Brytten looked up the cost of one of the bars — about $2,600.

“I was out there doing the chicken dance in my yard,” James said.

But he said his glee was soon tempered by another thought — who had buried the silver?

A 1982 date was stamped on the time capsule and the newspapers inside bore the same year. A little detective work by the Sievers soon revealed that Clint Nelson, who now lives in Utah, had built the home and occupied it in 1982.

James placed a call to Nelson and told him that he now lives in his old house.

“I said, ‘I found something in the backyard when I was digging around and I think it’s yours,”‘ James said.

When Nelson realized that the couple planned to return the bars to him, he told them they had restored his faith in humanity and they didn’t owe him anything. He said if he didn’t hear anything back from them once they hung up, he’d know they’d decided to keep it.

“So I’m doing the chicken dance again,” James said. “But 30 minutes later I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to split it with him.”