Michigan man Bought a Couch with $70. Surprise inside? $43,000 in cash

In one of the strangest stories that stirred up media attention in the United States, a man from Michigan named Howard Kirby found more than $43,000 in cash inside an ottoman cushion that came with a couch he had purchased from a secondhand furniture store.

Kirby, who lives in a city near Detroit, bought the couch from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for only $70. He placed it in his personal room, but he always felt that the foot cushion was oddly uncomfortable. His daughter-in-law decided to open the cushion to investigate, and to their surprise, it was stuffed with a box full of bundles of cash.

At first, Kirby thought about keeping the money, especially after consulting a lawyer who told him that the law did not prevent him from doing so. However, his conscience and faith led him to take a different path. Kirby said that he felt the Holy Spirit telling him that the money was not truly his, and that he should return it to its rightful owners.

He contacted the store, which traced the donor of the couch. It turned out that it had been donated by a woman named Kim Fauth-Newberry, who had recently given away the belongings of her late grandfather. She explained that her grandfather was a frugal man who always preferred to deal in cash, and it seemed he had hidden the money in the cushion without telling anyone.

In a noble act, Kirby met with the woman and returned the full amount to her. He said, "It belonged to them, and I’m glad I was able to give it back to them. As a born-again Christian, I want to do what Christ would want me to do, and I believe that’s exactly what He would have wanted."

In recognition of his honesty, the Habitat for Humanity store described Kirby as a "Habitat hero." A spokesperson for the store said, "People find treasures in our stores every day, but this story is different. We were inspired by Mr. Kirby, who showed true Habitat spirit by putting others before himself and returning the money."