68. Live WWII Bombs Found in Orlando Neighborhood

Location: Orlando, Florida
Year Discovered: 2008
Est. Value: $10 million* (Cost Of Cleanup)
This find is not exactly one you’d want to have in your neighborhood, as it’s not quite as inoffensive as gold and other treasure. In one Orlando, Florida neighborhood, it was discovered that live World War II bombs were hidden throughout the thousand-home complex.

Live WWII Bombs Found in Orlando Neighborhood @clickorlando.com /Pinterest
The complex was once the PineCastle Jeep Range, where WWII engineers tested bombs. The Army Corps had to come in and clean up the bombs in a $10 million endeavor. All throughout the neatly-kept yards in 2008, there were little red flags denoting where the bombs were buried. Many people were, understandably, outraged that the U.S. military allowed properties to be built on a former bomb-testing range without saying anything.

69. Fairy-Tale Treasure Unearthed by Austrian Man Digging in Yard

Location: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Year Discovered: 2011
Est. Value: Unknown
If this doesn’t inspire you to go digging in your yard, nothing will. In the spring of 2011, one Austrian man was turning dirt in his backyard when he discovered a treasure trove. The trove was full of hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of jewelry, including 200 rings, ornate belt buckles, brooches, silver plates, and more.

Fairy-tale’ Treasure Unearthed by Austrian Man Digging in Yard @readersdigest/Pinterest
Many of the fragments were encrusted with fossilized coral, pearls, and other valuable materials. The objects, when evaluated, were found to be around 650 years old. Though the Austrian government never assigned a monetary value to this treasure, it did call the find one of the “most significant” discoveries of Middle Age treasure in Austrian history.

70. Mastodon Bones Found in New York Backyard Pond

Location: 2000
Year Discovered: Hyde Park, New York
Est. Value: $6,000*
Once upon a time, dinosaurs ruled the earth. To this day, millions of years later, we’re still finding old, gigantic bones from these massive creatures. In Hyde Park, New York, a man named Larry Lozier was dredging his backyard pond when he stumbled upon what he thought was a large, mud-covered log.

Mastodon Bones Found in New York Backyard Pond ©Paleontological Research Institution/Wikimedia
When he scraped some of the mud away, Lozier saw a knobby joint. He knew immediately there was something “unusual” there, and he was right. Scientists from across America converged onto Lozier’s backyard, where it was revealed that, underneath his pond, there was a hidden, well-preserved piece of a mastodon skeleton.

71. Amateur Historian Finds Bronze Age Standing Stone in Backyard

Location: Stroud, Gloucestershire, England
Year Discovered: 2001
Est. Value: Priceless
An amateur historian began looking for the Horestone, a Bronze Age Standing Stone, in 2000. The Horestone had first been referenced in the late 1100s, and Stephen Davis began searching for it hundreds of years after it was “lost.”

Bronze Age Standing Stone Discovered @bbciplayerofficial/Pinterest
Davis and his friend, historian Clare Forbes, discovered the Horestone right in Davis’ own backyard. This standing stone marks a Bronze Age burial site that dates back to 2,500 B.C. It is thought that the Horestone has magical properties, which is why it was a relief when Davis found it in perfect, intact condition. Davis said that, even after thousands of years, the Horestone still had the atmosphere of an ethereal “pagan shrine.” 

72. Seattle Underground Tour Reveals Abandoned City

Location: Seattle, Washington
Year Discovered: 1889
Est. Value: $8 million* (Cost Of City Damage)
If you’re ever in Seattle, Washington and have the opportunity to take the Seattle Underground tour, you should definitely do so. The interconnecting tunnels beneath Seattle consist of a subterranean series of hallways, corridors, basements, and more. Inside underground Seattle, you can see the ruins of what were once houses, hotels, and shops.

Seattle Underground Tour Reveals Abandoned City @capturetheatlas/Pinterest
In the mid-1800s, all of these wooden buildings were at ground level until they were decimated in an 1889 fire started by a woodworker who had a mishap at the stove. The Great Seattle Fire destroyed more than 25 blocks and cost $8 million in damage. During the rebuild, the streets were raised twenty-two feet, causing the former city to be buried but not forgotten.

73. Jawbone of Fabled Sea ‘Devil’ Discovered in Russian Lake

Location: Lake Labynkyr, Siberia, Russia
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: Unknown
Lakes can be just fearsome as oceans when it comes to creatures lurking within their depths. In Lake Labynkyr in Siberia, Russia, divers discovered the remains of an unknown “Sea Devil.” Locals first claimed a devil lived in the lake in the 1800s and, in 2013, those claims were validated.

Jawbone of Fabled Sea ‘devil’ Discovered in Russian Lake @ranker/Pinterest
The massive jaw and skeleton were found at the bottom of the lake, thousands of feet below the surface of the freezing water. Divers took a scan of the “Sea Devil,” and that scan didn’t show a ton of detail, so it wasn’t clear whether the devil was a giant fish, reptile, amphibia, or something else.

74. A Garden Doorstep at a Home in the UK Identified as a Rare Sri Lankan Artifact

Location: Devon, England
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $47,500*
A garden doorstep found at a home in Devon, U.K. was far more than what it appeared at first glance. Homeowners had the doorstep appraised, only to find out that it was not a step at all—it was an ancient moonstone from Sri Lanka.

A Garden Doorstep at a Home in the Uk Identified as a Rare Sri Lankan Artefact ©Astronomyinertia/Wikimedia
These Sandakada Pahana were found in temples in the Anuradhapura Period (400 B.C. to 1,000 A.D.) in Sri Lanka. The homeowner said that the stone came with her home, which her family purchased in 1950. The stone, which Sri Lanka hinted (to no avail) that it actually wants back, sold for nearly $50,000 at a Bonham’s auction in 2013.

