-- A Couple Found A Suitcase In Their Basement, Then The FBI Knocked On Their Door
Reddit user Lmbrjack and his wife had recently moved to a new home. Soon enough, you’ll understand why he kept his name private. To save some cash, they had purchased a fixer-upper in the midwestern United States. So, when they moved in, they immediately started renovating, beginning with the basement. However, they had no idea their construction would lead to the FBI knocking on their front door.
As they began work on the basement, they started making some strange discoveries, including a frightening suitcase. Soon enough, the FBI bombarded their home, and their story went viral. Their lives would never be the same after their bizarre findings…
1. A New Home
Lmbrjack and his wife’s mysterious adventure started back in 2014. At that time, the young couple had just purchased a new home in the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio. As any couple would, they looked forward to filling their first home with lots of memories. While the house had decent bones, some parts just needed a little love and care. The basement, in particular, would require a complete renovation.
The couple didn’t know it yet, but they were in for the shock of their lives. Unbeknownst to them, something lie hiding, lurking in the basement. Completely unaware, Lmbrjack decided to start renovating his house almost immediately after moving in. Since the basement needed the most work, he started there. That’s where he would discover the startling secrets…
2. Renovating Their Basement
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As Lmbrjack surveyed the basement, he immediately realized that he faced a real challenge. It would require some help, possibly even professional. You see, the basement walls were covered in graffiti, while the ceiling was drooping. Meanwhile, the rest of the wood had utterly warped. Then, it would need a new coat of paint…the list went on and on. Yet, he felt determined to make it perfect.
So, Lmbrjack put his head down and started working. Nothing to do but get on with it! Unfortunately, he had no idea that most of his work would turn out to be in vain. He had no idea that his basement contained both great fortune and horrible secrets.
3. Hidden in the Rafters
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During his renovations, Lmbrjack started taking down the ceiling of the basement. There, he found an old suitcase hidden away and covered in dust. Obviously, someone out of their to way to hide it there, making sure that no one would find it. Of course, Lmbrjack immediately stopped working and removed the old suitcase from the rafters. Then, he called his wife down to the basement, sharing his discovery.
As the two of them marveled over the suitcase, they couldn’t help but wonder what on earth hid inside the case. While neither knew what lie in the case, they knew one thing for certain: it did not end up there on accident. Somebody wanted to make sure that no one ever found the suitcase and its contents ever again…
4. A Bizarre Case
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A million thoughts came to Lmbrjack and his wife’s minds when they found the suitcase. Whatever was inside was clearly important, and they both got an intense feeling from the case. Furthermore, even though it was small, it was quite heavy! They talked it over and decided to open it, before contacting the previous owners or the police.
However, before doing so, Lmbrjack figured it would be better to open it outside. After all, he had no idea what lie inside. For all he knew, it could be chemicals or something dangerous to the house. Before long, he would realize that it would have been wiser to open the case inside the house, away from watchful eyes. Even more surprising, what Lmbrjack found was only the beginning of his discoveries…
5. Playing the Guessing Game
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While they felt a little nervous, both Lmbrjack and his wife also felt excited to open the case. After all, it’s not every day you randomly discover a suitcase in your new home. Even if it turned out to be nothing but bricks inside, at least they had some fun! Realizing the fun they were having, they actually decided to prolong their excitement by playing a guessing game.
They took turns looking at the case, lifting it, shaking it, and guessing what could be inside. Lmbrjack’s wife felt sure they’d find piles and piles of old pictures. That would explain what it was so heavy! Meanwhile, Lmbrjack took a similar approach, but guessed something more valuable like documents or baseball cards. Why else would the owner hide the suitcase in the ceiling? Finally, they decided to stop guessing and open the case up.
6. A Big Mystery Behind Wax Paper
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When they first opened the case, Lmbrjack and his wife didn’t notice anything significant. Honestly, they felt a little let down! All that lie in the suitcase were three rectangular shapes wrapped in wax paper and an odd banana brush, nothing special. Could this really be all?
Then, the couple started to peel away the wax paper. That’s when their frowns turned into gaping mouths of surprise. They thought they could see something that looked like stacks of cash within the wax paper as they got through layer after layer. But they didn’t want to get too excited. After all, what if it turned out to be fake? As it turns out, it wasn’t fake, but rather just the tip of the iceberg…
7. Jackpot!
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What Lmbrjack and his wife found behind the wax paper was truly remarkable! It turned out to be cold hard cash in the form of twenty-dollar bills. However, the bills were much older than the type that we all use today. Still, cash never goes bad! Unsurprisingly, Lmbrjack and his wife started jumping for joy at their discovery! They could not believe that they had discovered such a collection of cash inside their own home!
