and today i'm in birmingham, alabama, which is in the rolling foothills of the appalachians. they say that wars are fought to change maps, and this episode of "strange inheritance" is actually about a map, a very old map, and one that survives in a family whose history spans from texas to virginia and then back here to alabama. >> my name is patrick martin. my parents died in 1999, and my sister and i inherited the house and contents. we were surprised when we figured out what it contained. >> the house that patrick and his sister, peggy, inherited here in birmingham is now their home. patrick, thank you so much for having me over. >> it's our pleasure. >> patrick's parents moved to alabama from maryland and bought the house in the 1960s. patrick, an architect, returns to take care of his ill parents in 1994 but then has his own health scare. >> i had a quintuple bypass surgery here. >> patrick's heart trouble leads him to an early retirement at age 47. with lots of time on his hands, he starts rummaging through the house, including the attic. it's here that he comes across a box he remembers from his childhood. this looks very, very old, just right from the start. the box contains family letters and legal documents, some going back to the 18th century. >> this packet is letters from the 1780s. >> patrick also discovers an old u.s. army muster book, an official ledger listing soldiers and keeping track of their pay. the writing is unbelievable. i can't believe it's in such good shape. >> this book is put into two sections -- the war of 1812 and then the mexican war. >> patrick's family has a long history of military service. in 1846, his great-great-grandfather, nicholas martin, leads a virginia battalion in the mexican-american war, one of the most controversial in u.s. history. >> although the war is very little known among americans, it's actually the most important war fought between two neighbors in the western hemisphere. in 1845, texas is annexed by the united states, but the texas boundary claim now becomes an american problem. >> and, it turns out, an opportunity for president james k. polk, a slaveholding tennessee democrat who believes god has ordained the united states to expand across the continent. many opponents of war with mexico condemn this idea of manifest destiny as simply the conquest of territory for new slave states -- including a fresh-faced freshman congressman from illinois. >> abraham lincoln is an opponent of this war. he gives a series of speeches blasting the polk administration. >> the war -- the first in history documented with photographs -- breaks out in april 1846. mexico surrenders in 1848, losing half its national domain. >> the united states acquires not just the american southwest, but also california. >> left unresolved -- where slavery will be allowed in those territories. >> the debate over whether those territories are going to be slave or free is going to be so contentious and so divisive that it's ultimately going to lead to the civil war in 1861. >> patrick's box contains a number of civil war items, too -- cool stuff like some certificates from the confederate postal service. he can't be sure how all those items came to his family. some most likely are from that great-great-grandfather who fought in mexico. >> the other possibility is his son hudson, who was a lawyer, and he represented soldiers. >> the artifacts are passed down through the generations, ultimately making their way to the family estate in virginia. when patrick's grandfather dies in 1956 and the family is clearing out the house, his father winds up with the historical items by chance. >> on a whim, he just said, "we'll take those six boxes." >> the boxes end up in the basement of patrick's childhood home outside washington, d.c. they become a way to kill boredom for a curious 12-year-old boy. patrick, did you really play with all this stuff as a kid? >> i did. i did. i loved the boxes. you'd find letters from the civil war talking about troop movements or political discussions just before lincoln's election. and you felt a connection to family and a fun connection to history, so -- >> your imagination could run wild. >> absolutely. >> one of his favorite items -- an old map of texas. >> it was a fun toy. i just enjoyed the fact that texas was so different. it had indian villages, it had forts -- it had all kinds of interesting things for a 10- or a 12-year-old. >> somehow, the map avoids being used to make a fort or a halloween mask. >> i showed it to my parents, and they knew i was playing with it, and that was fine because it was just the old texas map. >> as patrick grows up, the map and the other items in the boxes become distant childhood memories. in 1967, his parents move to birmingham, where the boxes are stored and forgotten once again -- that is until patrick moves here to take care of his folks and rediscovers them. his parents pass away in 1999 within 10 days of each other. the family home and those timeworn boxes are now patrick and his sister, peggy's, inheritance. proud of his family heritage, he shows off the heirlooms during dinner parties. >> i'm crazy about history, and this was a resource that i wanted to share with people. >> he even brings them out to the thanksgiving table. >> so, this thanksgiving dinner, literally between the gravy bowl