A Father and Son in Mississippi Went on a Treasure Hunt. Then, They Discovered a Body in an Abandoned Home.

A startling discovery unfolded in Mississippi recently as a father and son, accompanied by a few friends, ventured into an abandoned house in search of treasure.

Riley Bryant, 23, and his father, Chuck Bryant, stumbled upon a grim sight inside the deserted home — a lifeless body, according to WREG.

While metal detecting, the group scanned the vicinity of the deserted house, situated approximately 50 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. Peering through a window, they noticed something off.

Bryant told WREG, "We actually noticed through the window of the vacant building that there was something that didn’t look right on the floor in one of the back rooms."

While Riley previously had unearthed Civil War-era bullets, vintage bottles and other artifacts, the discovery of a human corpse inside the dilapidated structure was unprecedented.

"We thought, 'This is strange,' and determined it was definitely something we needed to report to the authorities," he asaid.

Bryant believes the individual found inside had sought refuge from the cold but died.

"He had taken stuff in the house, ripped the curtains down, towels, anything he could find had to kind of pile on himself to try to keep warm," Bryant remarked, reflecting on the scene. "When you really look at it just gets sadder and sadder. This is not someone that was wandering around drunk or something. It was somebody that obviously wanted to live."

Remaining at the site, the treasure hunters cooperated with local law enforcement during the investigation into the man's death.

"I waited until they had removed the body and cleared the scene. I was there the whole time. It took him about two hours or so," Riley Bryant recalled. "I’ve never seen anything like that before. The realization kind of sunk in that that was somebody dead."

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The body was transported to Pearl, Mississippi, for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, officials said.