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00:00Mysteries can be buried anywhere, under the earth, beneath the sea, or even right under
00:22our own feet. And when we stumble upon them, sometimes what we find can change history.
00:34Tonight, lost national treasures from a Grand Slam score at a garage sale.
00:42Most people wouldn't give this old wooden bat a second look, but Bruce grew up watching
00:47the game, and something about this bat just seems really familiar to him.
00:52To an American masterpiece, sealed behind a secret wall.
00:57He's afraid of losing the painting in the settlement, so he secretly makes a copy.
01:03Even the staff at the Norman Rockwell Museum thought they had the original.
01:07To a discarded piece of Hollywood history.
01:10This thing is incredibly detailed, and it doesn't really seem like a trash can at all.
01:16It gets Todd thinking, could this be a prop from the actual Star Wars movie?
01:22Join us now, because nothing stays hidden forever.
01:27Everyone knows tripping houses comes with risks.
01:41But for one man, a routine renovation leads to something unexpected.
01:47A discovery that blows the roof off his expectations.
01:50In 2013, in the small town of Elbow Lake, Minnesota, a guy by the name of David Gonzalez buys a home that was built in 1938 for $10,100.
02:04He's a house flipper, and while the house has good bones, that's about it.
02:09He begins demo on the investment property, but he soon notices something strange within the walls.
02:19The house isn't insulated like you would expect.
02:22It's not foam or fiberglass.
02:24There's a lot of crumpled newspapers in between the studs.
02:26Now, for David, this is just another day at the office, so he starts pulling out the crumpled pieces of newspaper section by section, until he sees something colorful in between all of that black and white.
02:39He pulls it out from the newspapers and realizes it's a comic book.
02:43And on the cover is none other than the Man of Steel himself, Superman.
02:48The comic is showing its age.
02:52It's beat up on the corners.
02:54It's yellowed.
02:55But David immediately notices something startling.
02:58The date on the cover.
03:01June 1938, the same year the house was built.
03:05David isn't a comic book collector, but he obviously knows that Superman is one of the most iconic comic book heroes of all time.
03:12So, he figures a really old Superman comic has to be worth something.
03:19David leaves the newspapers in a pile and jumps online.
03:23What he finds nearly knocks him off his feet.
03:27In David's hands is Action Comics number one.
03:32This is the holy grail of comic books.
03:37This comic isn't just the origin story of Superman.
03:41It's like the Big Bang for the modern day superhero genre.
03:46Without Action One, you don't get Batman.
03:48You don't get Wonder Woman.
03:49You don't get Spider-Man.
03:51You don't get all of DC Comics, Marvel Comics.
03:53You don't get superhero comics at all.
03:56But before it kick-started a billion-dollar superhero empire, Action Comics number one was just another novelty on the newsstand.
04:06Back in 1938, when Action Comics number one was released, it was selling for about ten cents a copy, which in today's money is around two bucks.
04:15At the time, nobody would have thought anything of its worth beyond its inherent entertainment value.
04:21You read it, you enjoy it, you throw it out, or in this case, stuff it inside the walls of a new house.
04:27Around 200,000 copies were originally printed, and today, only about 100 are believed to still exist.
04:34So David could be sitting on a gold mine worth far more than the house flip.
04:40Needless to say, the man is thrilled.
04:42And so he brings it home, and he wants to show it off to his family, and they're all just as excited.
04:47They invite friends and more family to come over and see this rare find, and everything is going well, until his wife's aunt shows up.
04:57She grabs Action Comics number one and starts waving it around.
05:03David attempts to grab it back.
05:07In the chaos of the moment, the back cover rips.
05:11Damaged or not, this is still one of the most sought-after comic books in the world.
05:19So David puts it away for safekeeping until he can put it up for sale at auction.
05:24Even in less than perfect condition, it sells for a whopping $175,000.
05:31But experts think that the tear cost David anywhere between $50,000 and $75,000.
05:38So without that tear, this copy of Action Comics number one could have sold for a quarter of a million dollars.
05:46Thanks, Auntie.
05:47It was a costly mistake, but David bought the house for just over $10,000, and he's walking away with more than 17 times that,
05:56from something that he literally pulled out of the wall.
05:59All in all, it's a much better return than any house he could have flipped.
06:04Meanwhile, in the heart of Iowa, another sharp-eyed citizen makes a major league discovery, hiding in plain sight.
06:19In 2013, Bruce Skopecky visits a garage sale in Des Moines, Iowa.
06:25He's a history buff, and he likes to see if there's anything of historical value that he can then resell for pocket money.
06:31He's not looking for anything in particular, but as he comes to the table full of sports gear, he spots something interesting.
06:40It's an old, beaten-up wooden baseball bat tucked underneath a few other metal ones.
06:46The price tag for this bat is a dollar.
06:48Now, most people wouldn't give this old, wooden bat a second look,
06:53but Bruce grew up watching the game, and something about this bat just seems really familiar to him.
07:00The grip of this bat is very distinctive.
