If you have too much cash, and a distrust of the banks, how do you hoard it in your house?

While I was poking around on the Consumerist website, I also noticed their list of Seven Places Around the House to Stash Your Cash:

1. The Freezer: Wrap your cash in aluminum foil and stick it in a ziplock bag.
2. Picture Frames: Slice apart the cardboard backing and insert the cash.
3. Under Heavy Things: Place the cash in an envelope and slide it under the corner of something heavy, like a piano or entertainment center.
4. Soup Cans: Why buy one of those fake-bottom cans when you just re-use one of your own?
5. Fake Plants: Put the cash in a ziplock bag and bury it in the fake soil of one of your fake plants.
6. Books: Improve the worst book in your collection with a knife. Hollow out the core and hide the cash inside.
7. Toys: Hide the cash in an old toy your kids don’t use anymore, and bury the toy at the bottom of the toy chest.

Although, actually, it wasn’t really their list, they point to the original post at a blog called Frugal Dad, which sounds interesting. Frugal Dad spends a bit more time on each item in the list, and adds:

It’s important to remember that any cash saved at home could be lost in a fire or natural disaster. The ultimate hiding place is a fireproof safe bolted to the floor, and even that isn’t fool-proof. The ideal spot for storing large amounts of cash is an online savings account, far away from your house and any potential danger. But for the small amounts you stash at home, take the time to put it out of sight.

Also, remember to tell a spouse or close friend about the money in case you are not able to get to it (you die, or become injured or ill and cannot communicate). Keep enough cash on hand to cover you a few days in a major emergency, but not so much that you’d be completely wiped out if it all disappeared.

But I really wonder about the desire to hoard cash like this. Everyone always says it’s for a “major emergency” but I can’t really conceive of a situation where I would be glad to have, say, $1,000 in cash that I couldn’t get out from the bank.

In any emergency where I couldn’t withdraw money from the bank, it’s likely to be drastic enough that cash would be of limited use anyway.  People would be looting instead. The only time I guess it would be useful is if there was a run on the banks, but this isn’t talking about keeping all your money on-hand, just an emergency stash.

Scenarios anyone?