Researchers find intact safe washed up on Texas beach

June 21 (UPI) -- Researchers documenting animal life on a stretch of Texas' Gulf Coast shared video documenting an unusual discovery: a safe washed up on the beach.

The Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, famous for bizarre beach discoveries including a series of creepy dolls, posted a video to YouTube showing Jace Tunnell, the reserve's director, examining the safe that washed up in the sand.

"Everyone's dream is to find a bag of money washed up at the beach, but we found the next best thing... a safe," the video's description reads.

Tunnell loaded the safe into the back of a pickup truck and recruited some helpers to spend about an hour working to break into the metal box using crowbars, a sledgehammer and metal grinder.

The team finally managed to open the safe, discovering it contained only a packet of silica gel.

"Silica gel, what? We're rich," Tunnell jokes in the video.

Tunnell said there were no markings or writing on the safe to offer any clues as to where it originated from. He said the amount of algae on the outside indicates the safe had been in the water for some time before washing up.