There have been many stories over the years of people discovering unexpected treasures in abandoned storage units. Some find incredible items, while others leave empty-handed.
One YouTuber, inspired by the show Storage Wars, decided to try his own luck. In a video that has now been viewed nearly 7 million times, Charlie, who goes by @penguinz0, shared his remarkable experience. He said, “I used to watch Storage Wars with my dad and thought it’d be a cool thing to do in the real world.”
Not expecting much, Charlie bought a storage unit for $2,800 for fun. Little did he know that the unit once belonged to an astronaut, and what he found inside was astonishing.
The video shows Charlie opening the unit to find piles of cardboard boxes, crates, and trash bags. Among the items he discovered were comic books, board games, and even a toilet.
However, they also found clues about the previous owner that left them amazed. There was a photograph of a NASA spaceship, documents from a flight awareness program and various space missions, and a collection of astronaut patches. They even uncovered a box labeled ‘critical space item’ and a letter addressed to ‘team members,’ thanking them for their contribution to the space program.
While the astronaut’s identity remains unknown, they found an envelope suggesting his name was Joseph.
Other discoveries included signed baseballs and a vintage Rolex, leading the pair to conclude that the unidentified astronaut seemed like ‘the coolest guy to ever live.’
“This unit has been crazy,” they exclaimed. “An astronaut’s storage unit. That is nuts.”
But they’re not the only ones to strike gold with an abandoned storage unit.
On social media, Storage Wars auctioneer Don Dotson shared a story about a man who bought a storage unit containing a locked safe for $500. The man hoped for a good return on his investment, but what he found inside far exceeded his expectations. Dotson explained that the safe contained stacks of packages covered in paper, which held a whopping $7.5 million in cash.
“$7.5 million inside of a unit, I don’t think you’d forget it, but maybe someone else was in charge of it; I don’t know,” Dotson said.
