What have you seen?

[mgbinspect]

In your travels, what is the most unusual and unique thing you've stumbled upon during a home inspection?

For me, the thing that immediately comes to mind as something I've only seen once and will probably never see again, was in the eaves of an old 1940s Cape Cod - a genuine leather football helmet, if you could actually classify that as a "helmet".

[Inspectorjoe]

Great question!

For me, it was probably the large cigar box stuffed with $50 bills that I found last summer.

The hidden rooms from four years ago were pretty unique: Old thread

Then there was the time I went into an attached garage to find Kitt from the TV show Knight Rider.

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[Phillip]

The new york times paper that had the story of Kennedy being shot

[caryseidner]

Like Joe, my most unique find was cash. Lots of cash! I found this shoebox in the attic.

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[davidlord]

For me it was probably the house with the double upright freezer packed full of dope and the house with the pornstar pictures all over the walls. The pornstar came home about halfway through the inspection. It was a little uncomfortable.

[kurt]

Coupla porn rooms, some porn/sex "machinery", that sort of weirdness.

Some very nice Tiffany lamps in an attic.

Katen should tell us what he found in a crawlspace one time.........

[blazenut]

so... what did you do with the cash?

[Scottpat]

A spiral staircase with signed baseball bats as the balusters. Names like SoSo, McGuire, Rose and Ryan were just a few of the big names. It was the home a pro ballplayer who is now an ESPN baseball commentator. He was selling the house and I asked him if the bats went with the house and he said that the staircase will have bats in it, but many will be changed and replaced with not so famous players.

[mgbinspect]

Lol, Kurt, it's slightly off thread, but your find reminds me of a home inspection where the listing agent let me in and told the story of the "poor seller" who was a pastor and was being deserted by his wife. When we get up stairs, I find the eaves stuffed with porno magazines and a telescope pointed through the window at a home across the street. I looked at the agent and said, "Well, maybe you shouldn't feel quite as sorry for this guy as you do." She looked at me puzzled. Then scanned the room and said, "Oh my!" to which I nodded, "Yean.." Lol..

Well, I, Like Blazenut, wish to know what happened to the money?

[MMustola]

Lot a porn, lot a cool stuff in attics, two houses with stripper poles.

The most unusual, because you don't expect to find this in Flint Michigan, was two Emmy awards on a mantel. The seller received the awards for his camera work at two NFL games. One was a NFC championship game the other was for a Superbowl

[caryseidner]

I gotta say that when I opened up that shoe box and saw all that cash I nearly wet myself. I certainly was tempted and quickly ran through a couple of different scenarios in my mind. However they all ended up with me being in jail or dead, so I left the money where I found it.

The kicker is that the money was still there after my client closed on the house. I should have sent them a holiday card this year.[:-dunce]

[Jim Katen]

. . . Katen should tell us what he found in a crawlspace one time.........

Oh, yeah. That would be the silicone object in the attached picture. When I first saw it, I thought it was (I kid you not) a block of cheese. That probably says something about the way my mind works.

You know, after all these years, I'm not the least bit bothered about crawling over dead animals, poop, or any manner of toxic materials. But I still get positively freaked out about crawling over other people's sex toys.

Call me old fashioned.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

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[mgbinspect]

OK, I definitely nominate Jim Katen as the first receiver of the annual gross out find on a home inspection award along with a mental pain and anguish purple heart. I'm already convinced I'll never be able to get that image out of my head...

PS. Oh, I forgot to include in my earlier post the home seller was HER PASTOR. Ooops.. Lol

[Erby]

Slave cage with the chains still attached to the stone wall.

It was basically the whole center part of the foundation (about 5' tall with a dirt floor) in an old mansion near Paris, Kentucky that was over 200 years old. The original owner apparently was part of the slave catching trade. Kept them there waiting for further transport.

Too much porn and sex toys just inside the attic hatch to be unique. Usually when the attic hatch is in the master bedroom.

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[charlieb]

. . . Katen should tell us what he found in a crawlspace one time.........

Oh, yeah. That would be the silicone object in the attached picture. When I first saw it, I thought it was (I kid you not) a block of cheese. That probably says something about the way my mind works.

You know, after all these years, I'm not the least bit bothered about crawling over dead animals, poop, or any manner of toxic materials. But I still get positively freaked out about crawling over other people's sex toys.

Call me old fashioned.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

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I could have lived without seeing that image. Sooo, why have you been sharing this with Kurt?[:-censore

[Inspectorjoe]

Here's what I did with the cash that I found.

[gtblum]

Wow!

I wouldn't dream of opening a box, or a suitcase or anything else I wasn't there to inspect. Attic or not, it's still personal property.

[Bill Kibbel]

When I first saw it, I thought it was (I kid you not) a block of cheese. That probably says something about the way my mind works.

No - it makes us wonder what you do to cheese.

I hadn't considered posting this until this thread went there.

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[Bill Kibbel]

In your travels, what is the most unusual and unique thing you've stumbled upon during a home inspection?

In a blocked-off portion of an open-hearth fireplace, I found a pile of bones and a skull. The seller wasn't aware of it and reported it to authorities. He later called to tell me that it turned out to be a full human skeleton of a person that had died over 250 years ago. The original owner of the home was listed in early histories as a physician.

[mgbinspect]

Now that's freaky.

Again slightly off thread, but the bones remind me that during my career, several times I've found the remains of Fluffy in the crawl space.

One time I found the recently missing pet rabbit, still barely alive, in the crawl space. When I came out with it, I warned them not to feed it very much at first, but they didn't listen and ended up killing him anyway.

Another thing I found that was pretty cool was several Pre-Tonka toy metal trucks and tractors in a crawl space in mint condition. It was a vacant house and I did rescue them. They remain in my storage facility to this day.

[Jim Katen]

When I first saw it, I thought it was (I kid you not) a block of cheese. That probably says something about the way my mind works.

No - it makes us wonder what you do to cheese.

Mmmm. Gouda.

[Mark P]

. . . Katen should tell us what he found in a crawlspace one time.........

Oh, yeah. That would be the silicone object in the attached picture. When I first saw it, I thought it was (I kid you not) a block of cheese. That probably says something about the way my mind works.

You know, after all these years, I'm not the least bit bothered about crawling over dead animals, poop, or any manner of toxic materials. But I still get positively freaked out about crawling over other people's sex toys.

Call me old fashioned.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

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I can hear it now. "Hey Honey, I'm going to be doing some more work in the crawlspace again today."

[kurt]

Sumthin' 'bout a sex toy in a crawlspace that makes it extra perv.......

"Honey, don't mind the noise.....it's hard moving around down there......"

[gtblum]

Does it scare the crap out of anyone else here, to go into rooms with guns or jewelry without someone else on your hip?

I hate it. All someone has to do, is accuse you of stealing and you're done. "Grandma's pearls are gone. We think it was the inspector."

[Bain]

Does it scare the crap out of anyone else here, to go into rooms with guns or jewelry without someone else on your hip?

I hate it. All someone has to do, is accuse you of stealing and you're done. "Grandma's pearls are gone. We think it was the inspector."

They'd have to prove it, though, which doesn't happen unless the coppers find the pearls in your possession.

When I was a contractor a decade or so ago, the cost of bonding--fidelity, not performance--five full-time employees was right at a hundred bucks per year, which is nothing. The catch is that the insurance company doesn't pay unless there's a conviction, and there can't very well be a conviction unless the stolen goods are recovered. And if the stolen goods are recovered . . .