Hidden below

10 unusual things people found buried in their backyards

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If you have a backyard, chances are you've wondered what might be lurking beneath its surface. While most of us will only find little more than rocks—or perhaps the remains of a long-lost pet—incredible discoveries aren’t as rare as you might think. From priceless treasures and ancient artifacts to entire forgotten graveyards, here are 10 astonishing stories of people who unearthed remarkable finds right on their own property!

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In Virginia, a homeowner unearthed a 150-year-old Civil War cannonball while digging. The artillery shell, found near the site of a historical battle, was over 150 years old. Such relics are not uncommon in Virginia, a state that saw more action than any other during the war. Despite their age, unexploded ordnance like this remains risky, as even after centuries these artifacts can still be active and ready to blow up.

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In 2017, a man in Pombal, Portugal, uncovered the fossilized remains of a sauropod dinosaur while doing construction work on his property. Sauropods are a species of plant-eating herbivores. They are among the largest land animals ever to exist, and this particular specimen was even thought to be the largest ever found in Europe.

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In Massachusetts, construction work at a schoolyard uncovered a 124-year-old time capsule—a copper box about the size of a shoebox. Inside were newspapers from 1894, fragments of Civil War military uniforms, and lists of local residents who served in the war. The remarkable find was donated to a local historical society for evaluation and preservation.

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In the UK, a man discovered an urn containing thousands of ancient Roman coins while digging a fishpond in his backyard, just four feet below the surface. Talk about striking gold! The coins were estimated to be around 1,700 years old. Roman coin hoards have been found across Britain, often dating back to the decline of the Roman Empire.

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In Tampa, Florida, a family had their own "Goonies" moment while cleaning out their grandfather's attic. During spring cleaning, they discovered a box containing a tattered map of the Hillsborough River, 18th-century Spanish and Portuguese coins, a family photo—and a mysterious hand wearing an antique ring. To make it even crazier, some suggest the hand might belong to the infamous Tampa Bay pirate José Gaspar.

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In 1978, two Los Angeles children reportedly discovered a buried Ferrari in their backyard, thought to have been stolen years earlier. The wild story made national news, with the most surprising detail being that the car was in shockingly good condition despite its time underground. However, it was later revealed that the story was a cover-up: an informant had tipped off the police about the car's location, and the story was a plan to shield the snitch's identity.

Credit: Library of Congress

In Plymouth, England, an unexploded World War II bomb was found in a garden, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people. Bomb disposal experts took the device away and, after considering all options, decided to detonate it at sea. Unsurprisingly, the event brought the community together during the massive evacuation, with some likening the sense of unity to the "wartime spirit" of old.

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In a strange case from Roanne, France, a couple who had recently purchased a house found 28 gold bars buried in the garden, with an estimated value of 800,000 euros (roughly equivalent to 822,000 US dollars). However, when they attempted to sell the bars, their sudden riches drew the attention of the French anti-money laundering agency. This led to claims from the previous owners of the house, quickly turning the discovery into a legal headache.

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While renovating their home in Ames, New York, a couple uncovered a stash of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden inside the walls and floorboards. Bundles wrapped in tattered paper contained six bottles each of "Old Smuggler" Gaelic Whiskey, dating back to 1923. The house had once been owned by a German bootlegger named Adolph Humpfner, who undoubtedly left behind the secret stash for the future. A true treasure for whiskey lovers!

Credit: Ashutosh Gupta

A family in Norway got more than they bargained for when searching their yard for a lost earring with a metal detector. Instead of jewelry, they uncovered relics from a Viking burial beneath a large tree. The finds included two bronze ornaments once covered in gold, possibly marking the first Viking Age (A.D. 793–1066) discovery on the island of Jomfruland. Experts even said this amazing find confirmed suspicions that the island was inhabited during the Viking period.

