herself. great to see you guys. thank you for being with us. congressman trent franks and greg forbes our guests tomorrow night. thank you for being with us tonight. good night from new york. >> you walk in. what do you find? >> you couldn't even get through the front door. >> it was overwhelming, the damage that had been done. >> a town institution obliterated. but could a strange inheritance of superheroes save the day? >> i was holding the books up, and i was screaming like a little giddy schoolgirl. [ laughs ] >> he had comic books from the 1940s, during the war period, like asuperman17 with superman beating the snot out of hitler. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm driving along the jersey shore, on a sliver of barrier island that took a beating from superstorm sandy in 2012. i'm here to meet a family rebuilding from the disaster, and their strange inheritance may in up being their lifesaver. ♪ >> i'm brick wenzel. our family business has been here in lavallette, new jersey, for generations. i found something in the attic that's gonna help us save our business. >> the wenzel family is a fixture in this tiny beach community. they're best known for an old ice cream shop and restaurant called salty's that, like so much of the jersey shore, got pummeled by sandy. now, salty's was not your average neighborhood ice cream parlor. >> we were the largest bulk ice cream distributor for hershey's ice cream. every year they would come and give us a golden scoop.

you're talking 200,000 gallons of ice cream every summer. >> what was the traffic like here on a good day, summertime? >> salty's was the place to come. >> there would be a line out the door, sometimes even around the block. it was a nice spot for an evening out. there could be music. there could be hermit-crab races. it was always a surprise. >> why is it important that salty's come back? >> it's really an anchor for our whole community and for people who come to the jersey shore. >> the story of salty's -- and this strange inheritance -- begins far from the boardwalk, with brick's grandfather, gustav wenzel. an enterprising german immigrant, he opens a bowling alley during the great depression in garwood, new jersey. gustav also sells comic books. he may have been his own best customer. >> he was an avid comic-book collector. it was all different genres. it wasn't just science fiction, or it just wasn't superheroes.

there were western comic books. there were comic books about baseball players. ♪ >> gustav's son bob inherits his dad's love of comic books. bob's favorite chronicles the adventures of a space explorer he will name his son after. >> my father's favorite cartoon character was named brick. and here's a picture of one. >> hmm. brick bradford. yeah. i see it. >> the rosy cheeks. >> in 1962, bob wenzel moves to the beach and opens salty's gifts in lavallette. over the years, salty's evolves into an ice cream shop and restaurant. as a boy, brick puts in his time at salty's, but he's determined to strike out on his own. >> by the time i was 14 years of age, i had started my own bait company. i had a passion for it that just continued to grow. the commercial fishing industry was extremely profitable.

>> it's my first fishery experience. what are we going to do? >> we're gonna put you right to work. >> wait. you want me to wear these? >> yes, ma'am. i recommend it. >> you do? >> yes, i do. >> okay, well, orange is the new black. while i do a wardrobe change, let's keep the bluefish on ice and bring britta into this boardwalk empire. it's a stormy day in 1997. >> it was blowing northeast, 20, 30 miles an hour, wind blowing and rain. >> a childhood friend notices brick's fishing boat has come loose from the dock. >> i was waitressing at a restaurant, and i tied it back up. >> but it wasn't just tied up. it was tied up perfectly. not everyone knows how to tie up a boat properly, especially during a major northeaster. >> we looked at each other like, you know, "my goodness, that's you all grown up," you know, 'cause we had known each other since childhood. >> one impressive nautical knot, and next thing you know, brick and britta tie the proverbial one.

in 1997, when brick's dad retires, he hands the business down to the kids. >> during the summer, the restaurant does real well. and then when there's no tourists around, the fishing income is what kept us going. >> okay. cue the girl in the waders. all right, brick, now that i got all suited up, what am i gonna do? >> all right, jamie, we got these bluefish here, and we're gonna have them come down and go into 100-pound totes and get them ready to be shipped out. >> ooh, they weigh almost 100 pounds, and this guy's waving at me. oh, you got to turn around, too, buddy. >> yep. you got to get them swimming downstream as they go through. >> okay, i'm straightening them out, straightening them out. oh, you mind getting that one? whoa, look at the size of this one. got to swim the right way, or you don't get to go to the finer restaurants. okay. bye. see you. >> okay, so, now we got to put them in the box over here. >> come on. [ groans ] >> that's a big one. >> wow. [ groans ] >> [ chuckles ]