07:03It has a thick handle and base with a unique knob.
07:08And that's when it hits him.
07:09He's seen a bat like this before.
07:12Bruce is a baseball nut.
07:14He knows most players' names are burned into the barrel of the bat,
07:17and he has a sneaking suspicion of whose name is on this one.
07:22Excitedly, he approaches the woman running the sale, Sue McEnany.
07:26He asks for a pencil.
07:28She hands one over, and Bruce gently rubs the pencil over the barrel of the bat.
07:35Suddenly, something extraordinary happens,
07:38as if by magic, a name slowly appears.
07:42Jackie Robinson.
07:43In the 1940s and 50s, Jackie Robinson played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball.
07:51He was a lifetime 313 hitter, a World Series champion, and now a Hall of Famer.
07:57But today, he's much more known for breaking all kinds of barriers.
08:02Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era.
08:07So he changed not only baseball, but the country forever.
08:13Robinson's legacy is legendary.
08:16So how did his bat end up at a Midwestern garage sale?
08:20Turns out Sue's uncle, Joe Hatton, also known as Lefty Joe,
08:25pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1946 to 51.
08:29When Bruce discovers Jackie Robinson's name on the bat,
08:33Sue starts to connect the dots.
08:35Her uncle Joe played five seasons for the Dodgers alongside Robinson
08:39and was even the starting pitcher on the day that Robinson broke the color barrier
08:43during his Major League Baseball debut.
08:46The two weren't just teammates.
08:48They were friends.
08:49They even roomed together on the road,
08:51something a lot of Jackie's white teammates wouldn't do at the time.
08:55Sometime in their playing days,
08:59he must have been gifted the Jackie Robinson bat or traded for it
09:02because he ended up with it.
09:04It seems crazy, but Sue just assumed that this was just one of Uncle Joe's old bats.
09:11She even let her kids use it to hit balls and rocks around when they were younger.
09:15Thankfully, all that backyard batting didn't take a hit on its value.
09:20Sue gets the bat appraised, and the result is a grand slam.
09:24In its current condition, it's worth about $20,000.
09:28But it could be worth even more if she has it professionally restored.
09:33Sue has no plans to sell the bat,
09:35saying it's something that belongs to our family.
09:39It's incredible to think how close she was to parting with this precious artifact.
09:44But thanks only to the kindness of a stranger who was doing the right thing,
09:48this American treasure remains in her family's hands.
09:56Sometimes the most valuable finds are the ones we overlook.
10:01Take this next story about a rare piece of American history.
10:10March 1962.
10:1356-year-old George Walton is driving in heavy rain in North Carolina.
10:17When his car collides head-on with another vehicle,
10:26tragically, he doesn't survive the crash.
10:29The police arrive, and it's a mess.
10:32There's glass, there's metal, there's just debris everywhere.
10:36But there's something unusual scattered around the highway.
10:42Dozens upon dozens of coins,
10:44but these aren't just regular nickels and dimes.
10:46The coins look old and really unfamiliar to the officers,
10:50so they pick them up along with George's other belongings.
10:53George was a bachelor,
10:55and so his estate gets managed by his siblings,
10:57and ultimately his coins get sent to an auction house to sell.
11:01It turns out, George's quiet hobby is worth a fortune,
11:05and his collection sells for a staggering $875,000.
11:10But not all the coins are sold.
11:13One of them is a 1913 Liberty Nickel,
11:16one of the rarest coins in history.
11:19This five-cent piece is engraved with a likeness of Libertas,
11:24also known as the Goddess of Liberty,
11:27whose image originates from ancient Roman coins.
11:31Liberty Nickels officially stopped being released in 1912,
11:35But in 1913, a mint employee named Samuel W. Brown
11:39ended up secretly striking five of these to sell on the black market.
11:44Over the years, four of them have been located,
11:47but the elusive fifth Liberty Nickel has yet to be found.
11:51The nickel has all the markings of a historic discovery
11:55until experts take a closer look.
11:58Unfortunately, the coin is determined to be a fake.
12:03George's siblings take the forgery,
12:05put it in a closet, and forget about it.
12:08Dismissed and forgotten,
12:09the nickel stays buried for decades
12:12until a 2003 coin convention in Baltimore
12:17puts it back in the spotlight.
12:20The main attraction is that this coin convention
12:23is featuring the 1913 Liberty Nickel.
12:28The organizers of the show put out a call to the public
12:31hoping that someone might come forward with the final coin.
12:35And that's when George's family starts to wonder,
12:38should they give the fake coin one last look?
12:42So they dig it out, head to the convention,
12:45and in a secret room at the Baltimore Convention Center,
12:48six experts compare their nickel with the other four,
12:52including one that has been authenticated by the Smithsonian.
12:57And it turns out the so-called fake is actually real
13:02and one of the most sought-after coins in history.
13:05In the 1940s, George purchased the coin for $3,750.
13:11He held onto it for years,
13:13and in 1962, he packed it up alongside his collection
13:16and drove them to a coin convention.
