[ bird caws ] im jamie colby, and today im in brooklyn, new york, on my way to meet three brothers at a selfstorage joint in historic coney island. Thats where they found their strange inheritance, left to them by a homeless relative with a big surprise under lock and key. My names seth lerner. Our second cousin, howard frank, died mysteriously in 2012. Thats when my brothers and i found out that we inherited the contents of his five Storage Units. We were shocked the first time we rolled up those doors. Hi, guys. Im jamie. Im ian. Good to meet you. Hi. Im seth. Nice to meet you both. You wrote me about a wild story about a cousin and that he left all his belongings here . His whole life is here in this storage bin. Howard rented five of these 10x15foot units. When we opened up the lockers, we actually found a place where he might have been sleeping. Wow. We didnt really know until we found this place. He never really told us. They did not need to be told back in the spring of 2012 that their 55yearold cousins life was unraveling. He always looked very disheveled. Wore the same clothes over and over again, did not bathe. Didnt bathe . Did not bathe. Was afraid of water. The lerner brothers do what they can to help. Seth is a successful art director. Todd and ian are dentists. I felt bad for him, and if there was something i could do, i would, whether its doing dental work for him, giving him a little money to eat. But they dont know that howard, who once had a thriving business, is now begging for money on the streets a familiar figure outside several brooklyn synagogues. You seem to have sadness. Its sad. You know, the whole thing is sad. The best way to describe howard is he was a lost soul. Was he mentally ill . I would say there was a certain amount of mental illness, but not anything that was dangerous to other people. Then seth gets a distressing call from cousin howard. It was an odd conversation. He wanted to remind me that he wanted to be buried near his parents, and i said, howard, youre a young man. Why worry about these things . And he says, well, i have to worry about them. On june 28th, Howard Franks body is found floating in brooklyns gowanus canal. Police suspect its a suicide. Do you believe that he committed suicide, seth . No, i dont think so. You think its something sinister . I cant put my finger on it, but i do think there was some type of coverup or conspiracy. This much is true. Its, as they used to say on television, one of those 8 million stories in the naked city that make great tabloid copy. I wanted to read you a section that i found curious. The city medical Examiners Office says the cause of death has yet to be determined but did not conduct an autopsy, at the familys request. Is that true . No, thats not true. We were never contacted by the medical Examiners Office. There was no autopsy. No. No. Who said no autopsy, then, if it wasnt you . Somebody from the Jewish Community came down there and told the medical examiner that howard had no family, no living relatives, that there should be no autopsy. Howards death draws Media Attention not only for its mysterious circumstances, but also because of what his cousins find hidden away inside his five Storage Units in coney island. Howard frank used to beg for money, even though he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth 10 million. He saved everything. What the hell is that . Is howard really a millionaire beggar . I take the deep dive into this strange inheritance next. But first, our quiz question. The answer after the break. Rethink whats possible. Rethink your allergy pills. Flonase sensimist allergy relief helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. Most allergy pills only block one. And 6 is greater than one. Flonase sensimist. One laugh, and hello so i tried always discreet. I didnt think protection this thin could work. But the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. Snap so its out of sight. And out of mind. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. The answer is b, fort lauderdale. While selfstorage facilities date back to ancient china, the first u. S. Based operation, lauderdale storage, opened in 1958. Todd, ian, and seth lerner inherit the contents of five storage lockers in coney island, new york, from their second cousin howard frank, who dies mysteriously in june 2012. What they find inside has some in the press speculating that howard had locked away a fortune worth anywhere from 1 million to 10 million. Its a mystery thats still unfolding a collection vast enough that howard frank needed storage space. You wrote me to come take a look at it. I did, yes. Well, im ready to take a look. Great. Really . Open sesame is this Howard Franks version of aladdins cave . Piled to the ceiling photographs of classic tv stars, boxes and file cabinets full of them, going back to the 1950s. Captains log there are hundreds of star trek photos. And from the flying nun, more than 10,000. And a horse, of course. Its mr. Ed. Lucy . Yeah. He had a fondness for lucy. Who doesnt . Look at these pictures. Oh, my goodness. This is iconic stuff. Yeah. Batman . Mmhmm. Happy days. Happy days. These are some of the greatest shows. Look how young they are and now that youve been in the storage lockers, how many are in there . Its probably close to 2 million. Its just an incredible amount of media. So how, and why, did their cousin get it all . Thats a real brooklyn tale. It begins in 1956, when howard frank is born in bensonhurst, the second of two sons. I know there was a lot of