Family Find Abandoned Shipping Container on Their Land—Shocked at Contents
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A family exploring their 57-acre property found something huge hidden at the edge of the forest.
Anna Miller, 30, and her husband Brock, 27, are originally from North Carolina, but recently bought a property by the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia to build a "family homestead that we hope our children can one day inherit."
Their sprawling property includes what they describe as "an early American-style cabin that's around 120 years old," which they are working to restore "back to the kind of place it once was".
There is plenty of exploring to be done on their new property, with Miller admitting it had been "pretty neglected" before they bought it: "The fields were covered in weeds taller than us—some over six feet high.
"After bush hogging and clearing the overgrowth, we were finally able to see the edge of the woods on the far side of our fields.
"That's when we discovered what social media has now dubbed 'the box.'"
The shipping container found at the edge of Anna Miller's field.
The shipping container found at the edge of Anna Miller's field.
TikTok @pineyforkhomestead
In a video to Miller's TikTok account, @pineyforkhomestead, which showcases their efforts to restore their property, she showed the family out for a walk through their fields, after the enormous weeds had been cut down to them a better view of the surrounding forests.
That's when they noticed something strange hidden in the undergrowth on the edge of the field.
"At first we thought it was a shipping container," Miller said in the video. "And then we realized it was a shipping container. A massive one, just sitting there."
She said they were nonplussed at how the container had gotten to their property, with the only access route being over a narrow bridge over a creek, or climbing the mountains, and they have "no idea how long it was sitting in there."
The video ends with Brock managing to open the door of the massive container, and they later shared another clip once they'd looked inside.
The family walking through their large property, and right, Brock opening the shipping container.
The family walking through their large property, and right, Brock opening the shipping container.
TikTok @pineyforkhomestead
TikTok users were incredibly curious about the discovery, with Miller's original video racking up more than 215,000 likes and 7 million views since being posted on July 2, one demanding: "You gotta show us what is in there."
"What's inside? I want to know," another pleaded, as another worried: "Girl nothing good comes outta shipping container in the WOODS."
Miller did share a part two, and as she revealed to Newsweek: "Inside the container, we found a mix of odd and fascinating things: original windows and doors that likely belonged to the house, original wood moldings and screens, a Christmas tree, a 3-foot snake skin, and a couple of heavy barrels with unknown contents. Followers online are suggesting they contain some sort of cleaning solution."
The family has big plans to incorporate their finds into the restoration of their property, Miller said.
"We plan to use the beautiful old windows to build a greenhouse, and hopefully, we can reintroduce some of the original trim and moldings back into the cabin.
"For now, the container will stay as storage, but we've kicked around ideas for converting it into a tiny house, root cellar, or even a bunker."
At 30 and 27, the Millers are in the minority for owning their own home. According to the US Census Bureau, via Statista, in 2023 just 35.2 percent of people aged between 25 and 29 owned a home, moving to 49.4 percent within the ages of 30 to 34.
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