Vault of the Day: Finally, the Internet Gets a Satisfying Safe Cracking Story

The Internet has a varied relationship with stories about safes.

Two years ago, one Reddit post blew the lid off a secret fascination and the web has been a wash with 'what's in this box?' speculation. That post alone spawned a healthy subreddit that has almost 90,000 subscribers.

But unfortunately, most of them have led to disappointing reveals.

That is until sarm posted a series of pictures to Imgur about the safe they found while renovating their Phoenix home...

[W]e moved into our fixer-upper home two years ago and we're finally getting around to the kitchen renovation. ...During the demolition, we found this safe in the floor – the safe revealed itself when we tore down the kitchen island.

To my knowledge, our home has had 6 previous owners – A hunch the safe didn't belong to the last owners who seemed to like cats and smoking.

Apparently, when they moved in, they found a code to a safe in the back of a medicine cabinet, but never found a safe on which to use it. Very wisely, they saved the combination and the opportunity presented itself. That's crazy in itself.

But look at what they found:



It turned out to be $51,080, 50-year-old James E. Pepper bourbon and a very, very mysterious book.



The book is an even deeper rabbit hole, full of mysterious clues, postcard riddles and a bingo card with a possible combination on it.

A Guide for the Perplexed by E.F. Schumacher. Published in 1977.

Page 1 – A photo of a really sexy Gregory Peck looking dude.

I'm not a treasure hunter but pages 1, 7, 11, and 14 contain, what appear to be, a series of clues.

...On the back of the photo is a note which reads,

Alan,
I have a book you must read. I've underlined a few key passages.
Your friend,
Vincent

"There yielded such fruitful results..."





They said they didn't have a complete plan for the whole of the bounty yet.

We haven't decided what we're going to do with the money yet. If Alan is still out there, it was meant for him after all.

But we're keeping the bourbon!

You can see the whole crazy gallery here.