Hopeful hunters hit San Jose as 'HiddenCash' frenzy moves to South Bay
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A mystery millionaire's scavenger hunt for cash around the Bay Area headed to San Jose Wednesday and stirred up a frenzy as people chased the clues in hopes of finding the hidden envelopes of cash.
His first tweet arrived at 8:44 a.m. It read, "First ever San Jose drop: across from where these sea creatures play, a dog pees in the fall."
As we chased the story, dozens chased the cash.
It was across the street from SAP Center on a fire hydrant. San Jose resident Alex Doxie got there first.
"This is gas money," he said. "And dinner money for the wife. And then get in money to the game."
The envelope had a $135 inside it and a message on the outside, "Love u San Jose."
Doxie felt the love. Others, just a few moments behind, were disappointed.
"I live right across the street and I follow him on Twitter, obviously," said San Jose resident Bear Silber. "And I have it notify me right away and I got here, I went around the block already so I was here in probably five minutes, and he already had it."
With barely enough time for the treasure hunters to catch their breath, Hidden Cash tweeted another clue, "New SJ drop: Behind a tree, under a leaf, across from the fast dogs' station. Tweet when you find it!"
Dozens raced to the Greyhound station in downtown San Jose. We saw dozens and dozens of people rummaging through the bushes and leaves across the street from the Greyhound station. They looked high and low for a long time. No one found an envelope. Then we found out why. A worker at the nearby radio station, Mix 106.5, found the $140 almost immediately, but didn't want any publicity. She sent the morning team, Pope and Marla, out to the searching masses about 45 minutes later to break the news. Ironically, the woman who found the money works in the promotions department at the radio station. The morning team told us she promised to share a little of the money with them.
The third drop was at Oakridge Shopping Center near an American bank and a caffeinated mermaid -- Starbucks!!
Money hungry hunters converged on a stop sign where the envelope was taped.
But the cash was gone. Someone had found it quickly.
But there was still hope and the next clue came 15 minutes later. Go to the trash, find the cash across the street -- the trash bin gate of Olive Garden.
Again, someone grabbed the money quickly.
The mystery man tweeted he's heading to LA next.