and the turkey, you bring the map out and put it on the table, this table? >> that's true. it was the end of dinner, so it was mostly messy plates, and that probably made it worse, you know, as far as danger to the map. at the time, its value was the joy it would give you looking at the thing. >> but by 2013, patrick wonders if he might reap another kind of joy from his strange inheritance. to be blunt, he could use the money. since retiring early at age 47, patrick has accumulated substantial credit-card debt -- not to mention a home-equity loan that he and his sister, peggy, took out. >> the credit-card debt is monumental. we have a small home-equity loan that this potentially could pay off. >> patrick notices than an auction house is holding an appraisal fair in birmingham. >> i thought, "i'll throw a box of stuff together and see if anything's worth anything." >> at the fair, patrick cautiously breaks out the old family war stuff. >> did you feel like one would be worth more than the others? >> i actually thought the muster book was gonna be of more significant monetary value. as it turned out, he says he thinks the muster book probably would be a couple of thousand dollars. and i thought, "well, that's nice, you know, but it's not life-changing." >> patrick shows a few more heirlooms and gets the same tepid response. down to his final item, he unfolds his childhood plaything, that old texas map. what happened when you pulled the map out? >> you could tell his demeanor changed. i mean, his face lit up. he was very excited. >> what's your heart doing at that point? >> it's beating very well. [ laughs ] >> what had been sitting in the attic all this time? >> i'd never seen one before, and i don't expect to see one again. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. which war saw the most combat veterans go on to become u.s. president? is it the revolutionary war, the mexican-american war, the civil war, or world war ii? the answer when we return. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro.com. money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products, fisher investments avoids them. some advisers have hidden and layered fees. fisher investments never does. and while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. >> so, which war saw the most combat veterans go on to become u.s. president? it's "c," the civil war. five future presidents -- grant, hayes, garfield, harrison, and mckinley saw combat during the civil war. >> in birmingham, alabama, in may 2013, patrick martin visits a traveling appraisal fair, hoping some of his family's old military artifacts can pay off his growing debts. it's not going well -- that is until he pulls out an old map of texas for heritage auctions' appraiser joe fay. >> i had seen this map before, but i had only seen reprints of it. >> joe instantly recognizes the print as apparently the work of jacob de cordova, who commissioned the first maps in 1849, right after the u.s. won the mexican-american war. de cordova used the map as a promotional tool to lure adventurous immigrants to the state. >> he was a land agent who helped settle people in texas, and he wanted a document that showed them the vastness of the land that was available for them to settle. >> de cordova obtained official signature endorsements from famous texans, including sam houston, to further his cause. >> sam houston, on the floor of the u.s. senate, referred to this as the most accurate depiction of texas that anyone had ever compiled. >> with patrick's copy, joe is excited but skeptical. he knows such a famous map has countless reprints and forgeries. >> i noticed that the paper was right, consistent with the period, but still it could be a reprint. >> fortunately for joe, de cordova himself left a vital clue. >> there's a printed notice that basically says, "without my signature, this map is fraudulently obtained." >> patrick's map includes a signature that appears to match de cordova's, but is it hand-signed or printed? another clue. >> i could see the ink bleeding through to the back of the map, which only happens if it's authentically signed with ink. once i saw this, really, nothing else mattered that weekend. >> the map is no doubt the find of the appraisal fair. >> he said, "we had this auction last year, and the second edition sold for $44,000." >> a first edition from 1849 would be worth even more. only a few are known to still exist. joe suspects that patrick's map could be a first edition. geography will tell the tale. >> there are several features of this map that wouldn't be recognizable to somebody looking at the state of texas today. >> you see, the republic of texas once stretched as far north as wyoming and as far west as santa fe. over the years, those boundaries are chipped away. the biggest land transfer comes in 1850, when texas gives up vast tracts of western land to the federal government in exchange for debt relief. come to think of it, that's the same outcome patrick's aiming for. the end result -- the texas shape we know today. so, what version of texas did patrick's map show? >> just north of the state line of texas is an area that's referred to on the map as "indian territory," which we know today as oklahoma. there's a strip on the left side of the map that's santa fe territory. so at that point, that was