Who left the toys out?

Urban explorer finds merchandise worth millions, including graphic novels and collectibles in abandoned house

Vintage comic books and figurines fill an “abandoned” house discovered by urban explorer Devin Dark, who suspects the ’80s and ’90s merchandise is worth “millions”.

“You walk in and immediately you can see everything stockpiled right in front,” Dark, who hails from Chicago, told media. “It’s just overwhelming.” Dark, 27, shared footage of the superhero fanatic’s lair on TikTok last week, quickly collecting over 26,000 views. 

Graphic novels line the floors and shelves, and Dark unearthed old toys in mint condition, some still in their original packaging. “At all times throughout the entire house, there were two feet of toys on the floor going right up to my knees,” he explained. “I was shocked. It’s not like these are things that are junk.”
“Everything in the house is engulfed in toys, so whatever the home used to be is no longer there,” he added.  The home is just one of the sites Dark has explored since embarking on his journey to uncover abandoned places in America nearly a decade ago.

Dark claims the owner of the two-storey house was a toy store manager who died 15 years ago after an illness.

“There were ‘Star Wars’ figures, Superman, Spider-Man, anything that comes to your mind when it comes to comic book superheroes or collectibles. The place had it all,” he recalled. “There were too many [items] to estimate. It would be overwhelming to even guess a number at that point, there’s just so much left behind.” “I really wouldn’t know how much it’s worth. There’s a possibility of millions of dollars left behind,” he shared, noting that “it clearly wasn’t about the money” for the previous resident. 

A creepy-crawly delicacy 

Mum ‘saves money’ by feeding baby crickets and ants

A foodie mum who has always had an adventurous palate decided to tackle rising costs by introducing insects to her 18-month-old baby’s mealtimes.  

Over the course of her career, food writer Tiffany Leigh has eaten everything “from fried tarantula legs to scorpion on a stick”, and very much enjoyed dining on crickets and ants during her travels in Vietnam and Thailand.

After having her baby, Leigh, of Toronto, Canada, found her weekly food bills soar from around £147 (Rs 8,823) to £177 (Rs 10,623), and so decided to cut costs by mixing crickets into her young daughter’s eating routine, rotating these with pricier proteins such as beef, chicken, and pork.

Future babies for sale 

Poncho de Nigris, a Mexican influencer and businessman recently sparked controversy by offering to sell his embryos for $2 million each to people who can’t have children and want the guarantee of good-looking babies. The influencer is considering selling two embryos he and his wife saved in case they ever wanted to have more children. The Mexican celebrity said that because the quality of the embryos is ‘guaranteed’ and they would be helping ‘improve the human race’, it wouldn’t be fair to just give them away. 

To the moon and back

Man could be living on the moon before the end of the decade, a leading NASA official has said following the successful launch of the Artemis rocket. Howard Hu, the Orion programme manager, said the launch was a “historic day for human space flight”. He also added that the aim was for people to live on the moon.

Angelic visitations—or reflective illusion?

Robert Mansfield says he spotted an “angel” on his Ring doorbell camera. The father of three, was stunned when he saw the security footage, which showed his family arriving at their home in Leicestershire, England, accompanied by a mysterious glow.

Gambling grandpa

Chinese news media reported the bizarre case of a gambling-addict grandfather who kidnapped his four-year-old granddaughter and held her for ransom, asking his own daughter to pay him 5,00,000 yuan (R59,06,975) if she ever wanted to see her child again. 

Naked truth

A German court said that a landlord sunbathing naked in the courtyard of his building wasn’t a valid reason for his tenants reducing their rental payments. The case involved a building in Frankfurt, which included an office floor, rented by a human resources company.

Bird’s eye-view

A zoo is recruiting people to wear giant bird costumes to scare off seagulls. Blackpool Zoo posted the advert for ‘Seagull Deterrents’ after a spate of food thefts from visitors. Their requirement is candidates must be outgoing as they need to be comfortable wearing a bird costume. 

Dark Knight rides  

Nguyen Dac Chung, a Vietnamese architecture student and diehard fan of The Dark Knight spent six months building his very own Batpod with the help of a team of friends. The DIY Batpod is 3 m-long, 80 cm-wide, 90 cm-high and weighs 250 kg. Pic/Youtube

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