13:20Sadly, he never made it, dying in that fatal car crash.
13:24In 2013, George's family puts the Liberty Nickel up for auction,
13:29and it sells for $3.2 million.
13:33All told, George's collection brings in over $4 million.
13:40A nickel everyone thought was worthless
13:42turns out to be priceless.
13:44So, as they say,
13:47don't take any wooden nickels,
13:48but buy all the rare ones you can.
13:53Not all treasures shine.
13:55Some are hiding on a dusty shelf,
13:57just waiting for the right person to find them.
14:02On February 19, 1988,
14:05a fisherman wanders into a New Hampshire book barn.
14:08It's basically an old, rustic shop full of used books.
14:13Amid all the mundane stacks of old and used whatever,
14:18he finds a beaten-up old copy of Tamerlane and other poems.
14:24But strangely, the author is not listed by name.
14:29It says it was written by a Bostonian.
14:32It just so happens that the fisherman had recently read about Tamerlane,
14:37which happens to be one of Edgar Allan Poe's earliest works.
14:41So, he figures for $15,
14:43he might as well own this 40-page poem.
14:45Back home, the fisherman's curiosity gets the better of him,
14:48and he can't get past the fact
14:49that if this is an Edgar Allan Poe book,
14:52why is it not attributed to Edgar Allan Poe?
14:55There can't be two 40-page epic poems called Tamerlane.
15:01So, he starts doing a little bit of digging.
15:05When he first published Tamerlane in 1827,
15:09Poe was an 18-year-old nobody,
15:11so he published it anonymously under the pseudonym a Bostonian,
15:16hoping it would lend air of mystery.
15:19He only has about 50 copies printed,
15:22and he sends them off to critics,
15:23and ultimately, no one is really interested,
15:26and most of the copies sort of vanish into obscurity.
15:31By 1988, there are only 11 known copies to exist.
15:37Later publications of Tamerlane do include Poe's name on it,
15:40but this first edition is so rare,
15:43so sought after by collectors,
15:45they call it the Black Tulip of Literature.
15:49Could it be possible this is one of those rare first editions?
15:52The Fisherman doesn't know for sure,
15:55but the book looks old,
15:57and his research has been exciting him,
15:59so he calls the Sotheby's Boston office.
16:01Their response is immediate.
16:04They dispatch an armored car to his house
16:07and take the book to their New York City headquarters.
16:10The Sotheby's experts meticulously compare his version
16:15with the other 11 known versions.
16:17They check the paper quality,
16:20the typography, even the binding,
16:22and when they're done, the verdict is clear.
16:25This is the genuine, real deal,
16:29authentic, rare first edition of Tamerlane.
16:35This is massive.
16:37We all know that Poe goes on to become
16:39one of the great American authors,
16:41which makes a rare edition
16:44of his first ever published work
16:47an incredibly valuable find.
16:49So the Fisherman decides to put his 150-year-old copy
16:53of Tamerlane up for auction,
16:55and that Fisherman's little old $15 book
16:58sells for $198,000.
17:03Now that is a really good catch.
17:07Imagine you're cleaning out your father's estate
17:15with your brother,
17:16sorting through years of memories.
17:19Then hidden among it all,
17:21you find something that doesn't belong here,
17:24something that should be hanging on a museum wall.
17:29In 2006, Dave and Don Tracty
17:33are sorting through some things
17:34in their late father's home.
17:35Their father, Donald Tracty Sr.,
17:38was a well-known cartoonist,
17:40and they're just going through his estate
17:41to see what they want to keep
17:43and what they want to sell.
17:45They've been through these rooms hundreds of times,
17:48but as they're talking about their dad's life
17:50and reminiscing,
17:52something odd catches their eye.
17:54It's a bookcase that their father built himself,
17:57but it looks a little off.
17:59The brothers notice a gap
18:01in the wood-paneled wall behind it,
18:02and when they press into it,
18:05the wall slides open.
18:10Behind the false wall,
18:12they find paintings,
18:13and not just any paintings.
18:16These are by artists
18:18that were very prominent
18:19in publications like the Saturday Evening Post.
18:22You're talking about artists like Mead Schaefer,
18:24George Hughes, Gene Pelham,
18:26and while those paintings are interesting,
18:28there's one piece in particular
18:30that stops the brothers' cold.
18:33It's Breaking Home Ties
18:34by Norman Rockwell,
18:36one of America's most renowned artists
18:38from the middle of the 20th century.
18:41The brothers are confused.
18:43They're very familiar with the painting,
18:44and they know that it's supposed to be
18:46at the Norman Rockwell Museum,
18:48and that's because back in the 1970s,
18:50their dad donated to them,
18:51and it's been on display ever since.
18:53To solve the mystery,
18:55the brothers turn to experts,
18:57and what they uncover
18:58raises more questions than answers.
19:02After testing and brushstroke analysis,
19:06it's determined that the painting
19:08in their father's secret room
19:10is authentic.
19:12The brothers are stunned.
