15. The Mannequin
One mysterious and disturbing find in a storage unit makes one wonder what people get up to
in these lockers. Late one afternoon, the auction turned to
the last remaining unit. The facility had had a pretty good run that
day, with lots of cash changing hands, and some good hauls in other units. But bidders were anticipating this one. It was a big unit – 10 feet by 30 feet;
lots of space for goods and treasures, lots of space for discovery. But once the doors were flung open, there
was nothing but silence. Standing there, in the middle of the large
garage-sized unit, was a female mannequin. That’s not all; it seemed to be splattered
in bright red blood. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the mannequin
was bleeding, because its torso was absolutely riddled with stab wounds. And the weapon of choice seemed to be a butcher
knife, which was lying nearby on the floor. The blade, also red. This was the only thing in the unit. Nothing else. Not even an empty cardboard box. So what did it all mean? What had happened here? Some sort of strange voodoo ritual? An actual murder? Or was some other crime committed? The red “blood” was actually paint, so
perhaps it was simply an art instillation. Still, that’s some mysteriously mad art. 14. A Human Body
Another Storage Wars mystery: a murder mystery. In a rare A&E episode, called “Unlocked;
Buy Low,” the stars are gathered around a poker table in Las Vegas’ Sahara Casino,
sharing stories of their strangest storage unit discoveries. Darrell Sheets claims to have found a human
body in one unit in 1985. “I actually found a body years ago in like
1988 down in Sand Diego, California,” Sheets says in the episode. “You know, I don’t really want to talk
about it a whole lot, but it wasn’t a pleasant situation. But in this business, it does happen. I’ve found ashes, coffins…” Sheets has talked about the incident, however. He told the magazine, Reality Weekly, a little
about the discovery. He said he’d found the human body wrapped
in plastic. He later was told by the San Diego police
that the body was that of a murder victim. A man had murdered his wife in the unit. Chills, much? “It was a very horrific story, and it was
an occult group and all that kind of stuff. The San Diego police confiscated everything
in the locker.” For those keen on finding something neat-o
inside a storage unit, you might want to take a sniff around the area. If it smells like human waste or decomposing
flesh, buyer beware. 13. Headless Barbie
I’m sure you’ve heard of Malibu Barbie. What about Skipper? And Ken? This is the normal range of Barbies you’d
find in your local toy shop, but the storage unit range is a little bit more – should
I say – damaged. Take a peak inside a stalker’s unit, for
example. One of Madonna’s insane stalkers (and we
mean that literally), Robert Dewey Hoskins, escaped from a mental hospital where he was
confined in February 2012 for threatening to kill the pop star. Don’t worry, he was recaptured. But one of the creepiest things about Hoskins
is that he had a storage unit in Long Beach full of mysterious – and rather threatening
– paraphernalia. One of those bits of paraphernalia? A headless Barbie. If that wasn’t enough, loads of Madonna
memorabilia added to the creepiness of the unit, a Barbie backpack, another baby doll
sumo wrestler, a sadistic clown mask, and just WAY too many knives. Although the crazy stalker is locked up again,
the purchaser of the unit has had to suffer the consequences of this purchase. Imagine the haunting PTSD you’d undergo,
having opened a storage unit full of mysterious stalker fetishes. Los Angeles CBS News spoke with the unit’s
new owner, and he said finding all the Madonna memorabilia was strange, but made sense once
he’d uncovered who its previous owner was. As no active investigations were ongoing,
LAPD detectives took photos, but didn’t confiscate the items. Fantastic! I bet the new owner is thrilled he didn’t
have his new Barbie taken away. 12. Grandma’s Remains
I’m sure most nanas would prefer that their remains be cherished. A lovely often-visited tombstone in a cemetery,
a porcelain urn on the family mantel…not stowed away in some storage unit alongside
odds and ends and long-forgotten junk. But that’s just where one Florida family
stored the remains of their late grandma, when she was discovered by the unit’s new
owners To be honest, cremated remains are not that
uncommon. But a full casket stored in a storage unit? That’s not only mysterious – that’s
downright nightmarish. When the family failed to pay rent on the
unit, they were notified that it would soon be sold. The family responded that if they auctioned
off the unit, they’d be auctioning off the body of their relative. The eerie blue casket had been sitting in
the unit for 17 years. That’s nearly two decades of grandma’s