>> whoa. >> these will be on their way to new york in an hour. >> i have to make a reservation i still have time. >> [ laughs ] lid. >> 100 pounds. >> yep. >> bluefish. brick tells me each box like this will sell for 80 bucks, and today's total catch is worth about $2,800. all right. good day's work. thanks, brick. >> no. thank you. >> i'll see you later. >> all right. take care. >> i'llyoulater. >> [ chuckles ] there's a saying i have -- "fisherman are always starving, but they eat well." >> [ chuckles ] brick and britta want a safety net, a way to turn the family's seasonal businesses into an enterprise with year-round cash flow. real estate in this beach community is always a good bet, so they purchase new properties and renovate the family's old ones. when brick's grandmother dies, they remodel her house, as well. >> after my grandmother passed away, we had to demolish the building. well, when we took out one of the walls, there were comic

books stuffed into the walls, just like insulation. we had a feeling they were worth something, but we really didn't know much about it because i'm not a comic-book collector. >> so they just put the comics away and don't think about them much. they move on to other business ventures. along the way, they really roll the dice. >> we dropped insurance that we had carried on the properties, and it was because the insurance premiums had gotten so high. >> we were looking at over $30,000 in insurance annually. so, we decided to take that money, invest it, some in the stock market, some in other pieces of property. >> a decade and a half go by, and their gamble seems to be paying off. then in the fall of 2012, the wenzels prepare to celebrate salty's five decades on the jersey shore. >> this is real popular during the summer -- hermit crabs. >> as they do, on october 22nd, a tropical storm in the caribbean becomes hurricane sandy, and the

jersey shore is in its cross hairs. >> we've seen what happens when a storm hits the jersey shore, but it was the first time we ever saw a storm of this magnitude. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. which jersey artist has the most number-one hit singles? >> bruce springsteen, frank sinatra, or whitney houston? the answer in a moment. ♪

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>> so, which jersey artist has the most number-one hit singles? it's "c," whitney houston, who hit the billboard number-one single spot 11 times. >> october 2012 -- brick and britta wenzel are planning a celebration for salty's, the jersey shore ice cream parlor that's been in brick's family for half a century. then they turn on the news. >> this morning, i formally declared a state of emergency in anticipation of hurricane sandy. >> the wenzels board up salty's and their other businesses and get off the island. sandy is the jersey shore's perfect storm. it hits at high tide, amplified by a full moon. >> we're one block in off the beach. and there are literally waves of water rushing down washington avenue, across ocean avenue.

you really can't drive on these streets right now. >> two weeks later, brick and britta return home, but nothing can prepare them for what they're about to see. >> it was overwhelming emotionally to just absorb the damage that had been done. the roadway itself had big holes in it and telephone poles down. and then at salty's, all the ice cream cases were all flipped, all the display cases, and the gift shop was just a giant pile of broken glass. >> for the last 15 years, brick and britta have gone without flood insurance. now their luck's run out. they estimate that rebuilding their home, salty's, and their other businesses will run seven figures. they scramble for loans and soon learn there's no quick fix and lots of red tape. >> this is paperwork from just

one project. this is one building that we are working on. >> so, all of this just to get one of your properties in order? >> yes. >> we needed cash right away at least to start demolition. the longer the water sat in the pipes, the worse it got. after the storm, cash was king around here because people would not work for anything but cash. >> so, we started slowly working our way through the family's belongings... >> hey. come on. i need your help. >> ...and liquidating what we can. >> as brick is rummaging through the house, looking for anything that could be sold, he stumbles across that old stash of comic books, the one that goes all the way back to his grandpa gustav. >> one of the that things my grandfather left for my father, which my father left for me, was comic books. we had them up in the attic. >> how many comic books are we talking about? >> that's next on