family problems. What kind of problems . I think theres some type of mental instability. It was a very difficult family to be raised in. Many of us have been there. Thank goodness for tv. Howards a fan of hit shows of the era, like leave it to beaver and reruns of one of his favorites, the Popular Western the lone ranger. In his teens, howard begins writing to tv studios, requesting photos of his favorite stars. His early collection includes these i love lucy photos, behindthescenes shots from batman, and autographed pictures of his hero, clayton moore. Howie lived and breathed photos. Fred westbrook, now a hollywood talent agent, met howard frank when they were both teenagers, prowling around photo shows in manhattan in the 1970s. He was, one might say, an idiot savant. He was a walking encyclopedia on the history of television. The two become fast friends, despite howards quirks. As much as howie loved photos, he hated water. He didnt go swimming deathly afraid of water. So that means he didnt shower that much. Howard is especially close to his father, alex, a disabled accountant confined to a wheelchair who works from home. Howie and his father were very, very close. And they supported each other. With that support, howard takes his photo hobby to the next level. He drops out of middle school and begins selling his prints at flea markets. Then, in 1974, howards dad injects the capital to expand his sons enterprise. He uses 12,000 from an inheritance to buy out a wellknown celebrity photo shop in manhattan. Why do you think his dad put him into this business . From alexs point of view, he probably knew somewhere down the line that he wasnt gonna be around forever, and he wanted to give him a chance. I also think it was something that alex and he could do together. In the buyout, howard snaps up photos from game shows, including family feud and the dating game also, sitcoms like the munsters and laverne and shirley. There was about 200,000 photos and books in that collection, and suddenly, howard was in business. At just 18, howard officially launches his own company, called personality photos, and sets up shop inside the family home. The pictures were everywhere on the bed, under the bed, turn the oven off, put them in the oven. But, boy, what a treasure trove. After howards mother dies in inseparable. Who was taking care of who . I think it was mutual. Howard was basically alexs legs, and alex was the business guy. In the days before the internet, newspapers, magazinesn independent dealers like howard and howard builds an impressive client list. Howie would physically walk to the major publications and meet the editors and say, hey, i have all these archives. cause nobody had what he had. Picture an editor on deadline who needs a shot of fred gwynne or one of adam west without his batman cowl. Fastest way to get it call howard, who locates the physical photo in a cabinet, box, that oven, or even in this messy stack next to the sink, then mails the print, with an invoice of 75 bucks an image. We found loads of tv guides that he sold photos to, and we found evidence that he supplied photos for the Franklin Mint for their plates and things like that, for john wayne, lucille ball, elvis presley. Did he own them . No, he didnt own them, but studios sent out press photos for years and years, and they were handed out for promotion. So he had just as much right to them as anyone else. By the early 1990s, howard and his dad are raking in more than 200,000 a year. Things are looking good. Howard next surprises both friends and family with some big ne he says hes gonna get married. I was the best man. I was happy for him and shocked. But the honeymoon is shortlived. Howard gets divorced less than a year later. Then, in 2001, another loss howards father passes away. He was the rock that i think kept howard together in terms of having a connection to somebody, and i think it was kind of devastating for him. He started to spiral, he started to lose focus. At the same time, howards business becomes one of the many wiped out by the internet. When you need that picture of gary coleman or David Hasselhoff fast, why call howie from brooklyn when you can instantly download your choice of shots from an online catalog . For the next several years, howard lives off his savings, but eventually lands on the street, moving his trove of pictures to those five Storage Units in coney island. He loved the pictures so much, he would go without eating. It was his life and made him who he was. Then in the spring of 2012, howard tells his cousins he fears for his life. He even makes a fatalistic request, in connection with his favorite show, the lone ranger. Somehow, he identified with that character. He told me at the time we make his tombstone, he wanted the word lone ranger somehow brought onto that. Howards cousins just dont know what to make of his ramblings about an overdue loan, money he says he borrowed from a business associate to cover the rent on his storage lockers. Was he paranoid or did he have a legitimate reason to be concerned . I think he had a legitimate reason to be concerned. He may have pushed the wrong people. Whether murder, suicide, or accident, on june 28, 2012, the body of howard frank is found floating in the gowanus canal. Howard frank was last seen alive the night of june 27th, begging for assistance at one of his usual spots. No one in howards family, including his estranged older brother, is contacted to approve an autopsy. The d. A. Opens an investigation, but with a lack of evidence, soon closes the case. And for years, thats where everything sits, until the heirs call in strange inheritance. We can tell their story, but can we help . Well, turns out i know a guy. What are some of the valuable things that you did stumble across . 