that eureka moment of, "this is actually an 1849 de cordova map." >> joe ups his initial appraisal. >> he said, "yours is a first edition. therefore, we think it would be $60,000 to $80,000." so i called my sister and decided to sell the map. >> joe tells patrick the value could go up or down depending on the map's condition and previous sales. he wants to hold on to the heirloom for more research. joe gets on a plane to dallas to show the map to sandra palomino, who specializes in texana artifacts. all she needs is one look. what kind of condition was the map in when you got it? that's next on "strange inheritance." >> here's another quiz question. what role did future army general and u.s. president ulysses s. grant play in the mexican-american war? was it quartermaster, sniper, or medic? the answer when we return. ♪ [vo] progress is an unstoppable force. the season of audi sales event is here. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. >> so, what role did future army general and u.s. president ulysses s. grant play in the mexican-american war? the answer is "a," quartermaster. grant was in charge of distributing supplies and provisions to the 4th infantry regiment. >> in birmingham, alabama, patrick martin is eagerly awaiting the latest appraisal of his strange inheritance -- an 1849 first-edition map of the new state of texas. joe fay has pegged its value at $80,000. if he's right, that would go a long way to wiping out the debt patrick has run up since retiring after quintuple bypass surgery. >> although the map meant a lot to me, when you put a dollar value on it that can change your financial base, you're thinking, "i can get rid of this debt," but you don't want to buy into it yet. >> after all, patrick knows his map hasn't exactly been treated like a museum exhibit, and it's condition can have a major impact on its sale price. that's why joe fay brings the map to dallas to get a second opinion from sandra palomino. it's why dallas is my next stop, as well. what kind of condition was the map in when you got it? >> it was in wonderful condition. it was just amazing to us that there were no separations along any of the folds. condition is everything, and value is just rising with literally every fold that we're opening. >> did you know, as an expert in maps and documents and other historical artifacts, that it existed? >> this particular map is newly discovered because it was on nobody's radar. >> now big is the market for maps? >> for collectors in general, they love that period from 1834, 1835, up through the late 1850s. >> that's because so many families trace their texan roots back to the immigration boom of that period. >> texans are very, very prideful of their roots, and they see it almost as a responsibility to preserve the history and pass it on. >> and many of those early texans were influenced by de cordova and his map. >> it's a treasured piece of history, and that's what this map is to texana collectors. >> a few days after the original appraisal, patrick receives a call from heritage auctions. >> joe fay calls, and joe says, "i missed the estimate on the map." >> oh. >> so, i think he's overpriced it. >> instead, fay says it could be more than $80,000 -- a lot more, six figures easy. >> so, you know, right away, i'm ecstatic. >> on march 15, 2014, patrick martin's first-edition map of texas goes up on the auction block in dallas. patrick monitors the auction by computer from his home in birmingham. things are not off to a smooth start. >> the auction actually was going slow generally. things weren't reaching their auction estimate, so as my map came up, i was trepidatious. >> the map opens at $75,000, and it appears only two bidders will be competing for it. the amount slowly creeps higher from 75 to 85 grand, then to $97,000. patrick knows he should be ecstatic, but you know how it goes. when you're told six figures, it's six figures you want. >> this time, it stopped long enough that the auctioneer said, "fair warning," and so i thought, "it's gonna go at $97,000." >> is he right? that's next on "strange inheritance." 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(dr. vasquez) it's going to be life-changing, and life-saving. >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> after being passed down through five generations of patrick martin's family, a rare first-edition map from the early days of texas statehood goes on the auction block in dallas in march 2014. the bidders push the price up from $75,000 to $85,000. it's a lot of money, but patrick has been led to believe this strange inheritance would fetch a lot more than that. the bidding jumps to $97,000, then stalls again. >> i had a little momentary roller coaster there of letdown, euphoric, letdown. >> then, after what seems to be ages, the bidding picks up again. soon, it passes the $100,000 mark and keeps on climbing. the final sale price, including a premium the buyer pays to the auctioneer -- a whopping $149,000. after paying seller fees, patrick and his sister take home $96,000 -- 48 grand each. they can finally get rid of all their debt -- every penny of it. >> immediately, within a day, we had paid off the home-equity loan and the credit-card loans, so it was great. >> it's admirable that you paid off debt with the money you got from the map, much more money