Nothing wrong with vanilla, but here’s something different

What are Moose Tracks? 10 ice cream flavor names decoded

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Ice cream flavors are usually named after their main ingredients because, quite simply, that helps customers know what they are asking for. But, every now and then, ice cream stores come up with a flavor so special and different that a new name must be created to capture the experience of tasting it. The following ten are examples of such cases, where names as unusual as "Devil’s Footprints" or "Secret Breakfast" are part of the menu. Browse through and see for yourself if you would dare to try any of these!

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As weird as it seems, Moose Tracks is a branded ice cream flavor that is manufactured by different companies under various brands. The Original Moose Tracks product description is: "vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and famous Moose Tracks fudge." The "moose tracks" are the fudge bits mixed into the vanilla ice cream, resembling the animal’s footprints.

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Perhaps not the most tempting name for an ice cream flavor, Cold Sweat can be found at Sunni Sky's Homemade Ice Cream in Angier, North Carolina. This dubious treat is packed with hot peppers and hot sauce, making it a challenging flavor that will have you reaching for water after the first lick.

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Canadians have their own way of doing many things and ice cream is no exception. Tiger Tail is an orange-flavored ice cream with a black licorice swirl. As you might imagine, it is named for its resemblance to orange and black tiger stripes.

Tiger tail is most popular in parts of Canada and not often found elsewhere. It is a distinctly flavored ice cream, considered a retro flavor, and it has seen a nostalgia-driven resurgence in recent years.

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Just to clarify: yes, it is "parakeet," as in the bird. An ice cream store in Japan, Torimi Cafe, offers a line of bird-inspired flavors: Java Sparrow, Parakeet, and Cockatiel. The cafe team claims they came up with the taste of the birds based on the type of food the birds eat, but also adding ingredients that simulate the same sensation of actually having those types of birds in your mouth.

Fortunately, according to the cafe, the ingredients made to create these ice cream flavors are all-natural. In a statement, the Torimi Cafe said "Once in your mouth, the aroma of a parakeet would spread intensely."

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Ice cream is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a Thanksgiving Dinner. But at The Ice Cream Store, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, it is.

As it should be, this specialty is seasonal, and it is made with vanilla ice cream studded with tomatoes, potatoes, and green beans, then topped off with hot sauce and granulated sugar.

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It’s very rare for someone buying ice cream to be asked to prove their age. But, if you ask for a Ghost Pepper ice cream at The Ice Cream Store in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (yes, the same place we have just talked about), that is exactly what will happen.

The dessert could easily be mistaken for vanilla, topped with strawberry sauce—both of which provide the base flavors for the creation—but one bite quickly proves otherwise. The ice cream contains three ghost pepper-based hot sauces, a jalapeño-based hot sauce, and a ghost pepper mash. Once considered the hottest pepper in the world, the ghost pepper packs 1 million Scoville units of heat.

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An ice cream idea born from a competition, the Blue Mint is a peppermint ice cream dyed blue with white chocolate chunks and chocolate cookie pieces. It was conceived by a student at Utah State University and was developed in their laboratory. The original name was Aggie Iceberg, but with the addition of chocolate cookie chips, the iceberg concept was replaced.

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The ice cream version of a clown is aptly named, Krusty the Cone—an ice cream flavor inspired by Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons. The base flavor is a simple vanilla soft-serve ice cream, but it's topped with cotton candy, cotton candy sauce, and rainbow sprinkles for its flamboyant appearance. An ice cream as sweet as it comes, for sure.

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A daring name indeed, the Devil's Footprints flavor is named after a local landmark in Trinity, Canada. Partridge berries give the ice cream its eye-catching hue, and they are hand-picked from the nearby Bonavista Peninsula. Partridge berries impart a tart and slightly sweet flavor, giving the ice cream a refreshing and fruity taste.

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Having ice cream for breakfast is an odd choice, but adding a shot of bourbon to the mix is even stranger. Humphry Slocombe’s Secret Breakfast combines bourbon ice cream with crunchy cornflakes (we suspect that this is where the "breakfast" part comes from), and it’s one of the most popular scoops on the menu.