>> a tv hitmaker loves animals. >> he turned that creativity on animal rights, and it was unbelievable. >> one dog he rescues is off-the-charts dangerous. >> if it's a scale from 1 to 10, columbo's a 12. >> when the hollywood owner dies, columbo becomes their strange -- and expensive -- inheritance. >> acupuncture for a dog? i know we're in los angeles, but really? [ dog growls ] >> is it all worth it? >> your kids could get hurt. you're willing to take the risk. >> we made a commitment to healing dogs and showing other families how to do it. >> welcome to the weird world of pet inheritance. >> so, are you leaving your home to the birds? [ bird squawks ]

i'm jamie colby, and, today, i'm in encino, california. will rogers once said, "if there are no dogs in heaven, then when i die, i want to go where they go." but when the owners go first, especially the rich or eccentric ones, it can make for one strange inheritance. >> my name is tyson kilmer. i'm an animal trainer. when one of my clients, sam simon, passed away in march of 2015, i inherited his dog, who is not exactly lassie, marmaduke, or any other lovably harmless pet you've seen on tv. >> hi, kilmers. i'm jamie. >> i'm tyson kilmer. this is my wife, alison. aliyah and tyler. >> how are you? >> i'm great! >> i heard your family has a living, breathing inheritance? >> indeed, we do.

we have a cane corso that used to belong to the late, great sam simon. >> sam simon -- even if you don't recognize the name, you surely know his work as co-developer, with matt groening, of that iconic and long-running tv show, "the simpsons." sam was born in 1955 and grew up in beverly hills, just down the street from groucho marx. after graduating from stanford university, sam catapults his way up in the tv business, becoming a showrunner in 1978 for the hit series "taxi," at the age of 23. >> sam was the youngest showrunner in the history of television, when he was a showrunner on "taxi." >> mark thompson is an l.a. radio host and a long-time friend of simon's. >> to describe him as highly intelligent would be to understate it in the extreme. >> sam works on "barney miller" and "cheers," before teaming up with matt groening on "the simpsons," which premieres

on the fox network in 1989. >> matt groening created these characters and this family, but the universe that the simpsons exist in -- the town, the nuclear power plant, mr. burns, all of these different characters... sam simon was the driving force behind that. >> but in 1993, after four trailblazing seasons, sam decides he wants a life outside of television. before quitting, he negotiates a deal giving him continuous credit as an executive producer and a share of the show's annual profit, to the tune of $30 million a year. sam, now twice divorced with no children, turns his energy to what becomes his calling in life -- saving animals, especially dogs. in 2002, at the cost of several million dollars, he creates this lavish, sprawling dog shelter in malibu. one of the neglected pooches that end up at sam's shelter is

a 6-month old cane corso, also known as an italian mastiff, a breed some people refer to as "a pit bull on steroids." the big canine is quickly deemed too aggressive to stay at the shelter. so sam takes him home and names him columbo, after the rumpled, trench-coat-wearing detective played by peter falk. >> he adored columbo, clearly. i think he was like an offspring almost. he was like a son. >> a son with a nasty disposition. within months, columbo attacks staff members on the simon estate. there are as many as eight biting incidents. he even goes after sam's buddy, howard stern. >> ok, guys, go play! [ dogs barking ] >> so, in 2011, sam contacts tyson kilmer, who has a reputation for working with dangerous breeds. his hollywood clientele includes rob lowe and mike tyson, but none impresses him like sam simon.

>> the first meeting he had with sam, tyson came back and went, "i met my hero. i met a guy that's doing way more than i am with animals." it was a bromance. >> alison kilmer is tyson's wife. >> was it more than just about the dog? >> oh, yeah. tyson knew right away that sam was someone that was gonna mentor him. >> still, tyson hesitates taking the columbo case. why? >> i had stopped working with that breed a few years prior, just because of the volatility and the liability issues around them. >> i'm sure that training aggressive dogs is dangerous. where is columbo on the scale? >> if it's a scale from 1 to 10, columbo's a 12. >> tyson says he makes an exception for columbo, when simon convinces him that health issues, like painful hip dysplasia, explain why he's such a bad dog. so, it's not just behavioral. it's also medicine?

