Weekapaug Treasure!!

Gobs of cash appeared in the waves at Weekapaug Beach, prompting at least 40 people to run, giggling and screeching, into the water to pick it up.

"You had your own little spot and you just stood there and watched the seaweed," said Leonard Francois of Springfield, Mass., who found $23 on Sunday afternoon. "It was in the seaweed. Sometimes it was rolled up and when you went to grab it, it got washed away. If you saw green you just had to jump for it."

Lifeguard Dean Perri, 20, said the scene was "wild."

"People were digging in the sand with sticks and turning over the seaweed," he said. "One girl was yelling, 'Mommy, Mommy, look what I found. She had two 100-dollar bills. My boss found 80 bucks."

Most of the money displayed Monday by the finders appeared in good shape and was dated 1985.

The discovery appeared to be confined to Weekapaug Beach. Authorities at other nearby beaches reported no similar cash finds.

The cash began washing ashore last Wednesday. But it was not immediately reported to authorities as was the discovery of needles, syringes and other medical debris.

Joseph G. Sullivan, special agent with the Secret Service, said no investigation would be conducted unless the money was counterfeit. He said that as far as the US Treasury Department, which runs the Secret Service, is concerned, it's "finders, keepers."

Many of the finders speculated that it was "drug money," but Perri had another idea. "Maybe the hospitals that have been dumping the medical waste are putting money in the water now to bribe us," he said