NATCHEZ — Marsha Nelson nearly hung up the phone when her sister called to say a television crew was coming to her house.

The crew was from the The Learning Channel’s show “Wealth Hunters,” a show that locates the heirs of unclaimed property.

“I thought they were mistaking me for someone else,” she said.

And when the camera crew showed up at her door, Nelson — a Natchez resident — didn’t know how to respond.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is real,’” she said. “I was shocked, my kids were shocked — everything was surreal.”

The inheritance Nelson was to receive came from her father’s cousin Lydia Matthews, and since their father has died, Nelson and her sister Andrea Morton were set to receive his portion of the estate.

The show’s producers told her its premise, but she was still in the dark about a lot of it.

“They didn’t tell us how much it was, but they were asking us a lot of questions, confirming we were the ones they had figured out on the family tree should inherit it,” Nelson said.

After everything was confirmed, the show’s producers sent everyone to New Orleans and the next week assembled all of the heirs into a room.

“We didn’t know where the money was coming from,” Nelson said.

In all, Matthews had two living cousins who could claim their portion of the estate. A third cousin had died and his four daughters ended up receiving his inheritance.

Nelson remained mum about how much her share of the inheritance was, and she is still working as a Certified Nurses’ Assistant, but she said it has helped her live more comfortably, do something nice for the children’s Christmas and buy a new car.

“Our car had a lot of troubles,” she said. “We got a very nice, dependable car.”

The Wealth Hunters episode featuring Nelson will air 8 p.m. Sunday on TLC.