>> that's correct. >> simon's already paying for the best veterinary medicine money can buy. among other things, columbo gets electromagnetic therapy and acupuncture. acupuncture for a dog? i know we're in los angeles, but really? >> this dog has endured so much pain in his legs that this is not some frivolous treatment. >> and the price tag for columbo's first-class care? >> columbo costs approximately $138,000 a year. >> that's a four-year college education. >> the reality is -- i didn't hire these folks. i was just asked to be present while these folks were working. and this work changed my perspective on this dog entirely. ready to go. >> tyson takes over the actual training, hooking up columbo with a partner to keep him in line. >> hey, jamie. i brought my friends. >> i see that, tyson. i hope they'll be my friends. >> they will be your friends. so, kasha's been the one to teach him how he should be responding and reacting in these

encounters. >> she's a pit bull. >> she's a pit bull, yes, but she's very fabulously trained. you want to give it a try? >> i'm willing to try. >> perfect. okay, so, let's start off by showing her a stay. point to the ground. tell her, "okay, down." >> okay, down, kasha. good girl, kasha. >> and now, this is how she smiles. so, it looks like kind of scary. >> oh! you get a rub on the belly! stay. tyson says his hard work and sam's money transform columbo into a loving and much-less-aggressive pet. so, the bottom line is -- you have rehabilitated this dog. >> i would say that this dog is living, at this point, within very acceptable margins for behavior and safety, as long as we continue to put the work in with him daily. >> it's late 2012, when, at 57, sam simon is diagnosed with colorectal cancer. the prognosis -- it's terminal. >> how did sam tell you he was

sick? >> [ voice breaking ] he was just sick. >> what happened? >> you know, he said, you know, "tyson, i'm dying." >> will sam's death sentence also be the end for columbo? >> i was asked to make sure that columbo was taken off the property immediately. >> immediately? >> yes. >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. was it roy rogers' trigger... mr. ed... or seabiscuit? the answer when we return.

>> so, what stuffed horse fetched $266,000 at auction? it's "a," trigger, who belonged to roy rogers. >> with the help of his new friend and dog trainer tyson kilmer -- and a year and a half of intense training -- sam simon's rescued 140-pound cane corso is under control. so, you've given columbo a stay of execution. >> nobody else has been bitten, so the first part is amazing. secondly, he's a happier soul. >> but, in 2012, sam's diagnosis

of stage-four cancer changes everything. after being told he has only months to live, "the simpsons" co-developer launches a campaign to save as many animals as he can before he's gone. he brings tyson along for the ride. >> as his body began to fail him, he would be jumping on a learjet and flying off, so somebody had to watch out for him. >> here was sam simon ready to do all of these things that seem unthinkable. he rescued all of these bears from roadside circuses. he shut down a mink farm. >> so, the money is kind of gone. >> you gave it all to peta. >> no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i put in a trust that will be distributed, in perpetuity, to save the children and peta and other organizations. >> fantastic. >> for two years, sam beats the clock, but his disease never relents. >> i got a call that he was in the hospital, and he had summoned for me to come to his bedside. he just said, "i'm sorry to

burden you with this, but will you please take my dog?" of course, i said "yes." >> tyson looked at me and said, "i got to do this for him. if we don't, they're gonna put columbo down." >> tyson also makes sure columbo can stay by sam till the end. >> i was asked to train columbo to climb a set of steps beside sam's bed so that columbo could get up there and sleep with him. columbo was with sam right up until he passed. i was asked to be on the property when he passed to make sure that columbo was taken off the property immediately. >> why immediately? >> well, columbo couldn't be on the property with an influx of people coming in, just because it just wasn't safe. >> arguably even less safe -- bringing this strange inheritance home to your wife and kids. i have to ask you about that. i met him. he's fierce. you let them hang out with columbo? >> supervised. columbo cannot be unsupervised around my children or around