ghost ruminating in her family’s abandon. I think it’s time for a haunting. 11. A Live Hand Grenade
Many folks who go auctioning for storage units are searching for an explosive unit, a real
bomb, full of treasures that may change their life forever. Some units, however, get quite literally explosive. Take this unit purchased by a man from Muskegon,
for example. The man dug into the unit, where he found
a hand gun case among the winnings. Inside? Not a handgun…but a live hand grenade. Being an intelligent man, he quickly delivered
the bomb to Egelston Township Fire Department, where he approached Deputy Chief Dan Willea. “He walked up to the desk and said 'I have
something I think you're going to want to see',” Willea recalls. “He absolutely did the right thing by bringing
it in.” Willea did remark that, ideally, one should
call in police rather than transporting a bomb, themselves. The live hand grenade had the pin intact,
which was then removed in a transport-safe container by the Michigan State Police bomb
squad. They took it to Grand Rapids to be X-rayed
and then destroyed. Willea called storage unit auctions, “a
real crapshoot.” He was sure on point with this one. 10. Passed Away Animals, Living Humans
The vice president of St. Petersburg’s Storage Protection Service, Tammie Lockwood, is very
familiar with the strange and mysterious finds you might uncover in a storage unit. The ones that she thinks are the most strange
and mysterious are those that used to be living. And those that still are. In her experience, she’s come across a number
of empty aquariums…and some that weren’t. One fish tank held long-petrified fish; another,
some empty husks of two iguanas. Still more have held passed away snakes, and
she’s even come across a passed away cat. Yikes. But the living things get even creepier. For instance, three tarantulas were found
in one unit – two of them eating each other, while the other had already been cannibalized
– and, in another unit, a dormant python. What kind of people store their pets in storage
units? Well, maybe those squatters who are actually
living in their units? “People aren't supposed to be living in
there,” Lockwood said. “But from time to time people do try to
make these storage units their homes.” 9. Human Organs
One of the darkest and most mysterious storage unit collections was found in 2012, when a
disgraced medical examiner’s unit was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Inside, the unfortunate new owner discovered
more than 100 human organs, preserved in plastic food containers and cups. Hearts, brains, lungs, all inside Tupperware,
Styrofoam cups, and even garbage bags filled with formaldehyde. In 1996, the medical examiner in question,
Dr. Michael Berkland, had been fired from the Jackson County, Missouri Medical Examiner’s
office for filing incomplete autopsy reports. He claimed his reports were disputed due to
“proofreading errors.” However, the organs found in his storage unit
would suggest otherwise. They may have been gathered from local funeral
homes under the guise of private autopsies. Who is Dr. Michael Berkland, and why in the
world does he have such a disgusting hobby? Well, when you dig into his story, it gets
even stranger and more mysterious. The Circuit Court of Jackson County declared
that Berkland “poses a substantial probability of serious danger to the health, safety and
welfare of his patients, clients and/or the residents of Missouri” and, in 1999, they
revoked his license to practice medicine. This jeopardized more than nine criminal cases
in the state of Missouri, on the basis of false testimony. It had also been found that Berkland had removed
sections of brains, which he claimed to have used for “teaching purposes.” But did this stop Berkland from pursuing human
organs? No. Where would you go if you weren’t allowed
to practice medicine in your home state? Florida, probably. And that’s just what he did. He worked there from 1997 to 2003, when he
was again let go for incomplete autopsy reports. In fact, his involvement in the high profile
investigation of the passing of Lori Klausutis could have influenced the case. The 28 year old was the aide of former Florida
Congressman Joe Scarborough. Wide speculation about foul play led to the
release by Scarborough of the full 18-page autopsy report. But the report for Klausutis was done by none
other than our dear friend, Dr. Berkland. Klausutis was found unconscious on the floor
of Scarborough’s office in Fort Walton by two prospective green card applicants. Taking a look back at the 2001 case, you find
there are discrepancies in what was put forth by Scarborough to the media and Klausutis’
actual health status and family history. Berkland’s autopsy claimed that the cause
was an undiagnosed heart-valve disease, cardiac arrhythmia. This, he said, made her lose consciousness