19:14They work with investigators
19:15to try to put the pieces together,
19:17and soon a picture starts to emerge.
19:19Back in the 1950s,
19:21their father,
19:22a cartoonist that was known
19:23for his comic strip Henry,
19:25lived in Arlington, Vermont,
19:27and his neighbor was none other
19:28than renowned Americana artist
19:30Norman Rockwell.
19:32The two men became friends,
19:34and at one point,
19:35Tracty bought Breaking Home Ties
19:37from Rockwell for $900.
19:39It then hung proudly
19:40in the family home for years,
19:42alongside other works
19:44the cartoonists had collected.
19:46But in 1973,
19:47Tracty and his wife
19:48go through a contentious divorce,
19:50and he's afraid of losing
19:51the painting in the settlement.
19:54So as a talented artist
19:56in his own right,
19:57he secretly makes a copy,
19:59a near-perfect one.
20:02Even though Tracty wound up
20:03getting to keep the painting
20:04in the settlement after all,
20:06he was still paranoid
20:07that someone would try
20:09to take it away from him.
20:10So he donated the copy
20:13of the Norman Rockwell painting
20:14to the museum,
20:15all while secretly keeping
20:17the actual painting
20:18in his home
20:19so that no one
20:20would go looking for it.
20:22His copy was so good
20:24that even the staff
20:25at the Norman Rockwell Museum
20:26thought they had the original.
20:28That is, until the Tracty brothers
20:30discovered that hidden space
20:31up in Vermont.
20:35In late 2006,
20:37the Tracty family decides
20:38to sell the original painting,
20:40and it nets an amazing sum
20:42of $15.4 million.
20:45It's certainly an American story,
20:47just not the type
20:49that Rockwell painted.
20:52Next, another work of art
20:54uncovered in an even more
20:56unlikely place, church.
21:02In the fall of 2022,
21:05a carpenter named Paul Brown
21:06is walking through an old church
21:08in West Philadelphia.
21:10It's being renovated
21:12by new owners,
21:13and they're gutting the place,
21:14getting rid of many
21:15of the building's old fixtures.
21:17Brown's attention
21:18is immediately drawn
21:19to two large stained glass windows.
21:22They're covered in grime
21:24and encased in the wall,
21:25but even under all that dirt,
21:27there's something about them
21:28that speaks to him.
21:30The church is just planning
21:32on throwing these old windows away,
21:34but he hates the idea
21:36of them just ending up
21:37on some trash heap somewhere,
21:38so he offers to buy them.
21:41Back home,
21:42he wants to clean them up
21:43and restore them,
21:45but he's not quite sure
21:47how to handle delicate stained glass,
21:49so he calls up a local auction house
21:51for advice.
21:53They tell him he didn't just buy
21:55some pretty windows.
21:56He now owns custom pieces
21:58handcrafted by Tiffany & Company.
22:01Founded in 1837
22:04by Charles Lewis Tiffany,
22:06the company becomes an iconic name
22:08in American luxury.
22:09But while Charles was known
22:10for his glitzy jewelry,
22:12his son,
22:12Lewis Comfort Tiffany,
22:14developed a particular knack
22:15for crafting
22:16stunning stained glass lamps.
22:19What's not as well known
22:21is that Tiffany also crafted
22:23church windows
22:24during America's Gilded Age.
22:27In 1901,
22:28as Philadelphia's
22:29St. Paul's Presbyterian Church
22:30was under construction,
22:32they turned to Tiffany
22:33to create two
22:35eight-foot rose-shaped windows.
22:38But over the ensuing decades,
22:42the special origins
22:43of these windows
22:45get completely forgotten.
22:46By the time
22:47the new owners take over,
22:49nobody recognizes
22:50these gorgeous treasures
22:52that are hanging
22:52in plain sight,
22:54at least until
22:55Paul Brown walks in.
22:57But the Lord works
22:58in mysterious ways.
23:00After the Tiffany attribution
23:01is confirmed,
23:02Brown sells the windows
23:04for over $250,000.
23:07And he ends up donating
23:08a portion of the proceeds
23:10back to the very church
23:11that almost threw
23:12the windows away.
23:17For one woman,
23:18a regular morning stroll
23:20with her dog
23:20turns into something wild.
23:22when she picks up
23:23what she thinks is trash.
23:27In the summer of 2022,
23:29an accountant named
23:30Maria Carrillo
23:31takes her daily break
23:33to walk her dog.
23:34She steps out
23:34the back door
23:35of her Anaheim office
23:36and into the alley behind.
23:38Now, normally,
23:39this alley is sort of
23:40full of squatters,
23:42and she also uses
23:43the opportunity
23:44while walking the dogs
23:45to straighten up
23:46and take care of
23:47any of the trash
23:48that they might have
23:49left behind.
23:49As she stops
23:51to clean up
23:52after her dog,
23:53she spots something
23:54on the ground.
23:55It's a crumpled up
23:56McDonald's bag,
23:57something that she's seen
23:58a number of times before
23:59and just thrown away.
