EVEN MORE LOST AND FOUND ..........
21. A Secret Mummy Found in a Statue
Location: China
Year Discovered: 1990
Est. Value: $80,000*
This ancient, thousand-year-old Buddha statue was valuable enough on its own, but what was hiding inside it shocked researchers in 1990. These historians were running tests on the Buddha idol, as they wanted to restore it to its former, glittering glory. The tests would tell them the best way to go about the restoration.
When conducting an X-ray to determine what the statue was made of, scientists were amazed to find a human skeleton. The statue was not a statue at all—it was a sarcophagus for a mummy. As a result, the scientists decided to leave the burial place as the final resting place it was intended.
22. Abandoned Burger King From the ’80s Found Hidden Behind a Wall
Location: Wilmington, Delaware
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: $50,000* (Franchise Fee)
The Concord Mall is the oldest mall in Delaware, and it has seen a number of restaurants, attractions, and shops come and go over the years. In the late 1980s, Concord opened a Burger King in the mall, and, in 2009, that Burger King’s reign as a prime mall eatery came to an end.
But, the Burger King was not torn down; it was simply walled over. In the summer of 2022, a photo went viral of the hidden BK behind the wall, and people were amazed at how its vintage aesthetic, in all its 1980s-fast-food glory, was still perfectly preserved.
23. Man Builds Hidden Studio Suspended Under Bridge
Location: Valencia, Spain
Year Discovered: N/A
Est. Value: $1,000-$5,000*
When a lot of us were kids, we built secret forts and hideaways in the backyard or the house. These beloved childhood memories are what inspired Spanish citizen Fernando Abellanas to construct a tiny studio apartment underneath a bridge in Valencia, Spain.
Abellanas, a self-taught designer, created his little “fort” with some pretty ingenious engineering. It has shelving, a chair, a desk, and a bed to sleep in. He can even fold the walls up or down to create a more open or closed space. Of all the things you’d expect to find under a bridge, a moveable studio apartment is one of the most surprising.
24. Mysterious Metal Monoliths Appear Everywhere in 2020
Location: Utah, California, Romania, and New Mexico
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: Unknown
2020 was an insane year, and one news story that kept popping up sparked quite a few alien conspiracy theories. In Utah, California, Romania, and New Mexico (prime alien locations), identical monoliths kept popping up. These long, vertical metal slabs stood ten to twelve feet long, and they appeared in these locations without warning.
People were reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and, like the totems in that movie, not much is known about these, which is likely the point. They are inexplicable and beautiful, and no one can decide whether this was an art installation, a government mind control attempt, a weird prank, an alien invasion, or something else.
25. Lavish Third-Century Home Found Under the Streets of Rome
Location: Rome, Italy
Year Discovered: 2017
Est. Value: Unknown
In 2017, excavators were digging underneath Rome to build a new metro line. As Rome is one of the oldest major cities, a lot of interesting things were found. For example, during the digging, builders found the ruins of a fancy third-century home that had been destroyed in a fire.
They also found a 1,800-year-old skeleton of a crouched dog that likely perished in the blaze. The fire stopped the ruins in their tracks, and the home, though charred, was remarkably well-preserved because of the ash. Experts believed that this home belonged to an aristocrat from Celian Hill.
26. Couple Discovers Perfectly Preserved 1961 Fallout Shelter in Their Backyard
Location: Woodland Hills, California
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $5,400*
The 1960s was an intense time for the world. America and Russia were at odds, and the possibility of nuclear war loomed large on everyone’s mind. Some people even built fallout shelters and bunkers in their backyard. In 2013, a Woodland Hills, California couple discovered such a shelter in their new home.
Though they had known about the bunker when they bought the home, they thought, at the time, that it was just a hole in the ground. When they explored the fallout shelter, they discovered a subterranean time capsule stocked with perfectly-preserved vintage supplies, including food, water, bedding, and more.
27. Farmer Finds 4,500-year-old Statuette of Ancient Goddess
Location: Gaza Strip, Palestine
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: Unknown
While working his land in the Gaza Strip, a farmer stumbled upon a limestone sculpture of Anat, an ancient Canaan goddess. The 4,500-year-old deity was the goddess of beauty, love, and war, according to Canaanite mythology. The farmer, Nidal Abu Eid, told NBC News that he immediately knew the statue was important because it had an “inscription of a snake” on its head.
The goddess, according to the legend, wore the snake as a crown of invisibility and strength. According to some historians, Anat inspired Athena, the Grecian goddess of war, as Athena is also often surrounded by snake imagery.