anybody. when he's uncomfortable, he's grumpy. you don't want to be anywhere around him. and i don't want my kids to be anywhere around him. and stay. >> your kids could get hurt. you're willing to take the risk. >> we make all the precautions. we make sure they're never alone with columbo. we make sure that they train him every day. and us, as a family -- we made a commitment to healing dogs and showing other families how to do it. >> a noble commitment, but who's going to pay for columbo's ongoing $138,000-a-year medical care? was there some sort of verbal agreement between you and sam? >> sam just basically said, "listen, don't worry about this. everything's taken care of." >> ruh-roh! is it possible that sam made a promise to tyson he didn't intend to keep? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. santa's little helper, the simpsons' family dog, is what breed? thi joined the army after 911,

cuz, um, i thought that was what i needed to do. we got our orders to go overseas and i went to baghdad, iraq. we were transporting a bomb sniffing dog to the polling stations. we rolled over two anti-tank mines, it blew my humvee up, killed my sergeant. after the explosion, i suffered a closed head injury, um, traumatic brain injury, loss of a limb, burns to 60% of my body. when the doctors told me i reached my plateau, i did not want to hear that because i do not believe i have a plateau.

so, i had to prove 'em wrong, which i am doing to this day and i will still do until the end of my days. i've gotten to where i am at because of my family. and, the wounded warrior project has helped me more than i can ever imagine. they have really been there to support me in my endeavors. my number one goal, basically, is to get close to where i was. i am more than ready to work hard to get to that goal. i am living proof to never give up and i will never give up.

>> so, santa's little helper, the simpsons' family dog, is what breed? the answer is "b," a greyhound homer rescues from the dog track in "the simpsons'" first episode. [ dog growls ] >> the cane corso, or italian mastiff, is an aggressive breed, sometimes called a "pit bull on steroids." columbo, a 140-pounder who belonged to "simpsons" co-developer sam simon, was actually deemed too vicious for simon's dog-rescue shelter. hollywood dog trainer tyson kilmer says one of simon's

last requests was that he take columbo when simon died. >> one thing that sam said is that, "every animal's life has value." >> tyson assumes simon's multi-billion-dollar trust will pay for columbo's costly medical treatments, including acupuncture and electromagnetic therapy. >> was there some sort of verbal agreement between you and sam? >> sam took care of everything while he was alive. when sam said, "will you take columbo?", i didn't say, "hey, how much, buddy?" i just said, "of course. i'll take care of it." >> then, in june 2015, three months after sam's death, tyson learns that those vets and therapists will no longer be paid and all those hollywood-style treatments will be discontinued. tyson reaches out to the executor of the simon trust. now, i'm a dog lover -- don't get me wrong -- but tell me how much you were asking, money-wise, to take care of

columbo in the style sam had -- >> i didn't ask for money. i was asking for them to send the vets over. i wasn't asking for money. >> come on, columbo. >> either way, tyson says he's told there's no money earmarked for columbo. >> i first thought, "it has to be a misunderstanding," but, at some point, you'd think, even if that were the case, they would have an allegiance to what sam would have wanted." >> radio host mark thompson was a longtime friend of simon's. is it possible that sam made a promise to tyson he didn't intend to keep? >> i think the answer is -- of course not, of course not. sam would have wanted money to go for the continued care of columbo. >> the executor of simon's trust doesn't return our phone calls but has ripped tyson in the media. the trustee issued a statement that we got our hands on, and it starts with, "it's truly sad that someone would try to take advantage of sam's generosity to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of other causes."