24:01She picks it up
24:02to take it
24:02to the nearest trash can,
24:04but she realizes
24:04something's off.
24:06This bag is much heavier
24:08than it should be.
24:09Curious, she uncrumples
24:11the bag and looks inside.
24:13This is no leftover Big Mac.
24:15There, besides some ketchup packets
24:17and leftover French fries,
24:18is something that's gold.
24:21Maria pulls it out,
24:23and she reads it,
24:23and she can't believe her eyes.
24:25Etched into the side,
24:26it says,
24:27Games of the 32nd Olympiad,
24:30Tokyo 2020.
24:33A real deal,
24:34authentic Olympic gold medal.
24:37Maria calls her husband
24:40and asks what he thinks
24:42they should do,
24:43and they have a friend
24:43who works for
24:44the Anaheim Police Department,
24:46so they decide
24:46they should call him.
24:49It turns out,
24:50this is the break
24:51Anaheim PD
24:52has been waiting for,
24:53because four weeks earlier,
24:55an Olympic gold medal
24:56was reported stolen.
24:58But the story
24:59of how it got there
25:00and who earned it
25:01is even more surprising.
25:03In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,
25:08the U.S. women's
25:09indoor volleyball team
25:11took home the gold
25:12for the first time
25:13in the program's history.
25:15It's an incredible achievement,
25:17and Jordan Poulter,
25:18dubbed the best setter
25:20of the tournament,
25:21was a huge part
25:22of the team's success.
25:23When Jordan got home,
25:24everyone wanted to see
25:25and touch and hold
25:26an authentic Olympic medal.
25:28Did you blame him?
25:29So she started
25:30toting it around with her
25:31to show off
25:33and show her friends.
25:36I mean, honestly,
25:37who can fault her?
25:39This is a generational achievement,
25:41the first women's volleyball medal
25:44for the United States,
25:45and you're part of that success?
25:47But one day,
25:48she left it in her car
25:49and forgot to lock it.
25:54And someone stole
25:55all her belongings
25:56from the center console,
25:57including the gold medal.
25:59A few weeks later,
26:00the perpetrator
26:01is found and arrested,
26:03but not with the medal.
26:04Police believe
26:05that he was attempting
26:06to sell the gold medal
26:07at a pawn shop
26:08down the street
26:09from Maria's office,
26:10but when he was turned away,
26:12he abandoned it in the alley.
26:14Thankfully,
26:15this story has a happy ending.
26:17For Jordan and her teammates,
26:19that medal is priceless.
26:21She's so grateful
26:22to have it back,
26:23she actually gives Maria
26:24and her husband
26:25a $1,000 reward.
26:27And very wisely,
26:28she says from then on,
26:30she's going to keep
26:31the medal at home.
26:342,000 miles away,
26:36another golden discovery
26:38is made
26:39at an equally odd place,
26:41this time
26:42buried in a field.
26:45In early 2023,
26:47a Kentucky farmer
26:48is finishing up
26:49a hard day's work.
26:51As he walks back
26:52to his truck,
26:53he looks out
26:54across the dirt,
26:55as he's done
26:55countless times before.
26:57But this time,
26:58the setting sun
26:59throws up a glint
27:00off something
27:01on the ground.
27:02He walks over
27:03and he sees
27:04a small, round,
27:06yellowish shape
27:06in the dirt.
27:08He picks it up,
27:10wipes it off,
27:11and he realizes
27:12it's a gold half dollar.
27:14The farmer
27:15tosses the coin
27:16in his pocket
27:17and keeps walking.
27:19But that's when
27:20he sees
27:20another glint
27:22coming from the dirt.
27:23It's another gold coin.
27:25And then he keeps walking
27:26and he finds
27:27another one
27:28and another one
27:29and another one.
27:31There's a trail
27:32of shiny little dots
27:33in the dirt.
27:35This is the most
27:36insane thing ever.
27:38And look,
27:38I'm still digging them out.
27:39There's five,
27:40two,
27:41three,
27:41four,
27:42five,
27:43six.
27:43Six more gold coins.
27:45After about 45 minutes,
27:46he's found
27:47more than 700 coins
27:48all dated
27:49from between
27:50the 1840s
27:51and the 1860s.
27:53He reaches out
27:55to a coin dealer
27:55named Jeff Garrett.
27:57Garrett is astonished.
28:00Most of the coins
28:00are one dollar gold pieces
28:02known as
28:02Indian princess dollars.
28:04But mixed in
28:05are also
28:0520,
28:0610 dollar
28:07Liberty Head Eagles
28:08and eight,
28:0920 dollar
28:10Liberty Double Eagles.
28:11The Liberty Double Eagles
28:13are especially unique.
28:15Mended in 1863,
28:17fewer than
28:17150,000 Double Eagles
28:19were ever created
28:20and most of them
28:22were never circulated
28:23due to widespread hoarding.
28:24So today,
28:25they're exceptionally rare
28:26and highly sought after
28:27by collectors.
28:29The discovery becomes
28:30known as
28:31the Great Kentucky Horde,
28:33but no one's sure
28:34how it got here.