and smack her head on the floor. Klausutis ran five miles a day. She was healthy and fit. However, shortly after discovering her body,
Scarborough’s office put out a report that Klausutis had a history of health issues,
“specifically surrounding stroke and epilepsy.” The girl’s family contradicted this claim. Dr. Berkland’s autopsy report claimed no
foul play. Could his report have been falsified? With a storage unit full of human organs,
I wouldn’t put it past him. 8. Celebrity Storage Units, Part 1
While many would like to peak into the lives of celebrities by being taken on a grand tour
of their “cribs,” few stalkers have thought to themselves, “But what about their storage
units?” Considering the amount of freebies given to
Hollywood celebrities– along with how much crap they must stockpile themselves after
their pockets are lined – it probably comes as no surprise that some celebrities have
storage units to house all the extra odds and ends. And one of those celebrities is none other
than Burt Reynolds. Turns out, Reynolds – who brought us Boogie
Nights, Deliverance, The Dukes of Hazzard, and so much more – is somewhat of a packrat. In fact, that’s just how his one-time co-star,
Jon Voight described him. And, boy, did this pack rat pack some not-so-ratty
stuff away. When Reynolds failed to pay for his unit,
his items were auctioned off. These items included:
Loads of photos from co-stars and celebrity friends; the bill of sale for Roy Rogers’
favorite horse, Trigger; a framed 1955 letter from Dr. Lynn Fort for emergency surgery on
Reynolds’ spleen; Fred Biletnikoff, Oakland Raiders former wide receiver’s last and
final can of Stick ‘Em adhesive; a large horse carriage, created by Dolly Parton; a
Smokey and the Bandit toy car; a hockey stick chair from his Mystery, Alaska film; and perhaps
the biggest win, the canoe from Deliverance. Reynolds’ unit held so much memorabilia
that many winning bidders from the auction formed the Burt Reynolds and Friends Museum
in Jupiter, Florida, which has since turned into a shopping mall. 7. Pirate’s Booty
Most of these entrees are more odd than valuable and more gruesome than awesome. But one lucky bidder actually did strike gold…literally. Many know Laura and Dan Dotson as the show
runners of American reality hit Storage Wars, which is a televised version of the type of
auctions we’ve been talking about in this Top 15. They auction off lockers that have been foreclosed
to bidders who have no idea what could be in store for them. Laura and Dan recently sold off a rare collection
of pre-19th century treasure relics for $1,000…only to discover that the buyers found a pirate
chest full of genuine doubloons, worth $500,000, according to an appraisal expert. The “Pieces of Eight Spanish Gold” dated
somewhere between the 16th and 19th centuries. The box weighed so much that three people
were required to move it. This unit is one of the biggest sales in the
history of the A&E show, which is among the most-watched shows on the channel, with 4.7
million viewers per week on average. Who took the biggest haul from the find? The buyer, who was the beneficiary and had
taken a gamble on the locker, without knowing what it held. In a tweet, Dan Dotson expressed the shock
value of the doubloon discovery: “We had no idea! We only heard from the excited buyer and storage
facility owner! Great find of a lifetime.” 6. A Human Leg
The storage unit door swings open, a few dozen people gathered outside it to eyeball the
contents. Interested buyers are forbidden to enter,
so they have no idea what mysterious things they might find inside. Imagine a unit with suitcases, totes, trash
bags, duffels, all sorts of containers, packed to the brim. What could be hidden here? Could there be a gem worth thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Or is this unit’s starting price of $25
more than charitable? Most storage unit hunters are expecting to
find knickknacks, piles of clothes, stray records and, one hopes, some long lost treasure
from a bygone era. What they’re not expecting to find is severed
limbs. But in 2007, that’s exactly what Shannon
Whisnant discovered in the storage unit he won at auction. The random leg that Shannon happened upon
wasn’t just laying around, bloody, like the scene from a horror movie; rather, it
was tucked away in a meat smoker. Was this the storage unit for some sort of
secret society of cannibals preparing for a barbecue? No, not quite. The unit had belonged to John Wood who’d
been in a plane crash in 2004. Wood’s leg was amputated above the knee. And it seems, he wasn’t yet ready to part
with the limb. In fact, he hoped to be buried with it, which
is why he was storing it. After his payments fell behind, he lost the
unit. And his leg. Again. You’d think that Whisnant would have some
compassion and reunite Wood with his leg. After all, why would any sane person want