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>> so, which was the first comic-book hero to get his own movies? it's "b." the captain marvel saturday movie serials launched in 1941. he was followed to the silver screen by batman, captain america, and superman. ♪ >> in 2013, brick and britta wenzel are scrambling for cash to rebuild their family

enterprise after superstorm sandy. that includes salty's, the jersey shore ice cream parlor that's been in brick's family for half a century. as they do, brick rediscovers a long-forgotten collection of vintage comic books, a strange inheritance going back to his grandpa gustav that may be a treasure trove. >> we had them up in the attic. >> the attic, where there wasn't water? >> correct. >> how many comic books are we talking about? >> well, it turned out we had over 1,100 comic books. >> that's amazing. thank goodness they'd been stashed in the attic. anywhere else, and sandy would have washed them away. what's more, brick realizes grandpa gustav kept his comics in pristine shape. >> they weren't fingered through. there weren't a lot of bent pages. it was set aside, and someday they might be worth something. >> and possibly the gold mine brick has been searching for.

he scours a guide on comic-book values. >> i took the very first comic book out and i looked it up and it said $1,200 dollars. and i screamed. and then i took the next one, and that one was $2,000 and $3,000 and $4,000. and i was screaming like a little giddy schoolgirl. [ laughs ] >> brick researches further and learns that the biggest places to deal comics are comic conventions, like comic con in the big apple, where fans dress up, celebrity sign autographs, and where buying and selling comic books is big business. >> you can imagine people walking around in costumes. that's not my thing. i'd rather be wearing rubber slickers. >> so, in march 2013, the jersey shore fisherman casts his net at a closer-by comic-book expo in asbury park, new jersey, where one conventioneer catches his eye. >> this one young man in a really sharp-style suit was making out a check.

and i went over and took a peek, and it was for $1 million. >> are you exaggerating here with $1 million? >> no. >> and you're like, "hello!" >> once i saw that, i said, "that's who we want to go speak with." >> the big-shot broker is this guy -- vincent zurzolo, co-owner of metropolis collectibles in manhattan. time for me to head downtown for a little visit. wow! vincent, this is unbelievable. you must be a kid in a candy store every day at work. >> every day, i'm the happiest kid in the world it. couldn't get any better than this. >> or much more lucrative. >> my company purchased what is now the world's expensive comic book for $3.2 million. action comicsnumber one is the holy grail of comic books. it's the first appearance of superman. >> superman. let me see what he looked like in the beginning. >> vincent sold the most expensive comic book in history. so they were the ones with the jingle, and that's who we wanted to go ring.

>> when vincent sees a sample of brick's collection, he's definitely intrigued. >> what was great about brick's collection was, he had comic books from the 1940s, during the war period, like asuperman17 with superman beating the snot out of hitler. >> what happens when you break the news to your new best friend, vincent, that you have 1,000 more? >> you can tell on his expression that he didn't believe we had that many. and we actually had more than what we thought. we had -- i think it was closer to 1,200 altogether. >> vincent just has to go to lavallette to see the whole collection with his own eyes. worth the trip? >> definitely worth the trip. the breadth of the collection was really astounding. it wasn't just the typical superhero collection. they had horror, war, and romance, as well. >> okay, here's why i love comics. cover -- romance. back -- pimples disappear before your eyes. >> [ laughs ] >> how do i know when a comic is valuable? >> there's a variety of different things that go into the value of a comic book.

first of all, the most important ones are usually first appearances of characters like superman or batman, spider-man. then there's the condition, which plays a really integral part in trying to figure out the value of a specific comic book. you're looking for an accumulation of defects on the comic book. whichever one has more defects is the lower grade, 10 being the best, one being the worst. you're looking for creases, bends, tears, things of that nature. >> you're not going to test me on this, are you? >> i'm gonna test you a little bit. >> vincent hands me a comic book and asks me to smell it. >> tell me what you smell there. >> okay. ocean? >> mmm. that's actually really good. that comic book was stored in a collection that was by the sea. when you smell something, it takes you back to a time in your life. these types of things, these subtle nuances, can really affect somebody, and then you go, "bang, i want that comic book." >> brick's strange inheritance was stored down by the sea, too, and marinated for decades in whatever sweet scents wafted up