28. Ancient Roman Coins Found in Japanese Castle Ruins
Location: Okinawa, Japan
Year Discovered: 2016
Est. Value: $10,000-$100,000*
Katsuren Castle, an old imperial building in Okinawa, Japan, was the site of a very strange discovery: ancient Ottoman and Roman coins. Ten of these ancient coins were found in Japan’s southern prefecture, and it was a researcher from Ganoji, Toshio Tsukamoto, who spotted the coins in the ruins.
Though the excavation of Kasturen began in 2013, the coins were not discovered until 2016. Other artifacts found included Chinese ceramics and coins, which were acquired through trading with China. As for the Roman and Ottoman coins, archeologists are stumped as to how those wound up in a southern Japanese castle-like Kasturen.
29. Man Walking His Dog Finds $100,000 Floating Down River
Location: Lincolnshire, England
Year Discovered: 2013
Est. Value: $100,000*
All dog owners have taken their furry canine friend for a walk before, but one dog dad’s walk yielded something totally unexpected. While walking along the Spalding River in the U.K. in November of 2013, one man spotted wads of cash floating in the water.
He called authorities, who then retrieved the money from the Spalding. All in all, the total sum found ended up being $100,000. Some of the cash had water damage, but the majority of the notes were in good condition, according to Lincolnshire Police, who then conducted a forensic examination of the money to see if they could determine where it came from (and to whom it really belongs).
30. La Paz County Sheriff Find Underwater Skeleton Tea Party
Location: Colorado River, La Paz, Arizona
Year Discovered: 2015
Est. Value: $50*
La Paz County Sheriff deputies teamed up with the Buckskin Fire Department in Arizona when the former got a call about possible human remains in the Colorado River. A diver went down with a video camera to inspect, and there, he found two skeletons having a tea party.
The skeletons were fake, thankfully, and they were both seated upright in lawn chairs. One even wore aviators and a bib. The other held a sign that said, “Dream in the River” with a date of August 16, 2014. Was this an art installation? Discarded Halloween decorations? Some type of shrine? We may never know.
31. Atari’s “E.T.” Video Games Unearthed from New Mexico Landfill
Location: Alamogordo, New Mexico
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: $5-$10 million*
This story is a shocker with a lot of twists and turns. In the fall of 1983, video game maker Atari realized that its much-maligned E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial video game was a huge flop. So, Atari decided to do something about its excess inventory, and it secretly buried much of the stock in an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill.
The “Atari Dump” became the stuff of urban legends, as no one believed that the E.T. game had been that much of a failure. That is, until 2014, when an exploratory dig in Alamogordo revealed that the Atari Dump had been real all along. Atari’s game was so hated that burying millions of copies in the New Mexico desert was the best alternative to trying to sell them.
32. Israel Finds New Dead Sea Scrolls – 75 Years Later
Location: Murabba’at Caves, Nahal Darga Reserve, Israel
Year Discovered: 2021
Est. Value: Priceless
Israel is a common site for religiously-significant, historical finds, but it’s safe to say that no one expected this. During an exhaustive, intensive survey of the Judean Desert, The Israeli Antiquities Authority revealed that it found new fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the first find of its kind in six decades.
These new Scrolls contained pieces of the book of the twelve minor prophets, including Nahum and Zechariah. The new discovery was thought to be part of the Minor Prophets, a scroll found in the early 1950s that contains information about the End of Days. The Scrolls survived for thousands of years, thanks to the hot, arid conditions in which the fragments were found.
33. WWI Soldier’s Love Letters Found Hidden in Wall
Location: U.S.
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: N/A
World War I was an intensely traumatic time for societies all around the world, as the intensity of the weaponry and the death toll made many people believe that Earth as they knew it was ending. All soldiers fighting in the bloody battle had to hold onto were their fellow fighters, as well as correspondences from loved ones back home.
One man was excavating his home and found WWI love letters from 1918 in his attic wall. The letters were written by a man named Clement to Mary, his love. Happily the homeowner, Phil Mathies, tracked down Clement’s family, and they confirmed that he did, in fact, end up with Mary after the War.
34. Couple’s New Home Comes With Secret Hidden Room
Location: U.S.
Year Discovered: 2022
Est. Value: $3,000-$10,000* (Cost To Install)
Finding a hidden room in your new home is never a good thing, and, if scary movies tell us anything, you should be wary of such a discovery. One couple was left horrified when their Logan, Utah home unveiled a strange secret room hiding in the lounge. The entryway was located behind a bookcase.