to keep the thing? But that’s not what happened. Though he now legally owned the amputated
leg, he passed it on to police who forwarded it to a funeral home. Then, as reported by the BBC, Whisnant asked
for the leg back, because he’d been making a profit by charging children $1 and adults
$3 to look in the smoker. When the funeral home denied his request,
he contacted Wood to see if he’d get involved, so that he – Whisnat – could be reunited
with the profit-making leg. He very generously offered to share the profit. Wood’s response? “I just think it’s despicable. I don’t mind having the 15 minutes of fame,
but I’m not looking to really profit off this thing. He's making a freak show out of it.” As strange as it sounds, Whisnant and Wood
then brought the case of the amputated leg to TV court, where Judge Greg Mathis did the
honorable thing and returned the long lost leg to its rightful owner…you know, the
one whose body part it was. 5. De-faced Bills
Imagine opening a unit to find an old trunk full of money. That’s everyone’s dream, really. But what if the dream trunk was full of de-faced
bills? That’s exactly what happened on the show
Storage Wars. After just a cursory glance inside, the bidder
won the unit with his $400 bid and discovered a whole lot more. $23,600 more, to be exact. Stashed away in the unit, there was $24,000
cash in an old trunk. The most mysterious thing about the find was
that a hole had been drilled where the faces were supposed to be. In every last bill. After making the discovery, the buyer wondered
why the bills had been de-faced…they also wondered if the money was devalued because
of it. Lucky for the buyer, bills are considered
legal tender, despite being drilled in the face. Banks must accept bills if the serial numbers
are in tact and a series of tests are passed. No need for the Benjamin in the Benjamins! 4. The Superman Comic
It’s common knowledge that Nicholas Cage is a spendthrift. He’s also known for being a bit odd. His purchases are not far off the “must-haves”
of his film characters. Although he’s never attempted to run down
the Declaration of Independence (as far as we know), he has purchased:
A Tarbosaurus skull that was 67 million years old
A pyramid An island
A purportedly haunted house where a life was taken
And a pair of albino king cobras If you had to guess a Cage-purchased item
that was discovered in a storage unit, you might take a wild leap off the deep end. But you’d be wrong. Actually, the item discovered was a simple
Superman comic book…well, maybe not so simple, being that the first edition was purchased
by Cage for $150,000. The mystery, however, lies in how it came
to be in a random storage unit in California. Cage had purchased the 1938 Action Comics
Superman in 1997, and three years later, in 2000, an unidentified thief nabbed this comic
and several others from his home. While the other comic books were found long
before, this missing first edition was rediscovered in 2011 in an abandoned storage unit. The discovery was a life-saver for Cage, who
had recently filed for bankruptcy, as he was in debt for $13 million…probably due to
the innumerable island and pyramid purchases charged on his AMEX. Selling for a whopping $2,161,000 at auction,
Superman helped save Cage’s ass, but the culprit who nicked it managed to get away. And, to this day, remains a mystery. 3. Another Human Body
Alongside wedding photos of a happy couple laid the remains of one of the happy pair. The groom. After failing to pay for her Upland self-storage
unit for several months, Darlene Bourk learned that the facility’s manager had auctioned
off some of her belongings. In a haste, she tried to contact the buyers,
she posted notes on the unit that said she’d “give anything” to recover her contents,
she begged the Stor-King employees for help getting one of the boxes back. One, in particular. Bourk’s sights were not set on her wedding
memorabilia – cake knife, champagne glasses, or wedding photo album. Rather, she was frantically searching for
one box…one which held the remains of her husband. “All she wanted was that one box,” facility
manager, Susie Gonzales, said. “She said it belonged to her husband and
she wanted it for her kids, for sentimental reasons. It was real important to her. She didn't care about the other boxes, but
she seemed really broken up about that one box.” However, her recovery efforts were all in
vain when the box’s buyer – who had bought a half-dozen boxes for $20 – opened it up
to discover Robert Bourk’s corpse. Robert had disappeared on December 22nd, 1996. He was 27. “The woman and her son were going to take
the stuff to their house and go through it there,” Gonzales said. “But because of the way Bourk acted, we
were all real curious. So the son opened it here, right on the spot.” Gonzales said the odor was horrific, and her