Lmbrjack later commented, “These are all twenties! There may be a couple thousand here! We are freaking out at this point. This doesn’t happen to us! What do we do? Where are the cameras?” Still, this was only the beginning of what the couple would find inside their basement…
8. The Cash Was Flowing In
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The cash did not end there! When Lmbrjack opened the other two bundles, they each contained more money. However, something was different. “The second package didn’t have any twenties. It was all fifties! What is going on here? There could be 5 grand here! Wait! The third package is 100s! This is out of control!” he recalled.
However, after a few breaths, Lmbrjack realized the bills came with an array of questions. Most importantly: where had it all come from? Looking at the bills, they all seemed to date back to the 1920s and 1930s. The suitcase looked as though it also could have come from the 1930s. So, he decided to continue investigating, to see if he could solve the mystery.
9. Ancient Headlines
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Right beneath the bundles of cash, Lmbrjack found a hint that would point him in the right direction. What he spotted was an old copy of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the newspaper from Cleveland, Ohio. It, like the cash, looked incredibly old.
The newspaper in question was from March 25, 1951. They quickly realized that this old suitcase had been hiding in their basement for at least 65 years! Still, while they knew that the cash was always still legal tender, Lmbrjack and his wife also knew that some old money became antiques. So, they started looking into the worth of their haul…
10. Seeking Help
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As anyone in his position would feel, Lmbrjack eagerly wanted to know the value of the money he discovered. So, he decided to hire a lawyer that could help them in this matter. The lawyer surveyed the bills and told them something interesting: some of them were star bills, meaning they had never even been circulated! Fortunately for them, the lawyer got them a hard value for their findings.
It turns out the bills were collector’s items! All in all, Lmbrjack could sell his cash haul for $23,000! Ecstatic, Lmbrjack posted a final message to Reddit, thinking his adventure had ended. Little did he know, soon, things would take quite the startling turn. Lmbrjack would soon make another discovery that would bring the FBI to his house…
11. The Second Case
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Over the next few weeks, Lmbrjack and his wife’s excitement died down. Even with their newfound antique cash, the entire basement still needed to be re-done. However, as he continued the renovations of his home, Lmbrjack found a second suitcase! He brought it down and took a deep, long breath. As you might imagine, he was praying it’s content would be identical to the first one.
As Lmbrjack walked the second suitcase up to his wife, he looked at his walls as he did. He could not help but wonder what other mysteries his home held. Construction on the house had finished in 1940, so anything seemed possible. Little did he know, his feelings were right. Lmbrjack would find more and more as time went on. But not all of it was good…
12. The Contents of the Case
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Unfortunately, when Lmbrjack got upstairs, he realized his wife was at work. Despite his excitement, Lmbrjack refused to open the suitcase there and then. He knew he needed to wait until his wife returned home. Not only was it the right thing to do, but Lmbrjack knew he’d never hear the end of it if he opened it without his wife!
So, while he waited for his wife, Lmbrjack decided to pull out his phone and snap some pictures of the two cases next to each other. After all, he knew Reddit would also want to know the contents of the second case! As he did, he could not help but let his imagination get the better of him: what if this second case contained the same riches the first did!
13. Bills and More Bills
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As soon as his wife got home, the couple snapped open the second case. Once again, they screamed in joy as they discovered that they were thousands of dollars richer! However, this time, the money wasn’t wrapped in a delicate wax paper. Instead, it was lined up in a most organized manner.
As they starred at the collection of bills, they wondered how much money could sit in the case. Furthermore, they also wondered what other surprises awaited them in the basement. However, when they went to bed that night, Lmbrjack and his wife could not help but wonder if all the secrets would turn out to be good. Unfortunately, not everything they would find would be excellent…
14. Feeling Blessed
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While they worried about what else they might find, Lmbrjack and his wife could not hate on the cash they found. It turned out the second suitcase had even more money than the previous one! A few days later, the couple learned that they had instantly earned an extra $45,000! Of course, the new homeowners felt incredibly blessed. Furthermore, smartly, they didn’t plan on spending the money on boats or any other luxury things. Instead, they would invest it in their new home.
However, they had no idea that this second suitcase would bring them closer to more, darker mysteries. Eventually, those mysteries would get the FBI involved. As the FBI would eventually tell them, no one finds a suitcase full of money without finding a string to something darker…
15. Unexpected Discoveries
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After the second suitcase, Lmbrjack decided to explore more. Like many larger basements, his had a bathroom. There, he found an odd moveable panel, that he previously assumed held a dumb waiter. Instead, it opened to a dark, cramped crawlspace. Furthermore, he noticed that the previous owners left a medicine cabinet nearby. The medicine cabinet fit perfectly over the panel, as if it had once hid the entrance to the crawlspace. But why?
