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Teen with a fishing magnet found a safe full of cash. And then he returned it all to its owner.

The safe was stolen 22 years ago.

via Wikimedia Commons

It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.

A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past few years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.



In 2022, Fifteen-year-old George Tindale and his dad, Kevin, 52, of Grantham, Lincolnshire in the U.K., made an incredible find earlier this month when they used two magnets to pull up a safe that had been submerged in the River Witham.

George has a popular magnet fishing YouTube channel called “Magnetic G.”

After the father-and-son duo pulled the safe out of the murky depths, they cracked it open with a crowbar and found about $2,500 Australian dollars (US$1,800), a shotgun certificate and credit cards that expired in 2004. The Tindales used the name found on the cards to find the safe’s owner, Rob Everett.

Everett’s safe was stolen during an office robbery in 2000 and then dumped into the river. “I remember at the time, they smashed into a cabinet to get to the safe,” Everett said, according to The Daily Mail. “I was just upset that there was a nice pen on my desk, a Montblanc that was never recovered.”

The robber, who was a teenage boy, was apprehended soon after the crime because he left behind a cap with his name stitched inside.

The father and son met up with Everett to return his stolen money and the businessman gave George a small reward for his honesty. He also offered him an internship because of the math skills he displayed in the YouTube video when he counted the Australian dollars. “What’s good about it is, I run a wealth management company and… I’d love him to work for us," Everett said.

Although the safe saga began with a robbery 22 years ago, its conclusion has left Everett with more faith in humanity.

“I was just amazed that they’d been able to track me down,” he said. “There are some really nice and good people in this world. They could have kept the money, they could have said they attempted to get hold of me.”

“There’s a big lesson there. It teaches George that doing good and being honest and giving back is actually more rewarding than taking,” Everett added.

Treasure hunting isn’t the only allure of the hobby for George. His mother says the hobby has taught him a lot about water pollution and its effects on local wildlife. “George is very environmentally conscious. He always has been since primary school,” she said. “When he first started to do this, he was after treasure. Everything ends up in the rivers and canals.”


This article originally appeared on 04.25.22

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People rally around an honest teen who went out of his way to return a woman's missing purse

He didn't ask for a reward, but he's getting a big one.

via GoFundMe

Ring footage shows Adrian Rodriguez returning a lost purse.

At Upworthy, we are always looking to share the best of humanity and there are few things that reveal someone’s good character quite like when they do good when no one is watching. A recent story from Chula Vista, California, celebrates a teenager who went out of his way to return a woman’s lost purse.

According to NBC News San Diego, Eliana Martin was shopping at Ralph’s supermarket when she accidentally left her purse in a shopping cart in the parking lot. After she left the store, she realized she had lost her purse and began frantically canceling her credit cards.

Shortly after Martin left the parking lot, a recent high school graduate, Adrian Rodriquez, 17, found her purse in the cart. Rodriguez searched the purse to look for an identification card to find where she lived so he could return it to her. He then drove over to the address on the identification card, where Melina Marquez, Martin's former roommate, currently lives.

Marquez wasn’t home so Rodriguez left the purse with a relative. Marquez later saw video of the drop-off on the family’s Ring doorbell camera.

“I looked into the Ring camera, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. He’s such a young kid.’ I was like, ‘We need to find him and just give him a little piece of gratitude.’” Marquez told NBC San Diego.

Even though Rodriguez didn’t expect anything for doing the right thing, Marquez believes that he should be rewarded for his actions. So she organized a GoFundMe campaign that has raised nearly $5,000 for the 17-year-old.

“We think he deserved a great compensation and since a lot of people wanted to help for his good actions here we are,” she wrote on the campaign’s website. For Marquez, Rodriguez’s good deed was about more than just returning a purse.

“He was raise [sic] by amazing parents and this needs to be told,” she added. “Gives me hope for our next generation and also never judge a book by its cover.”

While the story of Rodriguez returning the purse is heartwarming, it isn’t all that rare. A groundbreaking 2019 study conducted in Europe found that when people find a lost wallet, they are more likely to return it if it contains money. Further, the more money in the wallet, the more likely it’ll be returned.

Researchers believe that people are more likely to turn in wallets containing money because they believe that it’s wrong to steal. "The more money wallet contains, the more people say that it would feel like stealing if they do not return the wallet,” Alain Cohn, the study’s lead author from the University of Michigan, told NPR.

