Treasure hunter finds $46,000 hidden in family's home after decades of rumor

[left-of-center2012]

Keith Wille, a self-described treasure hunter and metal “detectorist,” has a motto: “You lost something. I find it.” And that’s exactly what he did for one woman in Western Massachusetts who called him about trying to locate a cashbox potentially missing beneath the floorboards of the attic in her family home. The treasure hunt wound up being the best of 2021 so far, according to Wille, whose operations are based in Connecticut. The treasure hunt in Western Massachusetts was the product of decades of rumor about hidden loot in the 1950s home, which was owned by the woman’s aunt and uncle. The woman’s mother moved in after her aunt died roughly five years ago, and the house is set to go up for sale soon. However, the family didn’t want to sell it without first finding the rumored treasure.

After decades of failed attempts to find the treasure, Wille said, the family grew tired of trying to figure out if a metal detector would work indoors and even hired a construction contractor to find the treasure underneath the floorboards. Their efforts weren’t fruitful. The family eventually discovered Wille online and hired him to figure out where the money was hidden.

Using a metal detector, an endoscopic camera and his iPhone, Wille kicked off his quest to find the stashed money in the attic space. It took only around 50 minutes before he struck gold. With his endoscopic camera, Wille found the cashbox in one corner of the attic. He noticed jagged saw marks in the rafters of that section of the space, searched the floor and saw the keyhole of the cashbox.

The cache of vintage banknotes totaled $46,000. Wille pointed out that in 1958, the purchasing power of that amount of money would be equivalent to $421,603 today. “We found the cashbox. So, we retrieved it. The family now has closure on the cash,” Wille said. “They can sell the house.”

https://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2021/04/treasure-hunter-finds-46000-hidden-in-familys-home-after-decades-of-rumor.html

After decades of rumor, treasure hunter Keith Wille found $46,000 hidden in a cashbox beneath the floorboards of a Western Massachusetts family’s home.
(Keith Wille/Rediscover Lost)

[Kali]

1. did the article give the origins of the money?

[left-of-center2012]

2. Yes and no. Or, maybe ?

It’s unclear who hid the cashbox in the floorboards to begin with, but it’s likely that a family member of the woman did so.

“There were a number of possibilities of who could have hidden the treasure, but it’s not 100%,” Wille said.

[callous taoboy]

3. My SIL's grandfather hid his coin collection in the family home-

This was in Houston in the 60's. It apparently was a really decent collection, and he hid it because they were getting ready to go on a long vacation. Grandfather was already experiencing cognitive decline and could not remember where he hid it when they returned. Grandfather passed not long after, and the family continued to search but never found it. The house was torn down 30 years ago after it was sold, so hopefully some construction worker had a lucky day.