10 of the Most Unusual Places People Have Kept Money

We all have our different ways when it comes to handling and/or saving money. We often go to banks to have it deposited while some of us choose to invest. Heck, some people even grow these fortunes in the most unconventional ways. And perhaps the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is an epitome of this. Remember: his wealth became so massive colossus that he had to resort in burying his money six feet underground.

Of course, not everyone is like Pablo. And not all of us have the same way of hiding money. But if you’re thinking of doing such, then you better be packed with the best of ideas. After all, we’re talking about money here.

Without further ado, below are 10 unusual places people have hidden their money and have acquired it.

#10. Bathroom

Ah, bathroom. It’s one of the best places in our homes, right? It’s where we wash off dirt and, you know, do the “thing.” However, it’s also the place a person is unlikely to use as a personal bank. Right? Well, actually, not. In the United States, a contractor was lucky enough to find at least $182,000 in a bathroom. But being a good guy, he told the homeowner about his discovery. This was when things started to become a mess. The two entities just couldn’t agree on the split and thus led to the public becoming aware of the situation. The fiasco forced Patrick Dunne, the wealthy businessman who hid his fortunes in a bathroom, to divide his riches to 21 descendants.

#9. High Heels

Yes, you read that right. Somewhere in Colombia, police officials and airport authorities were surprised to discover a stash of cash in the woman’s high heels. There around 500 euro notes thrust into her heels of four wedge shoes. Apparently, though, the woman also carried money on her bag, but it only amounted to 5,950 euros. As for the ones in the shoe? Well, it’s a whopping £150,000 amount. She definitely went to crazy length just to hide that money.

#8. Couch

Three college students decided to visit a charity store to buy a secondhand couch worth $20. These were roommates Cally Guasti, Lara Russo, and Reese Werkhoven. To their surprise, however, the couch was packed with envelopes of cash amounting to $41,000. Despite the temptation, they still decided to return the money to its rightful owner. It turned out that the money was kept by a husband of a woman who, for some reason, donated the furniture. The discovered fortune was reportedly decades of savings as well as wages from the said woman during her job as a florist.

#7. Rectum

So you think the high heels would do the trick? Think again. A guy named Pattreon Stokes stuffed $1,000 right into his rectum, thinking such area would go unnoticed. When he got pulled out by a policeman for overspeeding, the authority smelled marijuana in his vehicle. He went to conduct a search and was able to retrieve heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, among many others. Stokes was later on accompanied to the Marion County Jail. But to the surprise of the police officials, they money was nowhere to be found.

Stokes insisted that the policeman already took the cash, but not one of the officers believed him. Unfortunately for Stokes, some eagle-eyed policemen noticed $20 gushing out from his buttocks. He was then forced to bring his pants down, and the rest was history.

#6. Roof

A Muslim family living in Bankstown, Sydney, Australia won the case against a neighbor, who tricked their intellectually disabled son. The neighbor basically stole nearly $500,000 from the family’s roof cavity. This money was actually the Helou family’s life savings, which they kept on the roof for religious reasons. To keep track of the wealth, they opted to handwritten accounts. When the kid saw Giam Nguyen stealing the cash, he told his family. The police, however, didn’t act right away for lack of evidence. Although the defendant tried to compose stories, he was unable to explain the wealth he used for rehabbing his home. He even had additional properties, thanks to the stolen money. The favor, fortunately, favored the Helou family.

#5. Farm

Since we’re talking about “hiding money,” I can’t help but include Pablo Escobar although I’ve already mentioned him above. Escobar was first known for being a smuggler of anything he could get his hands to. But his heyday was primarily composed of him smuggling drugs into the United States. And keep in mind that, unlike any other drug lords, Escobar was earning billions on a monthly basis. No wonder his name came to Forbes’ list of the richest man in the world.

But Escobar knew that his overgrowing wealth would soon get the attention of the authorities, so he resorted to buying a taxi company, donations, and even charity works. Still, these weren’t enough. The money just kept flowing and Escobar and his team had to be wise. So what exactly did they come up with? Well, they buried the money in a farm. To keep track of his wealth, he had a guy named Blackbeard who made a map for his buried fortunes. Apparently, one fine day, a Colombian farmer by the name of Jose Mariena Cartolos found one of the Escobar’s money pits. Cartolos, however, understood what it meant to keep the money. So instead of keeping it to himself, he decided to return it to, well, Escobar. He just knew his life wasn’t worth the wealth he dug up.

#4. Swallowed

After discovering her husband’s infidelity, a Colombian woman decided to swallow their $7,000 life savings – not in check, but cash. Sandra Milena Almeida first kept the money in their house, but she couldn’t just take his husband’s cheating. She decided to leave him. His husband eventually knew what she did and insisted that half of it should be his. But to his surprise, Sandra swallowed the money right in front of him. Unfortunately for her, she experienced some intense abdominal pain and was immediately brought to the hospital.

Perhaps ashamed of what she did, she never told the doctors about her “swallowing” stunt. Later on, the doctors were surprised with the X-ray results. They found wads of cash, which caused a gastrointestinal blockage. It was so severe that the medical experts decided to have her undergo surgery. While the whole operation went successful, they were only able to save $5,700 out $7,000.

#3. Duvet

A Chinese man decided to hide his money from her wife in the duvet. But unfortunately for him, a dog was fond of playing with it. And yes, the animal didn’t have any second thoughts chewing it and the money. Worst of all, the dog wasn’t even his. The creature chewed at least 3,800 yuan. Lucky for him, his wife wasn’t angry or disappointed. According to Listverse, she found the incident funny.

#2. Socks

Antonio Rakigjija went home from Mexico just to smuggle $130,000. But he didn’t hide it in his car whatsoever. He hid it on his socks. Apparently, though, he got stopped by a US Customs official in San Ysidro. He and his son claimed that they had no money or something to declare. But like Stokes, the agent from the agency discovered marijuana in their car and thus both men were frisked. The money was then discovered from his socks.

#1. Television

A man living in Ontario once hid a money worth $100,000, which he had inherited from his parents. He kept it in a television. Decades after, a number of employees from an Ontario-based recycling plant opened the worthless appliance, which was a 1980s TV set. To their surprise, they discovered tons of $50 bills amounting to the said worth.

Reports have it that the man forgot about the money and where he kept it. He decided to give the TV to a friend one day, who also opted to drop the appliance on the recycling plant. Although the employees had the opportunity to keep the money – they weren’t legally bounded anyway – they still decided to return the money.