28:36Some speculate
28:37that the coins
28:37might have been hidden
28:38by a landowner
28:39who didn't trust
28:41the security banks
28:42of the time
28:42could provide.
28:45Remember that
28:46in the early 1860s,
28:47the Civil War is raging.
28:49Kentucky declares itself
28:51a neutral state,
28:52but it's caught
28:52between Union
28:53and Confederate forces.
28:56Kentucky's banks
28:57and homes
28:58were frequent targets
29:00of Confederate raids,
29:01so perhaps
29:02the owner of the coins
29:04was just burying them
29:06in his field
29:06to keep them safe.
29:08Others think
29:09that it could have been
29:10raiders themselves
29:11who buried the treasure.
29:13It could have even been
29:14the infamous Confederate general,
29:15John Hunt Morgan,
29:16notorious for his violent raids
29:18in Kentucky
29:19and other states.
29:20Luckily,
29:21the coins now belong
29:22to the farmer
29:22who found them,
29:23and it turns out
29:25these gold dollars
29:26are worth more
29:27than a pretty penny.
29:28They have a face value
29:30of $1,200,
29:31but when he puts them
29:32up for auction,
29:33they net him
29:34over $3 million.
29:36Now,
29:37that's a remarkable find.
29:39When most people
29:44move into a new house,
29:46they hope they don't find
29:47the last owner's trash.
29:49But what one Long Island man
29:51finds is priceless.
29:57It's 1994,
29:58and a machinist
29:59named Bruce Campbell
30:00is cleaning out
30:01the basement
30:02of a cabin
30:03on Long Island
30:03that he's just purchased.
30:05It's a mess
30:06filled with
30:07the former owner's belongings.
30:09As he's cleaning out
30:10the basement,
30:10he comes across a box
30:12that's filled with what,
30:13to him,
30:13first look like
30:14old home movies.
30:16But on closer inspection,
30:18these turn out
30:19to be amortated.
30:20This is a reel-to-reel
30:22audio technology
30:23used in the early
30:2420th century.
30:25With no idea
30:26what's on them
30:27and with no way
30:28to play them,
30:29Campbell reaches out
30:30to an audio expert
30:31who might have
30:31the equipment
30:32that will get
30:32the job done.
30:34Bruce takes them over,
30:36and together,
30:37they have a listen.
30:37But the audio
30:39that comes out
30:39of the speakers
30:40is not what
30:41Campbell was expecting.
30:44Here we go again.
30:45Another plane's come over.
30:47The audio starts
30:49with whizzing airplanes,
30:50yelling,
30:51gunfire,
30:52and the occasional explosion.
30:54Cutting through it all
30:55is a steady voice
30:56describing the horrific scenes
30:59of a beachfront
31:00invasion and battle.
31:01Bruce has stumbled upon
31:09an original recording
31:11of radio correspondent
31:12George Hicks's D-Day reporting
31:15from the coast of Normandy.
31:17On June 6, 1944,
31:20Hicks was aboard USS Ancon
31:21just off the coast of Normandy.
31:24He speaks into
31:24a primitive tape recorder
31:26called a record graph,
31:28reporting on the D-Day invasion
31:29as it happened.
31:30Something burning
31:31is falling down
31:32through the sky.
31:33Maybe a Hicks plane.
31:35Amid the chaos of war,
31:37Hicks delivers
31:38a gripping play-by-play
31:40in a calm, clear voice.
31:44There he goes.
31:45They got one.
31:46His report was just
31:4813 minutes and 29 seconds long.
31:50But when the recording
31:51hit the American airwaves
31:53later that night,
31:54it conveyed the intensity
31:59of the fighting
31:59to the American home front.
32:01The press hailed it
32:02as the greatest recording
32:03of the war.
32:04It's been decades
32:05since anyone
32:06has heard these recordings.
32:08So how did the originals
32:10end up in the basement
32:11of a cabin in Long Island?
32:15Bruce does some digging
32:16through property records
32:17and discovers
32:18that the former owner
32:19was once an executive
32:20at a record graph company.
32:22That's the recording system
32:23that the reporter Hicks
32:24used on that fateful day.
32:26The executive
32:27was a bit of a collector
32:28and it turns out
32:30he'd been using his cabin
32:31as storage
32:32for old recordings
32:34and relics
32:34from the record graph industry.
32:36When he passed away
32:38in 1992,
32:39the collection
32:40just remained
32:40in the basement
32:41waiting for the next owner
32:42to find.
32:43In 2019,
32:44Bruce donates the tapes
32:45to the National D-Day
32:46Memorial Foundation,
32:49ensuring that the sounds
32:49and voices from one
32:50of the war's
32:51most important battles
32:52will continue to be heard
32:54and never forgotten.
32:55George Hicks speaking,
32:57I now return you
32:57to the United States.
33:02I guess one man's trash
33:04is another man's treasure,
33:06which is literally
33:07the case
33:08in our next story.