The room was listed on the blueprints of the home, which was constructed in the late 1970s. The concrete room consisted of just one folding chair inside. Theories ranged from the room being a dungeon to being a panic room, with one Redditor saying it looked like the latter. Still, that doesn’t really explain the solitary folding chair.
35. Largest Diamond in the World Found in Arkansas
Location: Murfreesboro, Arkansas
Year Discovered: 1924
Est. Value: $1 million*
When you think of diamond mining, you probably think of African mining. However, in America, there have been some pretty unique finds of these spectacular, valuable jewels. In 1924 in Murfreesboro, Arkansas during an early digging operation, one minor found the largest diamond ever discovered in America.
Later named Uncle Sam, this diamond weighed 40.23 carats. It was white with a pink cast, and it was sold by a dealer in Boston for $150,000 to a private collector in 1971. In today’s money, that makes this diamond worth $1 million. Arkansas State Parks described Uncle Sam as a “one in a billion gem.”
36. Family Finds Bags Stuffed with $1M Lying on Road
Location: Caroline County, Virginia
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: $1 million*
Picking up trash on the side of the road sounds like a very unglamorous hobby, but, for one family, it definitely paid off. While traveling in Virginia, a family saw two white sacks on the side of the road that they believed were garbage. Intent on fixing what they thought was litter, they threw the “trash” bags into the back of their car.
When they opened them, they discovered that it was not a litterbug’s castoffs that they had found—it was one million dollars. The family did the right thing and turned the money over to the sheriff’s office. Alas, the money doesn’t seem to have come from a glamorous or blockbuster-movie-esque source. It allegedly was the property of the post office, and the bags fell out of the truck on the way to the bank.
37. Man Discovers Sprawling Tunnel System Filled With Bats in His Home
Location: Southern Italy
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: Unknown
A homeowner in Southern Italy discovered that his house had a real-life Bat Cave in it, telling his wild story on Reddit. He purchased the two-bathroom, six-bedroom house in 2020. He knew there were a few tunnels, but they were listed as “storage.” On the deed plan, the tunnels were listed as dining rooms.
When the purchaser got the chance to explore, he was amazed at how deep the tunnels went. The subterranean system was three levels spanning thousands of square feet. Unfortunately, many of these underground caverns were infested with bats, meaning that the homeowner had to be careful even attempting to explore this fascinating, creepy find.
38. Man Finds Hidden Attic Full of Valuable Antiques
Location: Geneva, New York
Year Discovered: 2020
Est. Value: $5,000* (Susan B. Anthony Photograph Value)
Talk about a gift that keeps on giving. When David Whitcomb bought a building in Geneva, New York in December of 2020, he planned to use it solely as a law office. It wasn’t until he and a friend began exploring his new buy that they discovered the structure had a hidden attic that was full of valuable, historical antique treasures.
The attic wasn’t in the home’s paperwork, as the third floor had not been used in decades. The attic, as it turned out, was the former workspace of James Hale, a historically significant photographer. In the workspace, Whitcomb found original prints of photos of figures like Susan B. Anthony.
39. Mysterious Earthen Rings Found in the Amazon
Location: Amazon Rainforest
Year Discovered: 2014
Est. Value: N/A
The Amazon holds the distinction of being the largest jungle in the world, and it is home to more than 4,700 different animal species and a whole lot of secrets. There have been things discovered in the Amazon that have defied scientific explanations. The Amazon Rings are one of these unusual findings.
Circular rings, pressed into the landscape of the Amazon, were found in the jungle by aerial view. Researchers determined that these rings predate the rainforest itself. It would be unlikely for ancient peoples to create these rings, as that would harm the Amazon, so the history behind these unusual features is, for now, inexplicable.
40. Ancient “City Of Giants” Uncovered In Ethiopia
Location: Harlaa, Ethiopia
Year Discovered: 2017
Est. Value: Priceless
Archaeologists excavating in Harlaa, Ethiopia came across an ancient city that shed light on the history of trade between Asia and East Africa. These researchers became interested in the site after hearing local Harlaa legends about a “city of giants” that existed there a long time ago.
Locals had come across the city’s ruins and, because the city was constructed out of such large stones, they assumed that the builders were a race of giants. Though no evidence points to such a people, the centuries-old site has yielded findings like rock crystal, glass vessels, glass beads, cowry shells, carnelian, pottery, and more from China, India, and Egypt. These findings led archaeologists to conclude that the ancient city was a major cosmopolitan destination in East Africa.
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