A Four-Dollar Painting Hid a Declaration Worth Millions
In 1989, a man browsing a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, spotted a landscape painting he had no real interest in keeping. What caught his eye was…
A Masked Stranger Hijacked Two Chicago Television Broadcasts and Was Never Identified
It was a Sunday night in November 1987, and Chicago sports fans were watching a routine highlights segment on WGN-TV’s evening news. The anchor had just finished…
A Bear Walked Through Automatic Doors and Roamed a Grocery Store
It was a regular morning at a Fry’s Food Store in Oro Valley, Arizona. Shoppers pushed carts down familiar aisles, reached for produce and went about their…
A Bank Robber Left One Clue That Identified Him Immediately
It started like most bank robberies do. A man walked up to a teller, slid a note across the counter, and made his demand clear. The teller…
Three Brothers Found a Record-Breaking Superman Comic in Their Mother’s Attic
Three brothers were several days into the difficult job of clearing their late mother’s San Francisco home when they reached a cardboard box in the attic. Inside…
A Painting Hidden Behind a Door Sold for $845,000
The room was dim, and the large canvas was easy to overlook. Most of it hung behind an open door in the television room of a family…
A Penny Found in School Lunch Change Sold for More Than $200,000
In March 1947, 16-year-old Don Lutes Jr. received ordinary change from his high school cafeteria in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. One coin immediately looked out of piliar brownish color…
A New York Newspaper Convinced Readers That Bat-Men Lived on the Moon
In August 1835, readers in New York opened a newspaper and encountered what appeared to be an extraordinary scientific announcement. A respected British astronomer, the reports claimed,…
A Driverless Car Circled a Florida Neighborhood for Nearly an Hour
A silver sedan moved backward through a quiet Florida cul-de-sac, tracing the same circle again and again. From a distance, there appeared to be nobody behind the…
A Television Crew Moved a Funhouse Prop—and Discovered a Real Body
The figure hanging inside the California funhouse appeared to be another cheap attraction. Its skin had been painted a bright reddish color, and years of damage had…