than you expected, but come on, patrick. you must've bought a little splurge here or there for you or your sister, peggy. >> well, actually, we both still have a chunk that's waiting to splurge. we're trying to figure out what the splurge will be. >> a map somehow ends up in the hands of a distant ancestor, makes it way from basement to attic to moving van and back, escapes the ravages of a kid's imagination and dinner-party show-and-tell. the martin family treasure survived an improbable course no cartographer could map out. any regret? >> none. i have no problem with selling the map, even though i did enjoy it and i loved sharing it. but in a way, you're sharing it again. >> and what about all those other precious family heirlooms? could there be more treasure from the attic? >> well, hopefully. i could only dream that it would be as good as the map. >> the man who commissioned the texas map that patrick inherited, jacob de cordova, was one of the most enthusiastic and colorful promoters of texas, and he put his money where his mouth was. he himself bought up a million acres of land to sell to settlers. during the civil war, in fact, many texans lost everything and were unable to pay off their liens. although de cordova stood to lose a fortune, he refused to foreclose, saying, after all, he was the one who encouraged them to move to texas in the first place. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com >> it stands in the way. >> it's just her house in the middle of the block. >> she won't sell out. >> the 84-year-old seen here turned down $1 million payout. >> he's caught in the middle. >> i promised her that i wouldn't let them take her away. >> that's a really big promise. >> what's "up" with that? >> people from all over the country and even around the world have stopped by this house. >> they put balloons on the house, and that's how it became the "up" house. >> it is amazing. i can't believe that she held out. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today, i'm in seattle, headed toward the ballard neighborhood. it's an upscale area once known for sawmills and commercial fishing, and just down the road is one man's strange inheritance and a story with a hollywood ending. >> my name's barry martin. i inherited a tiny, hundred-year-old house from a little old lady. if there ever was a real-estate niche, this is one. >> hi, barry. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. >> i meet barry in front of this little house. yep, this is it -- his strange inheritance. it's just 600 square feet, and it's now surrounded by a huge shopping mall -- a mall that the unlikely heir in this story helped build. >> who leaves this to somebody? >> well, edith left it to me. >> edith? >> yep. >> love to learn more. >> okay. come on. >> barry explains that when this house was built over a hundred years ago, ballard, washington, was the shingle-mill capital of the world, with 20 mills producing 3 million shingles a day. >> there was fishing on elliot bay there, and the shingle-mill industry, all along shilshole avenue here. >> cass o'callaghan from the ballard historical society tells me more. did the neighborhood really change over the years? >> in about the late '30s, early '40s, the commercial district moved north and businesses moved out. nobody wanted to be here anymore. >> with the exception, that is, of edith macefield and her retired single mother, alice wilson. edith's early life is a bit mysterious. we know she was born in august 1921, and that her parents divorced shortly thereafter. during her 20s, edith disappears -- to england, she says, where she seems to have gotten married once or thrice. but, again, it's hard to tell fact from fiction. [ camera shutter clicks ] by the 1950s, she's back in ballard, single, and working as a store manager for spic 'n span dry cleaners. edith buys this house for her mother and the two name it whitewood cottage. edith is able to pay off the $3,700 mortgage in just a few years. in her off hours, she babysits for next-door neighbor gayle holland. hi, gayle. you know why i'm here -- to hear about edith. >> i've got a lot to tell you. come on in. our street was very quiet and edith would play games with us. >> so she was older, but she loved to hang out with children? >> oh, yes. everybody liked edith. she would play her saxophone or her trumpet outside. we would sit and listen to her, and she'd let us blow on her instruments. >> what a character! they ask her about her past, and, oh, the stories she tells. >> i know she had a son who died of meningitis. >> edith shares only a few sketchy details -- that the boy was born out of wedlock, that his father was jewish, that james macefield, a much older englishman, married her to help save the boy from the nazis. it's all very complicated. you see, edith was spying on hitler for britain at the time. is it all true? who knows? gayle just loves hanging out with her eccentric neighbor, until her family, like so many others, abandons the area. so, you left and edith stayed. >> yes. it was the early '60s when we moved away. >> in 1976, edith's mother, alice, passes away on the couch in the front room. not long after, edith retires and spends her days watching greta garbo videos and listening to big bands on vinyl. more and more, whitewood cottage stands apart -- her oasis