Man Opens Safe Buried In Backyard, Then Police Knock On His Door
This house in Todt Hill, Staten Island, New York has been home to Matthew Emanuel and his family for the past four years.
While they were very familiar with all its nooks and crannies, there was a particular object in the yard that none of them had dared to explore. It was an old box covered in rust.
However, when a storm hit their town, they decided that it was time for the backyard to get its much-needed renovation — and that meant having to finally deal with the mysterious box.
They called in a landscaper friend, aptly named Bamboo Bob, to help them out. With his intervention, finally the case of the untouched rusting case would be solved.
But little did they know that it would set off a chain of events so unbelievable that their story eventually went viral.
The Emanuel Family
Having called the house on Todt Hill their home for four years, it was only natural that they already knew what every inch of the property had in store for them.
They had made some renovations on certain parts of the house and landscaped some sections of the yard. However, in one corner of the backyard, there lay an antique-looking box that was so full of rust they did not dare to touch it.
It was partially buried on the ground, and since the rest of the property was already fixed anyway, they didn’t not really think much about that protrusion and continued to live their lives for almost half a decade.
Soon, however, they would discover that it held something that would make everybody ask so many questions.
It Just Sat There — And Nobody Really Cared
The box came with the property when they purchased it. It was nestled, partially buried, into the ground near the backyard fence.
It was so old and rusty, and judging by how it was deeply lodged in, the Emanuel family knew that it has been a long time since it had bee moved.
Out of its side crawled some weeds and poison ivy, which is probably why nobody, even the ones who lived there before them, had bothered to check it out.
In fact, they didn’t really consider it a huge deal as they had been throwing mulch over that area. One day, however, a huge storm hit the area and washed out most of the debris that had piled up. The old box was finally exposed.
The Huge Storm of 2018 And A Hungry Animal
The winter of 2018 saw one of the harshest snowstorms to ever hit the area. The trees that lined their fences toppled over, destroying a huge section of their yard.
The family wasn’t able to go out of the house for a few days because of the strong winds. As they watched their property being ravaged by the weather, they could not help but be thankful that they remind safe and sound inside their home.
Sadly, they couldn’t say the same of their yard.
When spring finally came, they knew it was time to deal with the situation outside. Major renovations needed to be done — and that also meant finally having to come face-to-face with the mystery box, which had somehow been exposed by what happened.
Left With No Choice
The heavy, dirty, rusted box that they deliberately ignored for many years had voluntarily made itself known and prominent to the Emanuel family, as if telling them to come and inspect.
When it had managed to remain hidden and unassuming, now it had gone out in the open, giving them no choice but to deal with it.