>> and i'm just an outsider, but the same money that sam was paying for columbo, when sam was alive, is all tyson is asking for. and it's about his therapy, not a dollar more. i think that's a reasonable request. >> how much is it costing you a month, besides your daily time, to take care of columbo? >> it costs me approximately $9,000, $9,500 a month to take care of him. tyson has custody of a dog that is considered very dangerous. and we have a trustee unwilling to disperse money for the dog's care. end of case? >> if they're willing to go to court, tyson might be able to assert rights on columbo's behalf and get the court to construe the trust. >> underscore "might," says ken kossoff, an l.a. lawyer specializing in pet inheritances. he says it's telling simon apparently did not set up a trust fund to pay for columbo's care, which is allowed under

california law. >> you want your trust or any other document to be very clear that who was ever in charge of the money needs to support the pet. >> case in point -- ken's client in palmdale, california, a widow who wanted to provide for her faithful companions when she was gone. hi, yvonne. i'm jamie. >> jamie, hi. how are you? >> nice to meet you. i heard you're the bird lady. >> i am that. would you like to meet my kids? >> i would like to meet your kids. >> come on. >> oh, thank you. look at all these guys. oh, hello there. who's that? >> he says, "i'm bogie bird." and he says, "i'm the senior bird here." >> bogie is a 34 year-old double yellow-head amazon parrot. while he's older than yvonne's two cockatiels, he's still a youngin' among the parrot breed, who can easily live for 60 years. when yvonne first adopts bogie from a bird sanctuary, in 2013, she worries about making a

commitment to a pet that could very well outlive her. >> at my age, i thought, "how am i gonna make this work out? these guys can live to be 60 years old. i'm not rich." >> so, will bogie become a strange inheritance? yvonne is worried that her cherished parrot will get discarded, like columbo. and what about columbo? >> it must be costing you a fortune. >> columbo's not cheap, and we never, ever, ever, in a million years, thought we'd be here. >> and? >> how can the kilmers get the funds they say they need for his care? >> good boy! you know, i agreed to take sam simon's dog. i didn't agree to take on a billion-dollar estate. >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. so a tree falls on your brand-new car and totals it. and as if that wasn't bad enough,

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♪another summer day is come and gone away♪ ♪in paris and rome but i want to go home♪ ♪mmmmmmmm ♪maybe surrounded by a million people i♪ ♪still feel all alone i just want to go home♪ ♪oh i miss you, you know ♪let me go home ♪i've had my fun baby i'm done♪ ♪i gotta go home ♪it will all be alright ♪i'll be home tonight ♪i'm comin back home >> now back to "strange inheritance."

>> yvonne eubanks loves her parrot, bogie, who may very well outlive her. will bogie get the special care he needs when she's gone? she turns to ken kossoff, who's been creating trusts in los angeles for over 30 years. >> a lot of pet owners do not know that they could plan their estate to include their pets. >> yvonne doesn't just want to make sure her pets always have a caring home. she wants to make sure they have her home. >> the trust provides, immediately, for a caregiver to come in, and this is someone who is familiar with my birds. they will live here in the house, basically rent-free, and they'd take care of the birds. i will take care of the utilities and all on the house. >> that could theoretically last for decades. you understand people will watch this and they'll say, "okay, you're 'the bird lady.'" >> yeah. >> "and you've left this beautiful home to birds." >> yes. i don't care how whacky they think i am.

i just want to protect these guys. >> apparently, sam simon wasn't so clear or emphatic about columbo, and so the executors of "simpsons" co-developer sam simon's billion-dollar trust reportedly have no intention of providing a penny for his care. where does that leave animal trainer tyson kilmer, to whom sam bequeathed the 140-pound mastiff? >> i've never had much interest in anything outside of just seeing columbo cared for. i really don't want to be in court over the next five, six years. i'd far rather raise funds for him and just move on with my life. >> sam was his mentor and hero. and, sometimes, you don't write the script on how it's gonna come out, but we're doing the best we can and we're gonna handle it. >> i wanted to put a call into you to see if i could rely on some support from you guys. >> today, tyson hopes to raise