33:11In 1993,
33:13Todd Franklin
33:14and a couple of his buddies
33:15are walking through
33:15this country western music venue
33:17in Missouri.
33:18The venue is closing down,
33:20it's going out of business,
33:21so everything inside
33:22is up for sale.
33:24Among the clutter,
33:25Todd spots a trash can
33:27that he just can't
33:28take his eyes off.
33:30It's overflowing
33:31with garbage,
33:32but the bin itself
33:33looks a lot
33:34like the Death Star.
33:38Every Star Wars fan
33:40knows what the Death Star is,
33:41the famous moon-sized,
33:43planet-killing weapon
33:44that Luke Skywalker
33:45and the other rebels
33:46blow up at the end
33:46of Star Wars.
33:48Todd is quite the sci-fi buff,
33:49and while he's seen
33:50a lot of Star Wars merchandise
33:52over the years,
33:53he's never seen
33:54a Death Star trash can before,
33:56so he approaches the owner
33:57and buys it.
33:58When he gets it home,
34:00he takes a closer look.
34:01This thing is incredibly detailed,
34:04and it doesn't really seem
34:05like a trash can at all.
34:08While it does have
34:09a small opening,
34:10the inside
34:12isn't completely empty.
34:14There is all these
34:15metal cross beams
34:17to keep it
34:18perfectly spherical.
34:19So not only does this
34:20make it a pretty
34:21ineffective trash can,
34:22but it gets Todd thinking,
34:23could this be
34:25a prop
34:25from the actual
34:27Star Wars movie?
34:29Todd reaches out
34:30to the one place
34:31that can tell him for sure,
34:33Lucasfilm,
34:34the producers
34:35of Star Wars.
34:36When he finally gets
34:37someone on the phone,
34:38they tell him that the props
34:39were stored off-site
34:41in a warehouse.
34:42But after production finished,
34:43they didn't want to continue
34:44paying storage fees,
34:46and so they had
34:46everything thrown out.
34:48Lucasfilm tells him
34:49he must be in possession
34:50of some sort of replica.
34:52They don't think much of it,
34:53so they're like,
34:54bye, Todd.
34:55Regardless,
34:56Todd hangs on
34:57to the strange object
34:58as a conversation piece.
35:02A few years later,
35:03Todd attends a lecture
35:05by Mark Thorpe,
35:06a model maker
35:07from Industrial Light and Magic.
35:09This is the company
35:10George Lucas used
35:11to make the props
35:13and special effects
35:14for the Star Wars films.
35:16After the lecture is over,
35:18Todd approaches Mark
35:19and tells him
35:20about this Death Star model
35:22that he has
35:22in his possession.
35:24Now, Mark has
35:25first-hand knowledge
35:26of how the Death Star
35:27was built,
35:28and the details
35:29surrounding this replica
35:31sound very similar.
35:33Todd tells Mark
35:34that Lucasfilm
35:35insisted that
35:36all the props
35:36were destroyed
35:37at the end of production.
35:39But Mark's
35:40not so sure about that,
35:41and he thinks
35:42the Death Star trash can
35:44might be the real deal.
35:46Mark recalls
35:47that there were
35:47these rumors
35:48that there was
35:49an employee
35:49at the warehouse
35:50who allegedly
35:52took the Death Star model home.
35:54Instead of destroying it,
35:56he kept it
35:56for nearly a decade.
35:59Then,
35:59in the late 1980s,
36:01he moved to Missouri
36:02and stored the prop
36:03in his mother's
36:04antique shop.
36:05There it stayed for years
36:07until the owner
36:08of the music venue
36:09bought it.
36:11Fueled with new information,
36:13Todd decides
36:14to give Lucasfilm
36:15one more call.
36:17This time,
36:18they are shocked.
36:20Now,
36:20even they believe
36:21that Todd has
36:22the actual
36:23Death Star model
36:24from the original movie.
36:26So Todd decides
36:28that now would be
36:29the time to sell
36:30his prized discovery.
36:31Generously,
36:32he offers Lucasfilm
36:33the first shot
36:34at purchasing it from him.
36:36They offer him
36:36a tour
36:37of the Lucas Ranch
36:38and an autographed picture
36:40of George Lucas.
36:42It's a cool offer,
36:44to be sure,
36:44especially if you're
36:45a Star Wars fan,
36:45but Todd is convinced
36:46that somebody
36:47is going to pay him
36:48a whole lot of cash
36:50for this model.
36:50So,
36:51he declines.
36:53So eventually,
36:55in 1999,
36:56he sells the prop
36:58to mega-fan,
36:59super-collector,
37:00Gus Lopez.
37:02While the details
37:02of the sale
37:03are never released,
37:05some estimate
37:05that the value
37:06of the Death Star model
37:07could be as high
37:08as a million dollars.
37:10But Gus doesn't
37:11keep it for himself.
37:12He loans it
37:13to the Museum of Pop Culture
37:15in Seattle,
37:16so now it can be enjoyed
37:18by aspiring Jedi,
37:20Wookiees,
37:20and Stormtroopers
37:21for years.