amid urban blight. by the '90s, homeless -- living in parked cars -- provide an edgy backdrop for the grunge-rock scene. but all the while, developers are slowly gobbling up edith's neighborhood, says real-estate broker paul thomas. >> each time a parcel came up on the market, they'd just quietly acquire it and let it sit in an llc, and they assembled the whole entire block, except for her house. >> it's in early 2006 when edith gets the knock at her door. it's a representative of kg investment management, which wants to put up a shopping mall. the developer makes a proposal they think the 84-year-old can't refuse -- $750,000! what do you think the house was worth? >> $150,000. [ chuckles ] it wasn't worth very much. >> edith could buy five whitewood cottages. even so, she does refuse the offer. and the bulldozers roll around her. >> i have a picture when they tore everything down in the whole block and it was just her house in the middle of the block. >> reporters catch wind of the story and turn edith into a local folk hero -- a steadfast champion against yuppification, standing up for seattle's old neighborhoods, defying the encroaching chain boutiques, food courts, and those $6 lattes. that's how they portray edith. and that's exactly who barry martin expects when he becomes construction manager of the mall. how did you meet edith? >> i always go visit the neighbors and give them my card so that if they have any problems, they know who to get ahold of, and i walked past her yard and introduced myself. she was actually very pleasant and said she was looking forward to the activity. >> turns out, edith wasn't watching garbo flicks because she "vanted to be alone." that becomes clear with edith's beauty-shop appointment. she needs a ride, so she calls barry. not exactly what he was thinking when he dropped off his card, but what the heck? he drives her. they get to talking. >> a lot of people thought that she was against development, and that wasn't the case at all. it was more she just didn't want to go through the exercise of having to move. >> indeed, edith actually makes fun of the anti-development types, who, among other things, are trying to get landmark status for the local denny's. edith's view -- things get built, things get torn down. that's the way of the world. it wouldn't be their last car talk. soon, barry's co-workers call him "driving miss daisy." could you rattle off for me some of the errands you were asked to do for her? >> i would take her laundry out to be done. we would go get her lunch. i would take her to all of her doctor's appointments. >> she didn't pay you. >> no. she just needed it. >> you're not a saint. >> nope. >> but his wife and two high-school-age children surely have the patience of job, when barry spends more and more time at edith's. >> i made her meals three times a day, seven days a week. on the weekends, basically, i'd stay there, and if not, then i had made sure that somebody else was there. >> barry isn't there one night when edith falls and lands in the hospital with broken ribs and a platoon of social workers insisting she should no longer live alone. then tag-teaming executives from the development company show up again with a deed ready to sign and another big fat check. >> they offered her $1 million and actually offered to buy a house for her in ballard and she refused that, also. >> $1 million for a little old granny and a new house in her neighborhood, and she says no. >> yes. >> what would you have done? >> i would have probably taken the money and had somebody fanning me with big feathers and feeding me figs. >> the 84-year-old seen here turned down $1 million payout. >> it just adds to the edith macefield legend -- a story that can't help but go national. what's infuriating barry is that he believes he's cast as one of the black hats, trying to manipulate old edith into selling out. the truth, he says, is just the opposite. >> i promised her that, um, i wouldn't let them take her away and that she could stay there and die in her house. >> that's a really big promise. >> it is. and it became a lot bigger deal than, you know, i had originally anticipated. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question -- where was america's first indoor shopping mall built? the answer in a moment. zar: one of our investors was in his late 50s right in the heart of the financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. it really scared him out of the markets. his advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was 68. the client realized, "i need to get back into the markets- i need to get back on track with my plan." the financial advisor was able to work with this client. he's now on track to retire when he's 65. having someone coach you through it is really the value of a financial advisor. >> it's "b" -- minnesota. the southdale center in edina, the country's first fully-enclosed, climate-controlled mall, opened in 1956. >> in 2008, 86-year-old edith macefield and her whitewood cottage stand in the way of a shopping mall. barry martin's job is to build that mall. but he's also made it his life's work to keep edith in her home. barry didn't even know edith two years before. now he just doesn't know what to make of her. >> she had a lot of stories to tell and she never really finished a story. >> but, boy, the