enough funds through a network of friends and supporters to finance columbo's care. you made a promise. >> absolutely. yeah. >> that's a big promise. >> i'm gonna keep that promise. you know, sam was one of -- he was a mentor to me. he was one of my best friends. i'm gonna honor my word to my friend. >> bogie or columbo can only dream of the fortune of the so-called world's richest pet, a german shepherd who's really rolling in the dough. turns out that when a german countess named carlotta liebenstein died, in 1992, she left a $124 million trust for her trusty pooch, gunther iii. well, when gunther iii met an untimely death, carlotta's riches passed to gunther's son, gunther iv, and by then, the trust was worth $372 million and included a villa in the bahamas and a mansion once owned by madonna. and, at that rate, gunther v

could be the first canine billionaire. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. >> his dream? big as a t-rex. >> when everybody else told him he was crazy, he just said, "no, i'm gonna build dinosaurs." >> his creation? a land before time. >> he was almost an engineer when it came to dinosaurs. >> can it survive without him? >> a lot of attractions that were the vision of a single person, all of a sudden they're gone, demolished. >> depends on his daughter... >> when you have an absolute passion, you think that other people feel the same way you do. >> his granddaughter... >> are you living on the edge, kiki, to make this all happen? >> a little bit. >> and his great-granddaughter. >> has your mom ever said, "we need to talk about the future of the park"?

>> never. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in southwest oregon, on the breathtaking pacific coast highway. if you've ever made this drive, you may have visited this strange inheritance and even met the heir trying to save it from extinction. >> my name is kiki mcgrath. my grandfather was really into dinosaurs. i inherited his version of jurassic park from a bygone era. >> hi. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. i'm kiki. >> great to meet you, kiki, and i like your friend. it was pretty clear i was in the right place. >> this is my grandfather's creation. let's go take a look. >> that "creation" is prehistoric gardens, which sits in a lush stretch of old-growth forest, with ocean mist filtering sunlight through

its towering trees. i would camp out here, and i don't camp. but be careful! giant monsters lurk. triceratops, wow. the grounds are teeming with dinosaurs. feast your eyes on 'em. there's the plate-covered stegosaurus... a towering t-rex... a soaring pteranodon and many more. each imposing creature a life-size replica of an ancient past, including this 46-foot-high, 86-foot-long brachiosaurus. >> four years from start to finish... >> amazing! >> ...to build this one. >> i just really can't believe the scale. the story of these creatures begins in 1907, in gordonsville, minnesota, where ernie nelson is born.

young ernie can't stop drawing on his sketch pad, especially the prehistoric creatures he sees in national geographic. definitely a creative character, according to his daughter bennii. was he always an artist? >> he always drew. he came out of the womb carrying a pen. >> a few decades later, in the 1930s, ernie gets married and has two kids. he settles down on the west coast and opts for a stable career path. >> he owned a gravel company when he was very young, and he was a public accountant in eugene, oregon. >> an accountant ever on the lookout for a more creative living. his dream job? a cartoonist at walt disney studios. he gets the offer, then talks himself out of taking it. >> he had two children, and it was during the depression, so he decided he just couldn't pick up and leave. >> so, ernie keeps counting beans for another two decades, knowing deep inside he's missing

his true calling. then, when ernie's 47 years old, he makes an announcement during christmas dinner that stuns his family. >> he goes out to the car, and he gets this cement dinosaur. it was a tyrannosaurus rex, and he brings it in, and he sets it down, and then he said, "this is what i'm going to do." we thought, "what?" he said, "i'm going to build dinosaurs." >> did you all think maybe he had had too much to drink? >> no one said a word. they felt that he had gone off the deep end. >> "no, really," ernie explains. he intends to open a roadside attraction filled with dinosaurs! he reveals he's been fascinated by the creatures his entire life. >> i said to mom, "why would he do something like that?" she said, "i'll go any place he wants to go." >> was that true love? >> yeah, that was true love. >> and it turns out his timing couldn't be better. >> ernie knew what he was