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Data, applications, customer experience. Which is why comcast business delivers Consistent Network Performance and speed across all your locations. Fast connections everywhere. Thats how you outmaneuver. So, which actress was originally offered Elizabeth Montgomerys role of Samantha Stephens in bewitched . Its tammy grimes. The twotime tony award winner didnt like the premise of the show and wanted to know why samantha wouldnt use her magical powers to stop wars or untangle l. A. Traffic jams. After their second cousin howard frank dies a mysterious death in 2012, brothers todd, ian, and seth lerner are the sole heirs to howards nearly 2 million entertainment photos. Media reports speculate the inventory of howards defunct business could still be worth a fortune. Could that be true . Auction house executive Bobby Livingston volunteers to help sort things out. So, this is just one of the lockers you looked at. Thats right. So, did howard know what he was doing . I think howard knew what he was doing for his time. Hes got every television show. He was obsessed with getting one of everything. So, rummaging through the unit is like a flashback to our childhoods. Good times these were publicity photos. You would have to get someone like howard to find you a picture of good times. If people magazine, for instance, was doing an article on good times, they would call howard. And then he would give it to them for a fee. Thats right. But those days are long gone, and so, unfortunately, the value of these prints have gone down considerably. Well, one thing that is never gonna be gone dynomite i love this guy. Oh, my god j. J. Bobby tells me you could sell these prints on ebay for a few dollars apiece and the signed ones, more like 10 bucks. Its fantastic, right . Neat. But bobby does find, among the dimeadozen don johnsons, alfs, and mr. Ts, some real gems. What do you have . Well, you know, one of the coolest things i found, which is an original Elizabeth Montgomery bewitched photo. I love Elizabeth Montgomery. Well, these are original bewitched test shots, and you can see she went through herself and put kill on them she didnt like it and she put a question mark on that one, which was kind of neat. I look like i should be sitting in the dentist chair. Kill. Well, for Elizabeth Montgomery, someone thats a big fan of hers, this has value . Yeah, absolutely. Probably these are worth 100, 200 each. What if there are more like these filed away in these cabinets . Heres my bottomline question about all this. Is it worth a Million Dollars . Thats next. Whats your strange inheritance story . Wed love to tell it. Send me an email or go to our website, strangeinheritance. Com. Caspers truly changed our lives. A mattress of unparalleled value. 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After inheriting their cousins trove of nearly 2 million entertainment photos, the lerner brothers are trying to figure out what to do with it. Do you have a plan . We pretty much dont know what were gonna do with it. Its too big for us to do anything with. To help them weigh their options, ive invited auction house executive Bobby Livingston to meet us here at the storage lockers, where hes taken a deep dive into the photo hoard. What kind of condition is it in . Its in all kinds of condition. Your cousin just didnt really care too much about condition. He cared about quantity. So, based on your analysis, do you have good news or notsogood news . Well, its a very difficult thing to be able to give you a value, cause i didnt get to go through everything. But i think you could probably look at maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. [ Cash Register dings ] so, call him the quarter Million Dollar beggar. Maybe. Because, as Bobby Livingston explains, his estimate can only be realized by scanning, listing, and selling the photos individually. Well, you have to inventory it because there are some really great things in there, and then theres a lot of things that arent so cool. But if you really want to understand its value, thats something youre gonna have to do. But think about that. If you spent just two minutes on each image, it would take nearly eight years working around the clock to get through howards 2 million pictures. So, do you have the time to do these individually . No, we dont. Because you guys have day jobs. Yes, real jobs. And its costing you a pretty penny to keep them stored up. Weve probably spent, in storage fees, about 6,000 a year. So, what do you think youll do . I think if a person came along and said, well give you a couple hundred thousand dollars for it, i would say, here. Take the whole thing. Bye. See ya. Would it be a relief . It would be a big relief. What would really ease their minds would be to finally answer the questions they continue to have about howards death. Did it somehow stem from a dispute over those 2 million pictures . They still think so but have found no proof. And listening to cousin todd talk about his strange inheritance, i cant help but think this is just not the way a madefortv story is supposed to end. You know, i think when people leave you something, you hope that theres some legacy to it, but in this case, when you have to go through somebodys life and clean it up, its like someb