Inside, Lmbrjack started exploring the crawlspace. At first, he thought it was where the water heater was once held, until he saw it was fitted with lighting. “Strangely nice for a place used to service the hot water heater,” he commented. However, the more he looked around, the less his theory made sense…
16. An Unknown Room
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As Lmbrjack and his wife continued to explore the room, they realized that it could not have housed any water heater. It was big enough to fit several people inside! Furthermore, the floor was covered up with multiple carpets as well as odds and ends. Immediately, Lmbrjack started to get some very bizarre feelings from the room.
What’s more, it became evident to them that no one had stepped a foot inside this room in decades. As they looked around, the couple could not help but wonder about the purpose of this room. Furthermore, their thoughts kept returning to the medicine cabinet. What could have happened in this room that would cause someone need to hide its entrance…
17. Further Discoveries
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While stumbling across a hidden room in your house can be a riveting experience, it also filled the couple with concerns. Since they had been living there for just a couple of weeks, all these discoveries were starting to overwhelm them. As they went deeper into the crawlspace, Lmbrjack cautioned his wife to stay behind while he moved forward.
At the far end of the hidden crawlspace, Lmbrjack found an ominous black door with a combination lock and a brass latch. “I’m starting to freak out. This is looking like someone wanted to keep something in and not out,” he said. “I’m researching how to get this open,” he said. “If I fail I’m calling a locksmith first thing in the morning. Until then, I’m sleeping with the lights on.”
18. Breaking In
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Regardless of what mystery waited for him behind the door, Lmbrjack knew that he could not turn back now. He spent the entire night looking for clues in the crawlspace before opening the door. First, he found a bizarre plastic air vent fitted just outside the room. But why would anyone need a vent? The only explanation he could think of was that whatever was on the other side of the room required a supply of fresh oxygen.
Then, above the door, he spotted wooden panels and beams, which seemed quickly thrown together with foam, glue, and nails. He could tell that there was some amount of space behind it, but no indication of what was within. Can anyone blame him for wanting to find out precisely what hid inside his house?
19. Something Beyond Bizarre
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The very next morning, he gathered enough tools to break through the heavy-duty locks. Finally, he was able to break in. But only more questions lie behind the door. Immediately after opening the door, Lmbrjack found something that shook him to his core.
Behind the door lay a small, narrow, empty enclosure. There, Lmbrjack found a “heavy @ss black sentry safe.” What’s more, the enclosure was soundproof and covered with a plastic tarp. Then, he found some artifacts from a time gone by. Even further, there was also a “raised area” large enough to hold a single bed. Finally, the enclosure’s edges were all taped up. Apparently, whoever built this room went great lengths to make sure that the space was also waterproof.
20. A Brown Briefcase
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Aside from the heavy sentry box, Lmbrjack also discovered an intriguing brown briefcase, which was weighty and slightly worn. However, the biggest surprise would be what he found inside the briefcase. At that moment, Lmbrjack thought he might end up discovering even more money! Or perhaps he would unravel something even more amazing.
Lmbrjack also considered the possibility of finding something unpleasing, or worse, downright horrible. After all, he had no idea about this hidden room. Even further, everything about it seemed creepy and strange. While it could be something from a long time ago or more money, it could also be something worse. Once again, the only way to get the answers he desired was to open the case…
21. More Relics From the Past
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The couple decided not to waste any more time and proceeded to open the third case. Inside, they found even more relics from the past! Like the other cases, this one also contained money. Except this time around, it was foreign currency, in a variety of envelopes, from a variety of times. The briefcase also held four one-ounce silver ingots, with a total value of around $80. What’s more, there was a small wooden chest and a jewelry box.
Inside the jewelry box, Lmbrjack discovered a wealth of little gold trinkets, including two rings, bracelets, two old watches, and tie clips. The couple wondered who would leave all these precious things behind. Furthermore, why would they hide them so deep inside the home?
22. Safely Hidden
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The brown briefcase wasn’t the only thing that the couple found hidden in the room. After looking through the briefcase, Lmbrjack and his wife returned to the black Sentry box. For those who do not know, these are essentially carryable safes. They’re tough to break into and are regularly used to protect passports, wills, and similar documents, as well as cash. So whatever hid inside the Sentry box, someone had certainly not wanted anyone to get it.
Looking around at the odd room covered in plastic, Lmbrjack thought that maybe it the safe held a secret that he wouldn’t want to unravel. What’s more, he thought it could be something that would make them feel unsafe. Still, he needed to get to the bottom of this mystery. So, he set to work cracking open the Sentry box…
23. “Save Yourself”
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After wrestling with the Sentry case for some time, Lmbrjack finally opened it. The first item confirmed some of his worst fear: a creepy note that simply warned him by saying, “save yourself.” Understandably, he began to feel incredibly uneasy. Who can blame him, right?