doing when he started his attraction in the early 1950s. >> doug kirby is the author of two books on roadside attractions. >> the golden age was after world war ii. gi's came home. they had families. they were starting to have money to buy better cars and take summer vacations. the u.s. highway system was built out across the whole country. attractions could find an audience. then all of these things started to crop up. >> these entertaining, and sometimes bizarre, roadside attractions become an american phenomenon. ernie the accountant figures a dinosaur park is a sure thing. what made your dad think that this was gonna be a winner? >> when you have an absolute passion for something, you think that other people feel the same way you do. >> before he can bring forth his creation, ernie must find his eden. he comes across 70 acres of lush forest in southern oregon, right off the famed 101,

pacific coast highway. it's listed for 17 grand. did he have the money to buy that property? were you rich? >> no, no, ultra-poor. they had practically no money when they came down here. >> but ernie works his accounting magic, selling his home and business. and presto! he has the cash. now he's ready to flesh out some dinosaurs. he researches the creatures exhaustively, drawing up sketches and blueprints. i mean, he was almost an engineer when it came to dinosaurs. >> yes, the steel frame went on and then, after that they put metal lath, and they molded it, and then on top of that they put cement. >> then comes the fine artistry. ernie adds details and hand-paints precise features -- eyes, scales, teeth. look at the skin texture even. >> yes. >> but ernie does take some artistic license, adding splashes of bright paint and vibrant patterns.

>> grandpa didn't know the exact color scheme, but he said it was the man behind the paintbrush that chose the colors. >> and "the man behind the paintbrush" chooses colors that draw customers. >> part of the formula with the roadside attraction is people want to be able to take pictures that they can share when they get home. ernie had an eye for what would make a great photo. painting things in bright, garish colors was a way to make those dinosaurs pop out. >> after a year of construction, ernie's ready to open his prehistoric gardens. so, what was the reaction initially? >> they loved it. >> and not just the tourists. do you have some recollections as a kid of playing in that park? >> oh, my gosh, do i? like, i just got chills, yeah. >> ernie's great-granddaughter tells us why. that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... the film "jurassic park" made an infamous villain out of the velociraptor. how big was the dinosaur in

real life? the size of a... the answer after the break. get it.

get it. get it. get it! get it! crowd chanting: get it! get it! get it! is she gonna get it daddy? she'll get it. get it! get i-- (crowd groaning) (crowd cheering) narrator: when you bring home a goodwill find, you give your whole town a reason to celebrate

because you're also funding local job training and placement programs in tech, healthcare and more. goodwill. bring good home. >> so, how big were velociraptors in real life? the speedy dinosaurs were only the size of a turkey. >> it's 1955. accountant ernie nelson has

quit his office job, uprooted his family, and depleted his life savings to create a roadside dinosaur attraction in southwest oregon, along the pacific coast highway. that's a big jump from being an accountant. >> he just had a real drive. he wanted to create something and share it with everybody. >> on new year's day, ernie's "prehistoric gardens" is finally ready. signs point the way from the highway. admission's 50 cents for adults, a quarter for kids. to the family's relief, tourists flock to it, just as ernie predicted. so, what was the reaction initially? >> they loved it. we would walk with them through the gardens. we would point and tell them what the name of the dinosaur was. >> the family enlists every visitor to spread the word. >> we used to put on bumper stickers. it said prehistoric gardens on it. it showed a picture of a tyrannosaurus rex. >> bennii spends almost all her time at the gardens during

the park's first few years. and her daughter, kiki, born in 1957, does, too. in fact, when bennii divorces in 1959, she moves away, leaving kiki to be raised by her grandparents in the family home, right on the property. kiki watches her grandfather expand his shangri-la year after year. >> i remember rvs and trailers parked everywhere. >> was it magical to watch him create this? >> magical, yes. he would get, like, a just big, you know, grin on his face when he would see kids coming in, and they'd be squealing with the parents. i think it was really important for him to see people be happy. >> after high school, kiki ventures beyond the dino park but within a year returns. what brought you back? >> i really like being around my grandparents, and i didn't want to do anything different. >> it was a life kiki would also want for her daughter, rain, who's born in 1982 and

