the story. As it turns out, the Dino’s former owner hired thieves to steal his own car and dump it in the ocean so he could commit insurance fraud. Instead, the thieves buried the car, hoping to return to pick it up in a plan that never panned out (though the former owner’s insurance fraud scheme worked). The plot of this wacky tale would make for a great IMAX movie.
65. Couple Finds $10M in Gold Coins Buried in Yard
Location: Northern California, USA
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: $10 million*
A Northern California couple was out walking their dog when they stumbled across an amazing discovery, right in the heart of Gold Country. Buried within the shadow of an old tree were nearly 1,500 gold coins. Though the face value of the coins was in the tens of thousands, many of the mint-condition pieces were so rare that their face value was far higher.
Much like the leprechaun on the cover of Lucky Charms boxes, this couple truly found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The pair chose, understandably, to remain anonymous in the midst of this major news story, as they wanted to avoid an influx of people coming to their property with metal detectors.
Couple Finds $10M in Gold Coins Buried in Yard @NBC News/Facebook | @buzzfeed/Pinterest
66. Cursed Bag of Cash Found in Backyard
Location: Johnsburg, Illinois
Year Discovered: 2011
Est. Value: $150,000*
When Wayne Sabaj discovered a nylon bag filled with $150,000 in his backyard, he had been unemployed for two years. But, was the bag a blessing or a curse? Sabaj turned it over to the police, who told him that if no one else claimed the money by the end of 2012, it would be turned back over to him.
Cursed Bag of Cash Found in Backyard @kenziem/Unsplash.com
Sabaj’s neighbor, Dolores Johnson, claimed that she’d gotten rid of the cash because it was “cursed.” She died shortly after telling the police about the cash’s curse. Then, Sabaj himself died, followed by his father. Though his lawyer said that no foul play was suspected in his death, conspiracy theorists still claimed that the Curse of the Nylon Money Bag was what killed him (and two other people) in the end. Perhaps we’ll one day see a Hulu documentary tracing the bag back to its wretched origins.
67. Rabbi Finds $98k in Desk He Bought on Craigslist
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $98,000*
One rabbi ordered a desk on Craigslist, as have many people done while searching for furniture. However, he got more than what he bargained for when he took the desk apart to get it inside his minivan.
Rabbi Finds $98k in Desk He Bought on Craigslist @aishcom/Pinterest
When the New Haven, Connecticut rabbi removed filing cabinets from this secondhand desk, he discovered a plastic shopping bag full of cash. The total value? $98,000. Rather than keep the money, Rabbi Muroff, a ninth-grade teacher at Yeshiva in New Haven, immediately felt the obligation to return the money. Rabbi Muroff said that it was not theirs to keep, and he and his wife, with whom he found it, knew that God would want them to do the right thing and return it.