37:22For years.
37:22We've all walked
37:27into a thrift store
37:29not expecting
37:30to find much more
37:31than a small bargain,
37:33but one find
37:34turns out to be
37:35a relic
37:35tied to the birth
37:37of a nation.
37:40In 2022,
37:42workers at a Goodwill
37:43in Washington, D.C.
37:44do what they do
37:45day after day.
37:47They sort through
37:48incoming donations.
37:50As the workers
37:51dig through
37:52a bag of donated clothes,
37:54they find
37:55a dusty,
37:56old,
37:57torn-up rag
37:58with red trim.
37:59They're about
37:59to toss it
38:00when someone notices
38:02a piece of paper
38:03attached to it.
38:04They glance at it
38:06and see a name.
38:08George Washington.
38:10This gets
38:11their attention,
38:12and they look closer
38:13and see it is
38:14a handwritten note
38:15indicating
38:16that this piece
38:17of fabric
38:18is a fragment
38:19of a tent
38:20used by
38:22the Revolutionary War
38:23hero and first
38:24president of the United States,
38:26George Washington.
38:27It seems hard to believe,
38:29but the workers
38:30saved the cloth
38:31from the trash heap.
38:34They decide
38:35to put it up for sale
38:36on a Goodwill auction site
38:38where people can bid
38:39on items found
38:40in Goodwill stores
38:41across the United States.
38:43And that's where
38:44it catches the eye
38:45of an American history buff
38:46named Richard Moore.
38:48He decides
38:49to take the gamble,
38:50and he buys it
38:51for $1,700.
38:53But he's so uneasy
38:54about it
38:55that he hides
38:55the purchase
38:56from his wife.
38:58The prospect
38:59of owning
39:00a piece of a tent
39:01used by George Washington
39:02is very compelling,
39:04but Moore
39:05is unsure
39:06since a handwritten note
39:08is not exactly
39:09rock-solid documentation
39:11that this is real.
39:12Anxious to figure out
39:14if the fabric
39:15is the real deal,
39:17Moore contacts
39:18Philadelphia's Museum
39:19of the American Revolution.
39:21They tell Moore
39:22that Washington used
39:23two main tents
39:24during the war.
39:26There was a large tent
39:26that he used
39:27as both his office
39:28and sleeping quarters,
39:30and that's on display
39:31at the museum.
39:32And then there was
39:33a smaller dining tent,
39:34which is currently stored
39:35at the Smithsonian
39:36in Washington.
39:38Moore sends
39:38this piece of cloth
39:39to the museum
39:40in Philadelphia
39:41for analysis.
39:44When it's compared
39:45to the tent
39:46that's on display there,
39:47it turns out
39:48it's not a match.
39:49Holding on to hope,
39:51he sends the cloth
39:52to the Smithsonian,
39:53and when they compare it
39:54to Washington's
39:55smaller tent,
39:57it turns out
39:57to be a perfect match.
40:00But now that
40:01it's authenticated,
40:03everyone still wants
40:04to know
40:05how a piece
40:06of George Washington's
40:07dining tent
40:08ends up
40:09in a Goodwill store.
40:10after Washington's death,
40:12the tent
40:13was passed down
40:13to his family,
40:14and they would often
40:15display it publicly.
40:17In 1907,
40:18the tent
40:19was put on display
40:20in Norfolk,
40:21Virginia,
40:22to celebrate
40:23the 300th anniversary
40:24of the founding
40:25of Jamestown.
40:26It was there
40:27that someone
40:27named John Burns
40:29allegedly cut
40:31a six-inch piece
40:33of fabric
40:33from the tent
40:34and attaches
40:35a note
40:36explaining its origin.
40:37Historians believe
40:39that the piece
40:40of cloth
40:40that Burns
40:41cut from the tent
40:42is the same
40:43as the one
40:44that Richard Moore
40:45purchased from Goodwill.
40:46But to this day,
40:48nobody knows
40:48how it got
40:49from Burns
40:50to Goodwill.
40:51The value
40:52of the tent piece
40:53has been estimated
40:53to be in the tens
40:55of thousands
40:55of dollars,
40:56but for Moore,
40:57it's a piece
40:58of family history.
41:00Moore could trace
41:01his family tree
41:02back to a Revolutionary War
41:05soldier who served
41:06under Washington
41:07at Valley Forge.
41:09This means
41:10that the fragment
41:11of cloth
41:11was part of a tent
41:13that his ancestor
41:14may have seen
41:15or even dined in
41:16during the war
41:17that won America's freedom.
41:20A mysterious stash
41:22of buried Civil War coins,
41:25a relic
41:25that belonged
41:26to our country's
41:27first president,
41:28and a hidden
41:29artistic masterpiece
41:31worth a fortune.
41:32These incredible finds
41:34really are
41:35surprising
41:36national treasures.
41:38I'm Danny Trail.
41:39Thanks for watching
41:41Mysteries on Earth.
Recommended
44:17
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