way she drops names, you'd think she's forrest gump. like hitler -- she met him several times, ended up in a concentration camp, and was sprung by the fuhrer himself. benny goodman -- her cousin, she claimed -- he gave her her clarinet. tommy dorsey, the band leader -- once, when he was short on cash, she bought his sax. mickey rooney -- she taught him dance steps. and so on. barry has one thought -- edith's a wack job. >> i was thinking "crazy old lady" for a while. >> but in the winter of 2007, edith's health suddenly declines. just as suddenly, the construction manager finds himself doing things he really never signed up for -- helping edith shower, use the bathroom, take her medicine, including insulin shots. a big question occurs to barry -- what happens when the mall is done and he moves to another job? what happens if edith lives to 100? that won't happen. in april 2008, edith is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. she declines treatment and, knowing she'll soon need someone else to make her decisions, gives barry her power of attorney. it's a big responsibility. did you really want it? >> i didn't really want it, and i didn't really understand exactly what all it meant. >> uh-oh. >> yeah, uh-oh. i said, "do you understand the power you're giving me?" and she said, "why do you think i chose you?" >> did you know all along that you were going to get that house? >> no. i didn't know until after she asked me to become her power of attorney. then she said that she wanted to redo her will at that same time. >> barry's a bit sheepish, knowing many suspect him of angling for the house from the beginning. but that's her wish -- like her desire to die on the same couch as her mother three decades earlier. and on june 15, 2008, death does come -- as a friend -- to whitewood cottage. >> i promised her that i wouldn't let them take her away and that she could stay there and die in her house. >> does it make you emotional? >> it does. >> why? >> um... because i got to help her end her life the way she wanted to. >> the little house in the big mall is now barry's. but soon he'll discover that, thanks to a hollywood blockbuster, edith macefield fans will claim it as their own. >> there were people out on the sidewalk taking pictures and leaving little notes and putting up balloons with messages on them. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. you've met barry martin, the construction manager in this story. the answer after the break. you owned your car for four years. you named it brad. you loved brad. and then you totaled him. you two had been through everything together. two boyfriends, three jobs... you're like nothing can replace brad. then liberty mutual calls... and you break into your happy dance. if you sign up for better car replacement™, we'll pay for a car that's a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. >> it's "a", john ratzenberger. just a coincidence he's a dead ringer for barry martin, the heir in this "strange inheritance" story. >> it's spring 2009, and barry martin is trying to figure out what to do with his strange inheritance -- a house he helped build a mall around. the owner, edith macefield, had died the year before, and barry assumes memories of her will fade, too. but then disney comes a-calling. it's ready to release an animated feature called "up." it's about a crotchety old man who, just like edith, refuses to sell his house to a developer. disney wants to use edith's house to promote the film. >> they wanted to put balloons on the house for their premiere here in seattle, so they came out and put balloons on the house and took a picture and that's how it became the "up" house. >> did you think it was a good idea? >> i thought it was rather funny, myself, and then after i saw the movie, there's actually some photographs that look very similar to the picture in the movie. >> soon, edith's cottage and that of character carl fredricksen are associated as one. >> there were people out on the sidewalk taking pictures and leaving little notes and putting up balloons with messages on them. >> and inspirational, it sounds like. >> very. inspirational to different people for different reasons. kids loved it because they thought it was really the house from the movie. you'd see grown-ups crying on the sidewalk. >> she stuck to her guns, you know, even though she could have made a ton of money. >> this woman was kind of the last holdout. she wanted to keep her home, and that's huge. >> it's amazing. i can't believe that she held out. >> but by the time the movie "up" comes out, the nation is in a downer -- the great recession. and barry's real life is anything but a storybook fantasy. >> that was right about when we had our downturn. i was out of work. >> so, barry decides it's time to sell edith's house. she once turned down $1 million for the place, but the window on that offer closed long ago. >> did she tell you she would be okay with you selling it? >> oh, yeah, and she told me to hold out until i got my price. >> what did you sell it for? >> i sold it for $310,000. [ cash register dings ] >> what did you do with the money, may i ask? >> paid for my kids to go to school. i invested the money and got money back monthly, and it made my house payment. >> that's not nothing. plus, barry says the new owners planned -- in the spirit of "up" -- to raise edith's house 20 feet off the ground and make a public tribute to her below. but they run out of money, and the house falls into foreclosure. >> what was your role in all this? >> i was hired by the bank to sell the house for them. >> the bank includes a provision in the face of pressure from local community groups who want an homage to their folk hero. >> one of the terms of the sale was that each person was required to memorialize edith in some way. >> 38 offers come in, but it's the 39th that wins -- at $450,000. [ cash register dings ] the buyer? the same folks who offered edith $1 million years before -- kg investments, now the manager of the shopping mall. they plan to knock the house down, eventually. so, ultimately, edith's house went to the organization that wanted to buy it all along. >> well, it's kind of neat in a way because she got what she wished for and the shopping center ended up being able to buy the property at a lot lower price than they originally had offered. >> will they do anything to remember edith? >> the ownership has committed that they'll put up a brass plaque that memorializes edith. >> it will be just one more way the ballard community pays tribute to its folk hero. there's also an annual edith macefield music festival. ♪ you can even get a tattoo of edith's house with the legend underneath -- "steadfast." for the heir in this "strange inheritance" episode, that's further proof edith was misunderstood. maybe even, he'd discover, by himself. >> you must have learned an awful lot about edith once you started to go through her things. >> i learned a lot more than she had let me know. that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. copd makes it hard to breathe. so to breathe better, i go with anoro. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro.com. my "business" was going nowhere... so i built this kickin' new website with godaddy. building a website in under an hour is easy! 68% of people... ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too. type in your business or idea. pick your favourite design. personalize it with beautiful images. and...you're done! and now business is booming. harriet, it's a double stitch not a cross stitch! build a better website - in under an hour. free to try. no credit card required. gocentral from godaddy. >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> barry martin doesn't just inherit edith macefield's home, but everything else she owned. >> wow, you must have learned an awful lot about edith, once you started to go through her things. >> i learned a lot more than she had let me know. >> and enough to question whether all her stories were as wacko as he once thought. >> did she have a vivid imagination, or do you think most of it was real? >> i'm a little -- i'm not quite -- >> you still don't know. >> i still don't know. exactly. >> what did you find? well, evidence that she was benny goodman's cousin -- this album, inscribed "your cousin, benny goodman." and quite personal notes from a-list actors -- clark gable, katharine hepburn, spencer tracy, and errol flynn. >> there's charlie chaplin. there's tommy and jimmy dorsey. >> okay, okay -- nothing about meeting hitler or being a spy. still, it dawns on barry that the most valuable thing edith bequeathed to him could be her story -- now his. >> i had an agent contact me about writing a book, and she actually talked me into doing it. >> you ever write a book before? >> no, never written a book before, and she got me a ghostwriter, and we did it that way. >> what's the story? >> the story is basically about edith and myself and our little adventure and then the lessons that i learned. >> "under one roof" gets barry a $75,000 advance from the publisher. and that's not all. >> actually in the process of making a deal with fox searchlight. >> did you ever think you'd be making a book and a movie about all this? >> no. i just about fall down on the floor laughing because it's hysterical to me. >> i think it could work. i'm picturing a "driving miss daisy" type of guy meets a female forrest gump and they go on a real-life "up" adventure. and definitely got to give john ratzenberger the lead. there's a scene in the movie "up" that sounds exactly like one edith might have had with barry. carl fredricksen, the man whose house the real-estate company wants to buy, says to the construction foreman, "tell your boss he can have my house." "really?" asks the foreman. "yeah, when i'm dead," growls carl and slams the door. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. shops. >> the birthday girl really came just to see pete. rachel: [laughter] >> dagen: surging with the unveiling stocks soaring to new highs as republicans finalize a bill to make taxes lower, but someone here says that it's something else, already being cut, that has our market and our economy full of cheer, as we head into the new year. so what is it? hi everybody i'm dagen mcdowell this is bulls & bears. bulls & bears this week gerri b. smith, jonas max ferris, john layfield along with emily j and jessica. welcome to everybody so gerri b. , what's already on the chop ping block boosting this economy and stocks? >> all that government red tape, dagen, that we struggled to get through every single day. let me give you a couple of