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The Hidden Cash benefactor left a few deposits in Burbank last night, which prompted people to go kind of crazy. The anonymous real estate millionaire started leaving envelopes of Hidden Cash around San Francisco before he came down to Los Angeles, making his first drop in Los Feliz on Wednesday. He uses the twitter account @hiddencash to tip hunters off as to the cash's location, and the crowds searching for $100 or $200 dollars have gotten increasingly frenzied.
By Thursday, he'd made it to Burbank, where massive crowds showed up to find the envelopes. People ran through traffic and swarmed bus stops. One woman, L.A. Times reports, abandoned her vehicle in the street to join the hunt.
Hidden stashes of cash sent Angelenos into frenzy at Burbank shopping centerhttp://t.co/InlBHiompi @HiddenCash pic.twitter.com/BQncjW7eXA
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) May 30, 2014
The benefactor used his Twitter account to remind us to not be maniacs, reporting that one young woman had even run in front of his car:
There have been large crowds lately. Please walk and drive safely. A young woman ran right in front of my car a few days ago. I will do my best to pick locations that are safe, but please use common sense and caution. Please also be respectful to the locations themselves and surrounding businesses. And be kind and happy with each other, as that's what this is all about.
Despite the relatively minor frenzy, the mysterious benefactor has no plans of quitting, though he's through doing interviews for now.
Some Internet commenters have posited that perhaps the benefactor is lying about his altruistic goal of simply spreading the wealth. Perhaps he's conducting a social experiment. Perhaps he's trying to incite the darker parts of our nature, the way usually only Walmart on Black Friday can.
Wait. I've seen this movie before.
The benefactor is currently at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, but says he'll be in a different parts of L.A. tonight and this weekend. Safe hunting!