Furthermore, Lmbrjack began to think that this was some kind of sick joke. They didn’t know things would soon take a horrible turn. In fact, it became so creepy that even the authorities would have to get involved. Still, there was so much more inside that Sentry box that the couple would find. Soon, they’d wish they could just turn back time and un-open the box…
24. More Warnings
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As Lmbrjack and his wife delved deeper into the Sentry box, they found another warning inside that said: “do not.” Below the warning, they found a stack of old VHS-C cassette tapes, which are used inside camcorders. This was when the Lmbrjack started to think they should contact the police, FBI, someone. Whatever was on those tapes could not be good.
Lmbrjack slowly began to remove the tapes from the safe. Some were marked with numbers and years, but one stuck out in particular. You see, this tape had the words “no no no no no” feverishly scrawled in black ink on the cover. Lmbrjack debated watching the recordings. Maybe he was overacting, and they would just be home videos. Perhaps, these tapes would solve the big mystery behind the hidden room.
25. The Truth Is Out
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Lmbrjack decided to take some time to study the tapes. Oddly enough, it seemed like these tapes had nothing to do with any of his previous findings. Furthermore, there were six tapes in total, and most of them labeled 1994 and 1995. At that moment, he felt this discovery was just too much for him and decided not to dig any deeper.
However, he couldn’t get the tapes out of his mind. Eventually, he decided to unravel the big mystery. Would he found something so strange that he would never be able to put this behind him? If he had already gone this far, what difference would it make? Well, these tapes would end up changing his life forever.
26. Listening to the Tapes
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After several nights tossing and dreaming about those tapes, Lmbrjack finally decided to play them and brought them out. Then, he popped the tape into an old camcorder and pressed the play button. While Lmbrjack never revealed what was on them, the scenes displayed before him were images he would never forget.
In the end, Lmbrjack did not tell the internet what was on the tapes. In fact, whatever he saw was so startling that he did not even tell his wife. The tapes confirmed all of his worst fears: they should have never gone in that room. Their desire for more money had led them down a dark, dangerous path. Now, there was only one thing to do – get the authorities involved.
27. The FBI Knocks on Their Door
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Lmbrjack wasn’t even able to make it through the first tape. Furthermore, he turned it off within a couple of minutes and immediately called the authorities. While we don’t know the exact content of the recordings, we do know they were strong enough to have the FBI involved. In fact, they showed up almost as quickly as he called.
As soon as the FBI arrived at Lmbrjack’s house, they removed all of the tapes and launched a full-scale-investigation. What’s more, the couple’s renovation, of course, came to a pause due to all the agents in their home. After the FBI got involved, they started deciding what Lmbrjack could and could not post to Reddit…
28. The FBI Makes Demands
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Once upon a time, Lmbrjack and his wife lived on a quiet block. Now they found it filled with police cars, FBI agents, and even fire trucks! Of course, the two of them never dreamed they’d see their new home filled with the FBI. However, the authorities were not about to take any chances with such a case. In fact, they took everything Lmbrjack found with them!
Plus, the couple had really no say about letting the FBI inside their house. The FBI didn’t care if they had anything personal laying around. These agents weren’t asking them to come in, they were making demands. We can only imagine how fragile and small the couple felt at that moment.
29. Updates on the Case
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Thankfully, Lmbrjck and his wife were not in any trouble. However, that’s where the good news ends. Unfortunately, the FBI confiscated all their items, including the money. They said they would review all the materials and return anything that did not become part of their investigation.
Since that fateful day, Lmbrjck has been in contact with the FBI several times. First, they ordered him to take the posts down off of Reddit, which he did. Since then, they have been less forthcoming. However, there’s a reason for that. They let Lmbrjck know that they found enough on the tapes to open a criminal investigation. So, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever know what was on those tapes. But one thing’s for sure: it wasn’t good.
Believe it or not, stories like Lmbrjck’s are not that uncommon. And they don’t always end with the FBI busting down a door…
30. Buried Treasure, No FBI
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No one dreams of the FBI knocking on their door after discovering a creepy box. However, most of us have dreamed of finding buried treasure! Better yet, wouldn’t it be great to find buried treasure right in your own backyard? Well, that’s precisely what happened to one man from Staten Island, Matthew Emanuel! He found the safe above buried in his garden!
For many years, Emanuel walked by the box almost once a day, always assuming it was merely an electrical cabinet. Then, his family started doing some renovations, just like Lmbrjck and his wife. When the construction workers needed to dig around the box, Emanuel needed to take a look at what exactly it was. When he finally got the locked safe open, his heart stopped. Click Next Post below to find out exactly what he discovered inside the safe, without needing to call the FBI!
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