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>> and now back to "strange inheritance." >> superstorm sandy thrashes the jersey shore in october 2012. two years later, salty's ice cream parlor, a 50-year-old lavallette icon, owned by brick and britta wenzel, remains out of commission. >> it's been hard for brick and i to look out the window and see little kids who just run up the block and get here and realize we're not open yet. but it takes a lot of time. >> and money. >> we decided to open the gift shop and mark everything down. >> i mean, basically everything

is on the table. >> but in the spring of 2013, they are really pinning their hopes on 1,200 comics brick inherited from his father. he discovered them in his attic after the storm and turns to an eager vincent zurzolo to auction them off. >> when you have those different genres and there's so many different flavors, you're gonna have everybody feasting on this collection. >> brick and britta don't expect to get nearly enough to fix all sandy's damage, but they're hoping for enough to tide them over. >> getting rich wasn't in the equation. it was about trying to recover from the storm. >> in may 2013, seven months after sandy, vincent opens online bidding for brick's comics on his website, comic connect. >> we start our auctions at $1 start prices with no reserve. >> all told, they sell over 1,000 comic books, but lots of them go for just 10, 20, 30 bucks. then some go for more, a lot more, likesupermannumber 15.

it fetches $850. amarvel mysterysells for more than $1,200... archie and jughead, $1,300... abatmannumber 3, $2,000... a supernatural thriller named venus,$2,250. and finally, the superman clobbering hitler socks them for 3,000 bucks. how did brick and britta do? >> we were able to outperform our pre-auction estimates by about 50%. >> total haul for the collection -- $300,000. >> so, in the end, did your superhero comics save the super day? >> it was seed money for the process of rebuilding from sandy. ♪ >> i was inspired by brick and britta and this small town's determination to rebuild from sandy. before i left, i did my part

to help bring salty's back to life. okay, bring it on. what else you got? wow. do we get a lunch break? >> [ chuckles ] a year after my visit, brick said he found another box of grandpa's comics, and planned to auction those too. but despite all the effort, salty's has never re-opened. guess superheroes only get ya so far. >> there's one heirloom from his grandfather that brick didn't sell -- these scrapbooks of vintage comic strips, dedicated to brick's father before he was born. some of the strips are nearly 100 years old. brick doesn't know how much they're worth, but given the growing market for comics, brick says he may hold onto them for another rainy day or just keep them as a memory of the grandfather whose comic collection came to the family's rescue.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. ♪ >> at the edge of death valley... >> it's weird and unusual and unique. >> ...a man puts a dusty weigh station on the map. but the town and his legacy fall on hard times. >> i was hearing from the residents that it was an eyesore. >> has he left his family a money pit... >> we want you to keep this in the family at all costs. >> ...or a monument? >> sometimes in life, we don't appreciate things until they're gone. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ [ horn honks ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today

i'm driving through the mojave desert on my way to the tiny town of baker, california. it's halfway between los angeles and las vegas. just a tiny dot on the map -- 800 people. it embodies the weirdness of both those cities, and its largest attraction, definitely its tallest, has become one family's rather strange inheritance. >> my name is larae harguess, and my father, willis herron, set out to build the world's tallest thermometer. >> hi. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. i'm larae. nice to meet you. >> it's big. >> it is the world's tallest thermometer. >> well, if someone figured this roadside attraction would get you to stop and gawk, it sure as heck worked on me. >> hi. how are you, janice? i'm jamie. >> hi. nice to meet you, jamie. >> today, larae and her sister, janice neisess, run a gift shop in the shadow of the tower. they sell thermometer t-shirts,

thermometer hot sauce, even thermometer thermometers. yes, this really is the world's tallest thermometer. and it would be strange enough just to inherit a 130-foot thermometer in the middle of the desert, but what's as remarkable is the msion that larae anher family took on after her father died in 2007. >> you're sure? >> i got to get a closer look. i tell larae's husband, bill, i'm ready for a challenge. i've been training to climb to the top. i'm going in. >> okay. >> why did he say it that way? >> i just bombed it this morning for the spiders. >> spiders. i'm a girl of nature. >> black widows. >> they're little spiders. >> black widow spiders. >> yeah. >> i think you'd better close it up. >> they're small. >> even this host has to draw the line at black widow spiders.