spends her childhood playing amongst the massive dinosaurs. do you have some recollections as a kid of playing in that park? >> oh, my gosh, do i? like, i just got chills, yeah. my whole childhood was that park. my friends and i, we'd kind of climb up the stegosaurus or we'd climb up the elasmosaurus and slide down his back. we would even hide in the bushes sometimes and make noises and stuff when the guests came by. [ laughs ] >> but the world has changed in the four decades since the 47-year-old accountant chucked everything to open his prehistoric gardens. the "jurassic park" generation doesn't see these guys so much as prehistoric creatures but corny 1950's kitsch. fewer visitors turn in to the aging park that's increasingly difficult for its octogenarian founder to maintain. >> the '80s and the '90s were really, really tough, and my great-grandmother had a stroke. so, that set the family back. there was some tough times, definitely.

>> did dad ever consider selling or closing? >> oh, no, oh, no, unh-unh. that was his baby. he loved the prehistoric gardens. >> loved them till the day he dies, in 1999, a dinosaur himself at age 91. his funeral is held right in the park near his favorite creature -- that 46-foot-high brachiosaurus. >> and it rained, and it hailed, and it snowed, and there was sunshine. it was very, very magical, very magical. >> a few months later, ernie's wife, kari, passes away. the will does not say who should inherit the business. did your grandfather sit down at some point and say, "here's what i want to happen with the park"? >> no, i think he was hoping that someone would carry it on, but i don't think he thought about who was going to do it. >> ernie's daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter now must choose. keep his dream alive or cash

out? it's near the coast, if not right on it. you know what that property is worth. >> mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> did you ever think about selling or closing the park? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. i am a family man.

i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience.

my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

>> the snorkasaurus is the family pet of fred and wilma flintstone. >> in 1999, ernie nelson leaves behind 70 acres of oregon

coastland, evenly dividing the property among his two children and granddaughter, kiki. the inheritance includes his prehistoric gardens, a roadside attraction, featuring 23 life-size dinosaur replicas that ernie created himself. >> he loved dinosaurs. like, he absolutely loved them. when everybody else told him he was crazy, he just said, "no, i'm gonna build dinosaurs." to think of how much strength and tenacity he had. >> but now that he's gone, the fate of the 44-year-old dino park is unclear. ernie's daughter bennii, now in her mid-60s, has no interest in taking over the reins. >> i don't have a sense of business. i don't have the drive. >> so, she and her brother opt to put the dino park, family home, and surrounding forest up for sale. originally purchased for $17,000, it could be a dino-mite windfall.

bennii's daughter, kiki, agrees initially, then has second thoughts. >> i didn't want the gardens to go with the whole lump sum because i didn't want it to go to someone that didn't have the passion. >> that's because prehistoric gardens isn't just a park to kiki. it's the only home she's really known, and she's never wanted to leave. you love it that much? >> i kind of feel a little bit of my grandfather in me. he had to be there every day, and i feel that. >> you couldn't live without that. >> no, i don't think so. >> so, the three heirs carve out 44 acres of ernie's land along the ocean. bennii and her brother get that. it's valued in the millions. the remaining 26 acres, including all the dinosaurs and the roadside-attraction business, go to kiki, now a single mom in her early 40s, and raising her teenage daughter, rain. did people say, "what, are you nuts"? >> yeah, they thought she was

crazy, you know, like she's sitting on a gold mine, and she's keeping it. >> running the dino park proves more difficult than either mother or daughter imagines. >> i resented the gardens when i was younger, just because it took my mom away from me all the time. >> fifteen years later, the job's no easier. >> she works there every single day -- 12-, 14-hour days. she's the janitor. she is the ticket taker. she has to clean the dinosaurs. she does it all. >> planning any vacations? >> not right now. >> ever consider a sick day? >> not really, no. >> nowadays, about 200 guests visit the park daily during peak tourist season. at 12 bucks for an adult and 8 for a kid, the park brings in around $150,000 a year. but there's not much money left over after taxes, landscaping, and costly dinosaur repairs. he looks like he may have had an injury. >> pteranodon did have an

