A Philly community center has an old-fashioned mystery on their hands and they're seeking someone in the Philly area with the knowledge and devices (blow torches? industrial drills?) who would be willing to volunteer their time to bust open a safe (a thread):
Staff at the community center (which for now shall go unnamed so people don't show up at their door with blow torches) discovered the safe in the back of a closet last month. Nobody knows how long it has been there. It'd been turned around so people couldn't see the front...
....so nobody knew it was a safe. They just assumed it was a rusted mechanical device with wheels they couldn't move for many years.
But when a junk removal company came in & a very large man finally got it to budge, the staff realized they had a mystery safe on their hands.
But when a junk removal company came in & a very large man finally got it to budge, the staff realized they had a mystery safe on their hands.
There's a turn lock on it that just spins, and an x-like knob to turn, but they couldn't get it open.
They talked to a few locksmiths to see if they could open it, but everything was out of the community center's price range.
They talked to a few locksmiths to see if they could open it, but everything was out of the community center's price range.
They then put out calls for people to get into the safe, by any means necessary: "At this point, it's not as much cracking as much as drilling or blowtorching to crack it open.
The curiosity of what's inside of there is the only thing keeping it here," one board member told me.
The curiosity of what's inside of there is the only thing keeping it here," one board member told me.
But they can't find anyone to do it. Some people in the community have offered to donate the money to pay someone to crack it open, but the center needs donations so badly it can't rationalize funneling money to this instead of their programs.
So, after talking to them (and being a fan of mysteries myself) I offered to put a call out here to see if anyone might help them solve this mystery (and allow this reporter to be present when they do!).
The safe is from the 1950s. It's about 4 1/2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide.
"If someone can open it, and we take whatever is in it, they can have a big safe if they want it," the board member said.
"If someone can open it, and we take whatever is in it, they can have a big safe if they want it," the board member said.
If you have the interest and skills, you can email me at sfarr@inquirer.com or DM me and I will connect you.
The center and I realize there may be nothing within, but there maybe something inside too.
So how about it, Philly? Can anyone help solve this mystery?
The center and I realize there may be nothing within, but there maybe something inside too.
So how about it, Philly? Can anyone help solve this mystery?
Just got a photo of the safe, for those following or who may be able to help! 
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