the story of this strange inheritance begins with a young man who falls in love with the california desert. in the early 1950s, after service in the air force and college, willis herron heads west from his home in kentucky to join his father in barstow, california, where his dad has become a restaurateur. >> he and his father had a couple restaurants in barstow, and he was successful. my dad was very personable. >> successful enough that a local businessman offers to partner with young willis on an all-night diner in baker, 60 miles up the road. you may think a place known as the gateway to death valley is an unlikely spot for an eatery, but willis sees it differently. >> he knew that people would need to stop between los angeles and las vegas. >> at a time when few cars have air-conditioning, baker is a perfectly located oasis,

a spot for gamblers to cool off from the desert heat. pretty soon, willis' burger joint, called bun boy, is a landmark. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, winners drive in to celebrate, and losers drown their sorrows in...strawberries? >> fresh strawberry pie -- that was what it was known for. it was definitely kind of an americana diner -- the big breakfasts but also, you know, the burgers, the specialty sandwiches and things like that. >> in 1971, willis falls in love with barbara sturm, who comes with a house full of daughters -- larae, janice and terri -- just the kind of work force you need for a family restaurant. >> we all started as bussers, and we did dishwashing, and we did waitressing. >> this is the menu, right, of bun boy? the original. the burger was $3.95, and it came with coleslaw, french fries, or potato salad. that's a steal of a deal!

>> and a smiling waitress. [ laughs ] >> willis will eventually buy out his partner and become the biggest fish in the town's very small pond. >> we had three restaurants, two motels, two gas stations, a grocery store, pretty much within a block. >> baker booms. in the late '70s, willis buys a nice house in silver lake, a desert community 75 miles away. but soon business in baker sputters. cars are all air-conditioned. gamblers can drive straight through and arrive in vegas cool and comfortable. willis needs a gimmick, something to grab their eye and their wallet. he gets his inspiration in an unlikely spot -- international falls, minnesota. >> they had the world's tallest thermometer, and it was 22 feet high. and so i think he saw that

and the wheels started spinning. >> 22 feet? pshaw. his thermometer will mark the highest temperature, 134 degrees, ever recorded in death valley. it will soar as high as baker is hot. >> i know that my mom recalls saying, "have you lost your mind?" [ laughs ] "134 feet?" my dad looked at her with those blue eyes and said, "oh, honey, come on. this will be fun." ♪ >> in 1990, willis cuts a deal with yesco, a las vegas company that builds and finances those big, eye-catching signs. >> if you asked my mom, she would think that he was a little crazy to spend $750,000 to build a thermometer. >> $750,000? >> yes. yes.

>> a little crazy? that may be putting it mildly. willis plunks down $150,000. yesco does a lease deal to finance the other $600,000. by the fall of 1991, construction is wrapping up. despite the expense, the challenges, and the questions about his sanity, willis pops for a lighting ceremony. he bills it "the great turn-on." >> the invitations had gone out. thanksgiving day, he's out playing golf with his grandson. and he comes home, and my mom says, "honey, sit down. i have something to tell you." >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. what's the most visited tourist attraction in the united states? is it times square, walt disney world, or the las vegas strip? the answer in a moment. today, we're out here with some big news about type 2 diabetes. you have type 2 diabetes, right?

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♪ >> so, what is the most visited tourist attraction in the united states? the answer is "a," new york's times square. nearly 42 million people visit annually. >> november 28th, 1991, near death valley, california. at the time, restaurant owner willis herron is just weeks away from the grand opening of his monumental roadside attraction, a 134-foot thermometer.

but suddenly, a freak storm gathers over the mojave desert. >> thanksgiving day, we got a devastating phone call that the wind had come through here and actually blown the thermometer over. >> oh, no. was anyone hurt? >> nobody was hurt or killed. >> herron's dream for restoring the economy of the tiny town of baker appears crushed. it's a bitter lesson in the power of nature, one that might have defeated a lesser man, but not willis herron. >> it was insured, so he said, "put it back up." >> to keep it from having that problem again, we filled that center pipe with cement. >> 226 tons of cement, to be exact. in october 1992, willis herron flips the switch, and the world's tallest thermometer lights up. >> it flashes, and it's there. you could hear my mom crying in the background, going, "oh, thank god."