75. Boy Finds Cheetah in His Garden

Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Year Discovered: 2008
Est. Value: $1,000-$2,000*
Toby Taylor was nine years old in 2008 when he stumbled upon a discovery that led him running to his mom. He found a cheetah in his back garden in Cambridgeshire. He didn’t try to pet it, instead running in and telling his mother, who at first didn’t believe him.

Boy Finds Cheetah in His Garden @the_telegraph/Pinterest
When his mom, Jules, saw it for herself, she dialed the emergency number. As it turned out, the cheetah was an escapee from the Hamerton Zoo. A short time after her 999 call, the police and zookeepers showed up to collect the spotted, speedy feline, who was no doubt confused about how he ended up in someone’s garden.

76. Woman Finds Tunnel System of Crawl Spaces and a Secret Room in ‘Creepy’ Home

Location: U.S.
Year Discovered: 2021
Est. Value: Unknown
This find is definitely material for the next horror movie to hit theaters. In 2021, a woman on TikTok with the username @j_babii shared a series of videos documenting herself finding weird spaces around her rented home, which was constructed in 1959.

Creepy Crawlspaces @j_babii/TikTok
These crawl spaces formed a Coraline-esque system around the home. For example, one miniature door at floor-level on the first floor led to a crawl space, which in turn led to a tunnel that came out in the ceiling of another room. Needless to say, @j_babii was understandably freaked out, calling the tunnels “things that don’t make sense” in her home.  

77. Couple Finds 66 Bottles of Prohibition-era Whisky Hidden in Walls

Location: Ames, New York
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: $66,000*
Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker discovered something unusual in their 100-year-old home. The couple found sixty-six Prohibition-era bottles stashed in the walls of the centurion abode. The pair had been told that their house was built by an infamous bootlegger, but, at the time, they brushed it off as a mere local legend.

Couple Finds 66 Bottles of Prohibition-era Whisky Hidden in Walls @JargalEnkhiin/Twitter
That is, until 2020 when they made their boozy discovery during a home renovation. Nick and Patrick found the bottles stashed in hideaways accessed through hatches in the floor and walls. Whiskey from the Prohibition Era is valued at around $1,000 per bottle, according to Blacktail NYC, so it appears that the Ames couple was sitting on a whiskey-filled gold mine.

78. Road Workers Find an Ancient Chinese Mummy

Location: Taizhou, Jiangsu, China
Year Discovered: 2011
Est. Value: N/A (Human Remains)
It’s amazing how many ancient, historical relics can be found by mere chance. In March of 2011, road workers in China were hard at work digging a new pass when they discovered the incredibly well-preserved remains of a 700-year-old woman from the Ming Dynasty, which ruled China from 1368 to 1644.

Road Workers Find An Ancient Chinese Mummy ©Imaginechina Limited/Alamy
The woman was high-ranking, judging from her form, which was ensconced in a wooden tomb. The woman’s features, from her face to her shoes, have remained in their original condition, and they have hardly deteriorated. Through this discovery, anthropologists have been able to get a true glimpse of what life was like for people in the Ming Dynasty.

79. 11 Venomous Indian Cobras Discovered in Missouri

Location: Springfield, Missouri
Year Discovered: 1953
Est. Value: $1,650*
The Indian Cobra is found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Nepal. The Naja naja is one of the species responsible for the most snakebites in India. The very venomous snake has a painful, powerful bite that can lead someone to ventilatory failure quite quickly.

11 Venomous Indian Cobras Discovered In Missouri ©Three Alienz/Shutterstock
The last place you’d expect to find the Indian Cobra is in the middle of the U.S., but that is exactly what happened in 1953 in Missouri. Eleven of these terrifying reptiles escaped through the streets of Springfield, keeping residents on their toes from August until October. Several residents ran into these snakes, fighting them off with garden hoes and whatever else was on hand. It wasn’t until thirty years later that it was revealed that a local pet shop owner set these venomous snakes loose.

80. Turkey’s Newest Ancient Underground City Accidentally Discovered by Workers

Location: Nevsehir, Turkey
Year Discovered: 2019
Est. Value: N/A
In 2019, workers in the Nevsehir Province of Turkey were carrying out an urban renewal project when they discovered something very creepy and unexpected. A 5,000-year-old city measuring 100 acres (five million square feet) was 370 below the ground.

Turkey’s Newest Ancient Underground City Was Accidentally Discovered By Workers @al4mort/Pinterest
The three-floor city had tunnels, homes, houses of worship, and more. Parts of the city were flooded, which explained the flooding problems that Neveshir had been having. In one of the rooms of this long-lost haven was a small figurine, which anthropologists in Turkey believe was some sort of icon to the former denizens of this underground city.

81. The Williams Enigmalith: A Strange Rock

Location: Unknown (Finder Refused To Say)
Year Discovered: 1998
Est. Value: $500,000*
In 1998, John J. Williams was hiking when he noticed an unusual metallic protrusion sticking out of the dirt. He dug up what was a strange-looking rock, and he took it home, cleaning it. He had it analyzed, and the rock was made from granite, feldspar, and quartz. Williams, an electrical engineer, believed that the rock was around 100,000 years old.

The Williams Enigmalith: A Strange Rock @TheEpochTimes/Pinterest
The rock had an electrical component to it that had a weak magnetic attraction, and this device was part of the rock—it hadn’t been welded or soldered. Williams never revealed the precise location of this find, though he did say he found it far from human civilization. His theory? This rock is an ancient alien device.