assistant manager immediately went to phone the police. The body was wrapped in two tarpaulins, blankets,
and surrounded by sand, in a wardrobe box that was wrapped in thick plastic sheeting. But still…the smell! Shortly after, 31-year-old Darlene Bourk was
arrested for allegedly murdering her husband. They were having marital problems at the time
of his disappearance. In fact, there were restraining orders on
both sides, and divorce papers were being drawn up. Darlene pleaded not guilty in San Bernadino
County. “I still can't believe it, because the woman
seemed like such a nice, upstanding person,” said Gonzalez. “She was very petite and attractive and
always very polite.” If pretty, petite, polite Darlene Bourk hadn’t
fallen behind on her $25-payments, who knows how long she could have kept her dirty little
secret under wraps. 2. Celebrity Storage Units, Part 2
Celebrity bankruptcies can turn out some pretty hot items in their storage units. Those in-the-know buyers often watch out for
celebrity units, because who knows what valuable items might be found inside? The resale value of certain memorabilia may
reach the hundreds of thousands – maybe even millions. So when Michael Jackson found himself in the
red in the late nineties, it’s no surprise that some of these birds came swooping in
to pick up the breadcrumbs. A company that the Jacksons owed money to
discovered a storage unit chock full of Jackson family paraphernalia. They were able to collect on their debt through
a bankruptcy sale of the items, which Michael tried to block. However, the company was able to move forward
by buying the title, the Estate’s right, and interest in the Subject Property. However, after setting up a pay-for-access
website in 2004 in Jackson’s name, using his likeness and photographs of Jackson, along
with additional copyrighted materials pulled from the bankruptcy sale, Jackson took them
to court. However, with his legal team busy elsewhere
in 2006, Jackson failed to prosecute, and so the case was dismissed. When Jackson passed away in 2009, his lawyers
took the defendants to court after they attempted to cash in by building more pay-for-access
websites. In the end, the court agreed that the bankruptcy
sale did not transfer the rights or title of intellectual property to his debtors. This personal property included unreleased
audio recordings. Though Jackson’s debtors owned the rights
to the tangible property – the cassette tapes – , they did not own the rights to
the intangible property – Jackson’s music. So the debtors did not have the right to copy
and distribute these tapes. Though his bankruptcy was not funny, Michael
did get the last laugh. Before we get to number 1, my name is Chills
and I hope you’re enjoying the video so far. If you've ever been curious as to what I look
like in real life, then follow me on Instagram @dylan_is_chillin_yt, with underscores instead
of spaces. I also have Twitter @YT_Chills where I post
video updates. I'd really appreciate it if you followed me
and feel free to send me a DM if you have a questions or suggestions. If you’d like to see more of these videos
in the future, then hit that subscribe button because we upload new countdowns every Tuesday
and Saturday. 1. Bond, James Bond
A guy walks into a storage container. He buys the container for $100. And inside he finds the Lotus Esprit Submarine
from the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. No, this is not a joke. The Long Island contractor didn’t know the
container’s contents, and when he and his brother threw the doors open, all they found
was “a giant lump” sheeted over with blankets. But underneath the sheets was the shell of
a wheel-less white vehicle with a dented roof. The two hadn’t seen the film in question,
so they thought they’d been suckered into buying junk. But others who were true blue James Bond fans
told them they had a mint on their hands. The Ian Fleming Foundation co-founder, himself,
verified that the Lotus sub was authentic. Now the blue collar worker is a near-millionaire,
as billionaire tech mogul, Elon Musk, purchased the Lotus Esprit on auction for $997,000,
wanting to make the vehicle transform from roadster to submarine, just like in the movies. “It was amazing as a little kid in South
Africa to watch James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier,
press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater,” Musk said in a
statement. “I was disappointed to learn that it can't
actually transform. What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a
Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real.” Film fantasy to reality-that-seems-like-fantasy? There couldn’t be a happier ending. Thanks for checking out this video. Be sure to subscribe because we upload new
countdowns every Tuesday and Saturday. Or if you're still not convinced, here are
some of our other videos that I think you'd like. Enjoy!
