It’s no secret that you can find some pretty weird and wonderful things in storage units. Usually, it’s unusual but mundane items with the occasional rare collector’s piece, but occasionally people uncover some truly surprising objects. From Hollywood to horrors, it seems there’s really nothing people won’t hide away in their storage units. Inspired by the popular storage wars programmes, we looked across the pond to try and find the most remarkable storage finds out there. While some of these discoveries were no doubt a pleasant and profitable surprise for their new owners, others are just plain gruesome.
Speedy storage finds
Some of the less weird but no less spectacular finds are of the speedy variety. Car owners are some of the most avid hobbyists around the world so it’s surprising that a couple of owners let these beauties get away.
00-Storage
Image Source: International Business Times
James Bond fans will certainly feel the envy with this one, especially since the purchaser of this abandoned container had never even seen a James Bond movie before.
Looking for some luck and paying just $100, the new owner uncovered what looked to be a white classic sports car without any wheels. It was only after loading it onto his truck and heading back home that the truth was revealed.
A passing stranger told him he recognised the unusual car as one of the famous submarine cars from the 1977 James Bond film, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. There were 7 of these Lotus models made and used in the movie, but only 6 had been in circulation. Until now. No one knows how the mysterious missing car ended up in an abandoned storage container, but the new owner certainly wasn’t complaining. He eventually sold the car in 2013 to Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, for nearly $1 million.
Shelby must-have
Image Source: LJWorld
From the famous to the fast and furious. In 2011 another lucky new owner, this time court-appointed attorney Bill Flair tasked with cleaning out some storage units, uncovered a rare 1966 Shelby Mustang. Despite being buried under mountains of clutter and being stored for almost 26 years this rare find was in impeccable condition. With only 1,100 of the cars ever produced the true value of the car is unknown, but similar cars have fetched as much as $2 million. Not a bad day at the office.
Star storage discoveries
James Bond isn’t the only famous name to be tangled up in weird storage finds. These next two discoveries go to show that when it comes to storage, we’re all equals.
Storage of steel
Image Source: Independent
Anyone that knows anything about Nicholas Cage will probably know that he’s a huge comic book fan and happens to love a good shopping spree. Put the two together and you get one amazing comic book collection.
Unfortunately for Cage, several of his prized comic books were stolen from his home in 2000. While most of them were later recovered, a 1938 first edition Action Comics book featuring the man of steel himself was never found.
That is until 2011 when an unidentified man acquired an abandoned storage unit and found the lost Superman comic amongst its contents. After contacting a dealer to get the comic valued, Cage was soon uncovered as the true owner of the stolen book. Unlucky for the new storage owner, since the comic had increased in value from the $150,000 Cage originally paid for it and eventually sold for $2 million.
Mystery, Storage
Image Source: Wikipedia
With his first movie dating all the way back to 1961, Burt Reynolds has led a long and remarkable life. Couple that with a bit of a hoarding habit and you can imagine the amazing collection of memorabilia and merchandise found in his storage units.
It’s not entirely known how or why, but Reynolds defaulted on his storage payments in 1999. For Hollywood buffs and Burt Reynolds’ fans everywhere, this opportunity was just too good to pass up, and a group eventually put their money together to win the storage unit and open the Burt Reynolds Friends Museum in Florida.
Today people from all over the world can see the random and amazing memorabilia that Reynolds collected from movie sets and famous friends over the years including a horse carriage built by Dolly Parton, a canoe from Deliverance and countless correspondence with well-known actors.
Spooky storage units
It’s true there’s plenty of treasure hidden away, but the dark depths of secure storage are apparently also perfect for hiding away things decidedly more morbid. If you’re easily spooked, it’s probably best to turn away now…
Putting your foot in it
Mr Wood, left, and Mr Whisnant. Image Source: NYTimes
Not only is this storage find one of the grisliest, it also has one of the strangest stories. After purchasing a storage unit at auction, Shannon Whisnant was the new owner of a new barbecue smoker amongst other things. Seem normal? Inside the smoker, he soon discovered he was also the new owner of a real human leg.
After calling the police Whisnant made the local news and the real owner of the leg soon stepped forward. John Wood had lost the leg in a plane crash that had also killed his father, and he had his leg embalmed as a strange memento. Unfortunately, he lost his leg for a second time when he defaulted on his storage payments.
The weirdness didn’t stop there either. The police eventually turned the leg over to a funeral home, but Whisnant was keen to get the leg back. Apparently, he’d been making the most of his unusual find by charging adults and children alike to look in the smoker and see the leg.
Shocked by the grotesque profit-making scheme and keen to get his leg back, Wood and Whisnant eventually ended up in a legal dispute, on TV. That’s right, TV Judge Greg Mathis eventually settled the dispute by ordering the leg returned to Wood.
