Usually, if you buy a couch from a thrift store, you just hope that there are no awful surprises inside it, like bed bugs. The possibility that it could contain some buried treasure probably wouldn’t even cross your mind. A man in Michigan has stumbled upon $43,000 in a couch that he thrifted, but decided not to keep the good fortune to himself.  

Howard Kirby bought the couch in December at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Owosso, located about 30 miles west of Flint. He sat on the ottoman in his man cave for weeks before searching his new purchase for the source of his discomfort. His daughter decided to open it up and discovered that the lumpiness was stemming from a sizeable stash of cash. A total of $43,170 USD was found in the ottoman cushion. “I still have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming or something,” Kirby told WNEM. 

Despite a lawyer having told Kirby that he had no legal obligation to return the money to its original possessor, Kirby didn’t feel right keeping it. He reached out to the thrift store to find out who donated the couch and, on Jan. 16, a surprise was made out of giving all the money back to Kim Fauth-Newberry. The couch had belonged to Fauth-Newberry’s grandfather, who died last year. “It’s just crazy,” Fauth-Newberry said. “It’s completely awesome.” 

Even though Kirby admitted that the money would have been of great benefit to him (he needs a new roof badly), he takes pride in how he confronted this moral dilemma. “I always thought, ‘What would I do if that ever happened?’ Now I know, and it makes me feel good,” Kirby said.