>> so you were only 2 years old when it was built? >> yeah. it's funny. there's all these cute pictures of us as kids. >> to his grandson dan neisess, this towering monument establishes willis as a legendary figure, a small-town tycoon. >> i'm sure that the amount of money it took to put up the thermometer was paid back 10 times. >> willis' brainstorm helps make him a rich man. >> it brought business to baker and people visiting and stopping and seeing it as kind of this unusual landmark in the middle of the desert. >> willis also still owns two restaurants -- his flagship bun boy and a coffee shop -- plus two motels, four gas stations and a country store. he and his wife, barbara, are practically lord and lady of baker. >> anytime anybody ever needed anything in the family, it was kind of like the understanding that they'd go talk to my grandfather, and he'd help you out.

>> but willis knows the good times can't roll forever. >> in 2000, his health was declining. he was 75 years old. he knew it was time to just sell it all. my mom actually didn't want him to sell the thermometer, but he didn't want her to have to worry about anything, finances or anything. >> so he puts it all on the market -- the motels, restaurants, gas stations, and the world's tallest thermometer. he finds a buyer who wants it all and will assume the lease on his signature attraction. willis takes back mortgages on the thermometer property and his other businesses. he's expecting a nice income stream well into the future. for 18 months, the new owner makes regular payments, and willis enjoys his retirement. but then things get complicated. the new owner is struggling. he wants out. so in 2006,

to protect his investments, willis finds another buyer. but the new owner needs a bank loan and won't get it unless willis puts up the thermometer property as collateral. if the loan is not paid off, the bank can take it. then, in july 2007, willis herron dies at the age of 82. >> little did he know that the economic downturn would hit in 2009, 2010. >> selling continuing after dropping 1,000 points over the last week. >> so that dream of his that mom wouldn't have to worry about anything changed quickly when people didn't pay the bills. >> as the restaurant business fails, the new owner cuts back on maintenance of the thermometer. then he stops making payments on the lease. soon the spire that willis erected to draw people off the highway advertises only baker's economic distress. >> it had been vandalized.

i was hearing from the residents out there that it was an eyesore because it wasn't working. >> some people even wanted it torn down. >> the herron family is shocked. >> my mom saw it a couple years ago, and she was devastated. >> tell me about that day. >> there was a couple standing in front of it taking their picture, and she stomped right over to them and started apologizing profusely for the way that the thermometer looked. and she vowed on that day to have it completely restored and brought back to its glory. >> barbara has inherited only a mortgage on the property. that's hardly enough to make good on her vow. so won't she be better off cutting her losses? >> sometimes in life, we don't appreciate things until they're gone. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. what is america's oldest roadside attraction? a six-story-tall elephant, a 10-ton ball of twine, or a

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>> so, what is america's oldest roadside attraction? the answer is "a." lucy the elephant has been stopping traffic in margate, new jersey, since 1881. constructed of wood, she is 65 feet high and weighs in at 90 tons. >> tell me about the motels, dan. >> well, my grandpa owned a lot of motels here in baker. it was kind of a big business back then. >> dan neisess is reminiscing about his grandfather willis herron's small-town business empire

here in baker, california. before his death in 2007, willis thought he'd unloaded it all, including his beloved roadside attraction, the world's tallest thermometer. a few years later, however, the businesses are shuttered. willis' loans to the new owners are in default, and the thermometer is a wreck. some locals want to tear it down. dan is just one of the family members who rally behind his grandmother barbara's crusade to reclaim and restore it. >> it's a weird thing that probably doesn't make any sense to anybody, but it matters to some people. it matters to a lot of people, i guess -- >> barba herron,r thought. whs in her 7 and has serious health problems, lives 90 miles away and is in no position to deal with the layers of deeds, mortgages, notes, and leases that her husband attached to the holdings he left her. her daughters jump in to help,

