Residential & Commercial Security - Locks, Keys & Dead Bolts - Did he have a hidden safe?

Here's the story: My family has just inherited the property of our 86 year old next door neighbor. He lived alone, had NO friends, had NO family, and was VERY reclusive. After his death, it was my job to clean out his house before we decide what to do with it. He had what appeared to be a fallout shelter in his basement, complete with water and air purification systems, guns, food preservation kits, generators w/ fuel, battery chargers, and over 2,000 lbs. in canned food. He was obviously a survivalist type and was also very anti-government. Everyone I've shown the basement to says the same thing, "A guy like this definitly has cash hoarded somewhere in here." My question is, if he had a safe, where would it be? Anyone have any insight into the mind of a survivalist? He was a very crafty and paranoid old man which leads me to believe that he does have money hidden, but it's hidden in an unusual way. Any ideas?

A safe would make it easier to find IMO. Can use stud sensor or metal detector. Nothing special I can recommed otherwise-behind something but would most likely, for a normal person, and be easily accessible.

Now if it was stashed in plastic and hidden somewhere, it could be anywhere-in a wall, under floorboard, in toilet tank, taped behind something hard to move, in an appliance behind access panel, mattress, buried-you get the idea.

Get all those folks who suggested the hoarded cash to help you look for a share if found!

If he was serious about it.. the safe is probably in the floor. Probably under about 1" of quickcrete - what kind of guns? :D

If one exists, my guess would also either be inground or in the wall. Obviously well hidden.

I would guess not. If he ever did put that shelter to use then his guns and food would probably be worth alot more than money. I would guess that if he did it probably isn't more than $1000 or so.

So what ever happened with this story? Are we just getting left on a cliff or what?

Thanks for your insight, everyone! We've had the property appraised and looked at by a few builders and realtors and they all say that the house is a demo job. Next week, before the bulldozers come in, I'm going in with sledge hammers and axes and I'm literally going to tear the house apart looking for the stashed cash. I'm starting to think that he may have hidden the money in a wall or in the floor of a crawl space (where there are many loose floor boards). If it's in there, I'll find it.

did you find it?

Man I hate it when somebody gets us all excited with a really cool story and we don't hear the ending...

No, I didn't find anything yet! There was a will contest, so my big search got put on hold. I did, however, find some stock certificates and life insurance policies! I also recently hired a firm to track down missing assets, which should conclude in about a month.

This whole thing is just really strange. The man was an orthapaedic surgeon for 40 years, yet he didn't own anything of quality. His art, furniture, clothes, cars, and the house itself were just plain shabby.

I've posted about the old man's missing money on a treasure hunting forum (www.treasurenet.com/f) and they have given me some very good ideas, but so far, nothing has turned up.