6 Strange Things Homeowners Have Found in Their Yards

Eerik/iStock

One day as a child, I found a handful of rusty, oversize, ornate metal buttons in my yard while making mud pies; it was the most exciting day of my young life. Perhaps you, too, have stumbled across some memorable discoveries on your property—or may do so soon now that the weather is warming and yardwork is kicking into high gear. But we’ll bet you’ve never unearthed anything like the following items found by people who later got rich or famous, or just ended up with a great story to share.

A buried Ferrari

In 1978, kids digging in their Los Angeles backyard unearthed a cool little sports car (no, it wasn’t a toy car). It was a 1974 264 Dino Ferrari. The sleek, high-priced car was fully intact, in surprisingly good condition, and completely buried. But how?

It turns out the car had been stolen as part of an insurance scheme, but rather than destroy the car (like movies have taught us criminals always should), the bad guys decided to bury it and come back for it later, according to the Los Angeles Times. They didn’t, but once the car was discovered, the police did.

———

$10 million in treasure

In 2014, a couple in California were out walking their dogs on their property when they found a rusted, old can half-buried in the dirt. The couple dug it up, opened it, and found it filled with rare gold coins. So they went back and found more cans and coins—1,427 to be exact, all dating from 1847 to 1894. The total value was a whopping $10 million, according to ABC News.

So you may want to spend an afternoon in your backyard with a metal detector. You probably won’t strike it rich, but you might turn up some spare change. Who cares if you look silly?

———

An endangered animal

Perhaps you’ve had the privilege of oohing and ahhing over animals in your yard, whether they’re a deer or two, or maybe migrating geese. But a homeowner in Turlock, CA, this year was surprised to find what turned out to be a ring-tailed lemur in his yard.

If you’ve seen “Madagascar,” then you know that lemurs are native to that African island, not California. Plus, this breed is endangered.

The lemur in question wasn’t an escapee from the local zoo, but more likely a product of the black-market exotic pet trade, according to CBS Sacramento. It was trapped and taken to the zoo, so at least now it has friends.

———

An alien corpse?

Even stranger than an exotic wild animal in your backyard is the possibility of finding what looks like an alien corpse.

It turns out it’s just a deer fetus—but at first glance, we’d probably presume it’s from outer space, too. (BTW, if you want to invite aliens to your home there are plenty of ways to lay out the welcome mat, from rock gardens to flashing lights.)In November, right after a widely reported “UFO sighting” in Southern California, San Jose–basedGianna Peponis posted this pic on Facebook. “I wasn’t gonna post this, but I can’t stop trying to figure out wtf this thing is. I heard something scream at like 11:30 last night and went out on my side yard and found this thing,” Peponis wrote.

———

A Civil War cannonball

Tree trimmers working at a home in New Bern, NC, in February had to stop work suddenly when they found what looked to be a cannonball, which could still contain dynamite. So they gave it a wide berth and called in experts, who determined that it was indeed a weapon from the Civil War. Fortunately, the gunpowder had deteriorated and was no longer dangerous, according to WITN News. Whew!

———

Biblical snails

In March, while working in his aunt’s backyard in Tyler, TX, Wayne Propst found some snail fossils that, at least according to one expert, hail from the days of Noah’s Ark. Or so, said Joe Taylor, director and curator of theMt. Blanco Fossil Museum in nearby Crosbyton.

Granted, Taylor didn’t see the fossils, but he’s still quite sure they’re the real McCoy, which prompted Propst to hire neighborhood kids to help with his archaeological dig, using toothbrushes to clean off their discoveries, according to The Houston Chronicle. They’re part of a grand tradition: Manybackyards have turned into valuable archaeological sites.

Angela Colley lives in New Orleans, where she writes about buying, selling, and renting news for realtor.com. Her passions include animal rescue, photography, historic homes, and Southern architecture.