June 6 (UPI) -- A visitor to a Canadian museum was able to crack the combination to a safe that had been locked for 40 years on his first try.

The Vermilion Heritage Museum in Alberta said the safe had once been inside the Brunswick Hotel, which closed in the 1970s, and it was brought to the museum in 1992.


Museum officials said repeated attempts were made by experts to get into the safe, but despite their attempts it had been locked tight for about 40 years before Stephen Mills and his family stopped by the museum.

Mills, who has no experience cracking safes, was given permission to attempt to open the 2,000-pound metal box and he managed it in about 30 seconds using the first number combination that popped into his head: 20-40-60.

"I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor," Mills told The Washington Post. "I was like, 'Oh, my goodness.'"

Museum officials said the contents of the safe were of historical interest, but of no real value.

"Unfortunately there wasn't what we thought was there," Mills told CNN. "Some papers, old checks, a waitress' notepad, and a receipt from the hotel, that's it."