but larae is a school guidance counselor, and janice is a teacher. this business stuff ain't their bag. as i'm looking through all the pages of the transactions for your family to stay involved with the thermometer, i'm wondering how complicated is it now? what's the deal? >> we're not gonna win businesswomen of the year awards. >> on this transaction, no. >> you might not. >> no. >> the sisters know this -- if their mom wants to wrest back control of their strange inheritance, she'll have to fund a bail-out. >> yeah, she took it out of her savings to do this. >> in her 70s? >> mm-hmm. >> was that the right decision, janice? >> yes, it was. i think so. >> i got to wonder -- barbara herron wants to redeem a pile of bad debt on distressed properties, including that thermometer, in a town whose best days may be in the rearview mirror. >> but this was not done for business. this was done for the heart. and we wanted to bring back my dad's legacy.

>> step one -- yesco, the company that built and financed the thermometer, agrees to write off its debt and relinquish any claim on the structure. step two -- barbara forecloses on the thermometer property. step three -- she pays off the bank that still has a lien on it. finally, willis herron's pride and joy is back in his family, free and clear. step four may be the hardest part -- getting the darn thing working again. for that, it's back to yesco. >> we ended up having to put a new computer in it, new drivers, software, and new l.e.d. lighting. >> so how much did it cost to fix the thermometer? >> about $150,000. >> family members, most of whom live a couple of hours away, take rotating shifts in baker to protect the tower from vandals. >> here's where we've been the last four months. >> what? >> yeah.

>> you said you lived on the property. i thought there was a house. you've been living in this? >> this is it. >> willis' grandson, dan, a recent law-school graduate, takes a break from job hunting to help set up the gift shop. >> i painted everything, and i fixed the drywall, and... i don't know. all kinds of stuff. >> family members don't get paid. profits from the shop barely cover the electric bill for the thermometer. nevertheless, barbara has shelled out more than $330,000 to get the thermometer back and get it working. ♪ the last big question -- if she rebuilds it, will they come? that's next. i count on my dell small business advisor

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>> it's october 2014. and we do take cash. we're taking some cash. here in baker, california, even i've been caught up in the excitement... we have these heat- and chill- activated world's tallest thermometer cups. they make great stocking stuffers. >> okay. >> ...as willis herron's family celebrates their strange and hard-won inheritance. despite her serious health problems, willis' widow, barbara, comes to baker in style. >> here's my baby girl. >> today is the rededication of the world's tallest thermometer, decades after it first flashed across the mojave desert. ♪ >> thank you. >> over 40 years ago, willis herron, he had a dream. and my mom kept her promise, and she spent her savings to repair the thermometer and get it back into its glory,

where it should be. >> dedicated on this saturday, october 11th, 2014, to willis and barbara herron, original owners and founders of the world's tallest thermometer. [ cheers and applause ] >> i watched your face, and your smile said everything. >> yes. i am very proud. i've got three girls, and i'm very proud of all of them. they've done a very good job. >> and they're making sure their kids understand the importance of this monument to the memory of the man they loved. >> hey, you. we said, "remember this day. remember that this is as much your family. we're gonna be gone one day, and we want you to keep this in the family at all costs. it needs to stay in the family." >> it feels like giving back

to my grandfather, who had been so generous to all of us all our lives, you know, and to be able to say thank you. >> no doubt -- from bun boy to motels to that crazy thermometer, willis herron of baker was a classic american success story. but there's one big chance he missed. back in the early 1950s, he ran into a fellow kentuckian at a restaurant convention, a nicely dressed fella named harland sanders. yeah, colonel harland sanders, who wanted to let willis in on the ground floor of his own new enterprise, kentucky fried chicken. but willis turned the colonel down. "fried chicken?" he said. "nah, that'll never catch on." willis always told that story with a hearty laugh. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance," and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a strange

inheritance story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. >> i'm bob massi. for 32 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas. i help people with all sorts of real-estate problems, from trying to save their homes to closing major deals. eight years ago, 6,000 people a month moved here, looking for employment and affordable homes. little did anyone know that we would become ground zero for the american real-estate crisis. now, it's a different story. the american dream is back. we're gonna meet real people who faced the same problems as millions across america, and we'll dive deep into a city on the rebound because las vegas was a microcosm of america, and now vegas is back. [ woman vocalizing ]