ARIZONA—Late Sunday afternoon, a man was found in an old storage locker full of peanuts. Paul McLean had bought the storage locker eight years ago and had set it up to be automatically paid for every few months from his bank account. He has no idea how it had gotten filled with peanuts.

“I had gone to open my locker, and it was just completely filled with peanuts,” he told us, “But I’m glad it was, otherwise I’m not sure I would have made it!”

McLean had been inside the locker looking at the peanuts when the door suddenly closed and locked firmly. He says he had yelled for help for many hours, but none came. He was forced to survive on the peanuts in the locker.

“They tasted kinda stale at the time,” he commented, “But after the first few months I could hardly notice.”

He told us about his eating habits, he had a dozen or so peanuts for every meal. His only source of light, water, and time was from a small hole at the top of the locker. Whenever it began to rain he was able to collect some of the water in the empty peanut shells, or his hands to drink.

In his time in the locker, McLean has grown a 10 foot beard and gained several pounds; he also says he has a new appreciation for water.

“It’s been so nice to drink fresh water, I’m not sure what was in the rain water,” he said, “I’m just glad to be able to use a toilet again.”