injury. a tree came down on his cute, little wing and broke it. so, it was just dangling for quite some time, but, as you can see, it needs a little bit more work again. >> are you living on the edge, kiki, to make this all happen? >> a little bit. it's kind of a one day at a time. >> she's constantly putting the park before herself. sometimes she had to put it before her family. >> do you get it? >> i get it, but i don't get it. i get it because it's her legacy, and it's what she knows. but it zaps her energy, and it takes away her life. >> a life, rain says, that could be so much easier for her mom. >> when things are tough, i've been, "well, mom, you know, you could sell it and retire and live on the beach," but i don't think she'll sell it. >> so, you're never gonna let it go? >> no. >> and yet, with all her determination to continue her grandfather's legacy, has kiki made any plans for the dino park to outlast her? has your mom ever sat you down and said, "we need to talk about

the future of the park"? >> never. it's a running theme in our family that nobody talks about it. >> doug kirby has seen this scenario many times before. >> a lot of attractions that were the vision of a single person -- you can feel their enthusiasm around everything. by the third generation, it's tough to say whether that's gonna be a generation that's gonna carry it on. i've seen great parks that, all of a sudden they're gone, demolished. >> kiki's best hope for a successor is her daughter, rain. oh, and did we mention that she got married and ran off to europe? do you think there's more than a 50% chance they'll step up, like you did? >> probably 75. >> not 100. >> not 100. >> could you ever see, rain, going back to oregon? what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail, or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

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(sfx: audience laughing) go get him! don't stop. keep playing. (sfx: pianist playing masterful duet) here we go here's the fun part did you do this? great job! (sfx: audience applause)

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> kiki mcgrath inherited prehistoric gardens, a dinosaur park which her grandfather, ernie nelson, first opened in 1955. she's dedicated her life to keeping the roadside attraction in the family and in business. what about when you can't do it anymore? >> well, hopefully someone in my family will want to continue on. >> that puts the pressure on kiki's 34-year-old daughter, rain. she's married and living 5,000 miles away, in london. >> i'm really happy right now. this is where i want to be, and it would take a lot to go back and work at the gardens. >> but in the back of your mind, could you ever see, rain, going back to oregon with your husband? >> not full-time. it's a part of me, but i don't want to be defined by it. >> that may not be so easy for rain. >> so, there's just a lot

of guilt that i feel, being this far away from home and, you know, not being there to help her. but -- sorry, guys. >> meantime, back in southern oregon, prehistoric gardens still has the power to delight travelers who pull over, stretch their legs, and check out ernie nelson's dinosaurs, not yet extinct. >> i've heard of this place since i was a kid. this place is kind of legendary. >> i think it's a must-see because a couple people just built this by themselves. it's just a great thing to see. >> don't you ever come out here and say, "i can't do this anymore"? >> mm-hmm. yeah, i do think that, but when i come out to the registry room and look at these different remarks that people have made, it brings back a feeling of resurgence. >> oh, my goodness -- "haven't been here in fifty years"? >> mm-hmm. >> a boyhood fascination never outgrown compels a frustrated accountant to build a dinosaur playground.

the future of the prehistoric gardens may be uncertain, but for now, this strange inheritance remains a testament to the will of bennii's father, kiki's grandfather, and rain's great-grandfather to seize his dream and share it with the world. >> it's more than just a park now, because it's so ingrained in the history of the place. it's not just our park. it's everybody's now. >> a lot of people tell me that, that go through the gardens. they tell me it's magical. i hear that all the time. there's a magical something out there. >> but whatever happened to the other part of ernie's land that kiki did not inherit, here along the pacific coast highway? her mother and uncle sold it for 1.6 million bucks and split the profits. the new owners have kept the land undeveloped and say they plan to one day either donate it to the state of oregon or place it in a trust in order to protect its magnificent

rain forest forever. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you.