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This motorist's kind gesture is a reminder that we should all do good.

You're headed for work when you see someone stuck on the side of the road. What do you do?

Most of us would probably have to admit that we usually keep driving when we see situations like these. We tell ourselves that the stranded person is probably fine or that someone else will stop.

That’s why this video of a man stepping out of his truck to help an elderly man has already racked up over 6 million views on Facebook and is making headlines around the country.

The clip shows a driver abandoning his truck on a busy street to gently guide a man with a walker to safety from oncoming traffic.



Truck driver helps elderly man cross the street

Motorist captures the heartwarming moment a kind driver hopped out of his truck to help an elderly man across a busy road in Griffin, Georgia. The good samaritan stopped traffic to make sure he got to the other side of the street safely.

Posted by ABC News on Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Since being posted on March 11, the video’s been gathering attention from the masses.

And while some people seem to have taken the moment to preach about traffic safety (there’s always someone!), most reacted by commenting on the motorist’s humanity and good-heartedness — two things we all need more of in our daily lives.

E'Ondria Weems, the woman who shot the video, told local news station 11 Alive in Atlanta that she was concerned about the elderly man when she saw him trying to make it across the street. But before she could do anything, she said, the truck driver already had things in hand, making the man’s safety his top priority.

"It was so nice of him to do that. Makes you think there are still nice people in this world," Weems told the station.

What’s extraordinary about the video is just how ordinary it is.

Justin Jackson, the man who’s since been identified as the good Samaritan, said he wasn’t doing anything special. "The old man was walking across the streets and people were flying by and I was like 'l got to stop,'” he told 11 Alive.

We all know we should help other people, but we’re often too busy or preoccupied to notice all the small good deeds we could be doing to make each other’s lives easier.

Often, we become so caught up in global issues that we forget about the change we can effect in our own communities.

That’s why the acts of people like Justin Jackson and Evoni Williams — the Waffle House waitress who recently got viral attention after helping a man cut his food — are so important. They’re reminders that we could all be doing better and helping our fellow people.

And what we do doesn't have to be huge. As Jackson proves, it could be as simple as taking 30 seconds out of your day to steer someone to safety.

Take a look around as you go into the world today, and if there’s a chance for you to be kind to someone else, take it. Sure, a camera may snap the incident and turn you into a viral celeb for a moment, but the support you’ll provide and the reminder that the world can be a kind place is worth way more than any other attention or reward you might receive.

Friendship

A stranger found a lost library book and returned it with this heartwarming note.

Image created from Pixabay.

Nobody enjoys having an overdue library book.

Employees at Idaho's Meridian Library were going through the mail after the Thanksgiving holiday 2017 when they got a sweet surprise.

Inside one of the packages was a book — Thomas Rockwell's "How to Eat Fried Worms" — that had been missing from the stacks.

Getting books in the mail is no major shock at Meridian. The library finds that visitors passing through or patrons going on vacation will often mail back items to avoid fines.

Along with this particular book, however, there was a curious handwritten note.

"I found this book on an airplane last month," the message began.

"I called your library to notify them. I failed to return on time (and) apologize. Please add this $5.00 to the person's account that borrowed the book as a credit. Thank you."

Sure enough, along with the note was a $5 bill.

Found in the mail with a $5 bill this morning. There are some amazing people in our community. #mymld
Posted by Meridian Library District on Monday, November 27, 2017


The good Samaritan had been hoping to get the book back to the library before the due date but couldn't and decided to assume responsibility for the late fee.


Obviously, they were under no obligation to pay the fine, and their small, understated generosity floored the library staff.


Knowing you have a book overdue at the library and not being able to find it is one of those little stresses that can add up big time.


It's like having a sink full of dirty dishes or being behind on laundry. It's not a source of massive worry, but many unresolved things added together can make you feel anxious and overwhelmed — too much of which is certainly bad for your health.

So while a stranger returning a book and paying $5 in fines may seem inconsequential, the act is inspiring thousands of people who have read about the story online.

"Everyone is loving this heartwarming story," says Macey Snelson, who heads communications and marketing for the library. "I think that this is resonating with people so much because we live in a world where the news cycles are filled with contention and negative stories, and it's refreshing to see a story that shows that people are inherently good."

This story proves that even a teeny, tiny act of kindness, in a small part of the country, can have a big impact.

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