After This Man Inherited An Old Farmhouse, He Felt The Urge To Check Under The Carpet

When the man, known only as Eric, arrived at the farmhouse that had belonged to his late grandparents, he knew that he was in for a ton for work. After years of neglect, it seemed just about ready to fall down — hardly the sort of place where you’d expect a valuable treasure to be lurking.

But looks, of course, can be deceiving. And as Eric tidied up his grandparents’ property, he discovered something unexpected beneath the rotting carpet. As he struggled to identify his discovery, he uploaded details of the mystery onto the internet in real time, gathering a legion of followers desperate to know what he'd found.

So did Eric stumble upon a valuable treasure hidden under the carpet in his grandparents’ Tennessee home? Or was the whole thing just a massive disappointment? Well, with some professional help, he was eventually able to learn the truth about his discovery, bringing the intriguing story to a thrilling conclusion.

When Eric first arrived at the farmhouse, though, it had certainly seen better days. Yet things hadn’t always been that way. Many years ago, the property was the much-loved home of his doting grandparents — a place that they never thought they’d leave. Sadly, though, fate had something different in store.

According to 24/7 Mirror, an online women’s magazine, Eric’s grandparents spent many happy years in the farmhouse before tragedy struck. With his grandfather suffering from cancer, the couple had to relocate back in 1997. And, sadly, the old man would die following the move.

Heartbroken, Eric’s grandmother couldn’t bring herself to return to the farm. And before too much time had passed, she followed her husband. Now, only the couple’s son remained to inherit the farmhouse — but in 2009, he passed as well, moving the property on to his own family.

According to 24/7 Mirror, Eric was left with few surviving relatives, meaning that responsibility for the farmhouse fell solely to him. He didn’t feel compelled to rush back to Tennessee, though. So, time continued to pass, and the property slowly fell into a state of disrepair.

Eventually, Eric realized that something would need to be done about the farmhouse, which was becoming more and more dilapidated every year. Keeping it in the family, though, was an option that’d come with challenges of its own. After all, crumbling rural properties can cost a fortune to maintain — even if he had wanted to up sticks and move.

After weighing up his options, 24/7 Mirror reports, Eric decided that the best option was to put the farmhouse on the market. But before he could do that, Eric needed to make some changes. Hoping to increase the value of the neglected home, he embarked on an extensive renovation project.

When he first arrived at the farmhouse, Eric must have been struck by a sense of decay. According to 24/7 Mirror, the first job that he decided to tackle was cleaning — and there was plenty to be done. But as he scrubbed and dusted the old building, his thoughts turned to the couple who’d once called it home.

Posting on the popular forum Reddit under the name evilenglish, Eric recalled his grandparents and their hobbies. He wrote, “My grandfather was an avid sportsman and enjoyed collecting various firearms. My grandmother was a collector of coins and other antiques and curiosities.” The farmhouse, then, had probably once been filled with all sorts of unusual objects.

So was there a chance that some of these treasures had been left behind, hidden within the farmhouse’s many nooks and crannies? At first, Eric saw no evidence that anything of any value remained inside the property. While cleaning out a closet, though, the carpet beneath his feet caught his attention.

According to 24/7 Mirror, the surface beneath the carpet didn’t feel like the boards that Eric might have expected to find. Pulling it up, he discovered a concrete slab set into the bottom of the closet. On Reddit, he wrote, “This was very out of place since all of the downstairs flooring is hardwood.”

Curious, Eric decided to take a closer look. “I pushed the carpet back further and saw a round cap with a circle indentation on it. I pulled the cap off and… a secret safe!” Amazingly, he’d discovered a locked compartment hidden within his grandparents’ home. But would he be able to get inside?

Eric’s first port of call, 24/7 Mirror reports, was to talk to his mom, one of the few surviving relatives who might have been able to shed some light on the situation. Happily, he wrote, she confirmed that there was indeed a safe inside the Tennessee home. And not only that, she was also able to tell him the combination.

Unfortunately, though, Eric couldn’t open the safe — even with the combination provided by his mom. So he decided to call in the experts. By this point, according to HuffPost, there were thousands of people following the Reddit thread, each keen to find out exactly what would be revealed.

On April 30, 2013, a locksmith arrived at the Tennessee property, ready to tackle the mammoth task. But soon, he realized that he’d bitten off more than he could chew. On Reddit, Eric wrote, “He said about 30 minutes into this that if he had known what he was getting into, he would have referred the job to someone else.”

As work began, Eric himself also realized just how much of a challenge the safe posed. He continued, “[The locksmith] had to keep his weight above the drill and the workspace was very uncomfortable.” Eventually, though, the operation was successful and the safe opened for the first time in at least two decades.

So what was inside? At first glance, according to 24/7 Mirror, Eric believed that the safe was simply full of boxes and old books — hardly what the avid followers of the story had been expecting. And to make matters worse, the inside of the compartment appeared to have been flooded at some point.

“I looked down in there and it looked like there were several stacks of bricks,” Eric added. “I also noticed a LOT of moisture inside the safe. I remember that there was a pipe leak in the house a few years back. I’m sure some of the water from that had accumulated in the safe.”

But as it turned out, there was more to this haul than met the eye. As Eric pulled out the sodden books, he realized that some of them contained not words, but historic currency. He explained, “The moisture in the safe makes the covers very mushy, but the coins inside are in surprisingly good shape.”

Digging deeper, Eric unearthed even more surprises. He continued, “Lots and lots of coin boxes! I knew my grandmother collected coins, but I thought we had found all of them!” Clearly, though, that wasn’t the case — the safe was absolutely brimming with them, hundreds in total, wrapped in paper and plastic.

And coins weren’t the only things stashed inside the hidden safe. Alongside them, Eric discovered stacks of paper money — unfortunately in a terrible condition. Thanks to the leak, the bills were soaking wet, though he hoped to be able to salvage the notes by drying them out.

According to 24/7 Mirror, Eric soon realized that some of these coins were rare. And while he didn’t know exactly how much they were worth, Eric began to suspect that his grandparents really had left him some treasure after all. Among the objects, for example, were a number of individually boxed coins that were seemingly made from solid silver.

Alongside the coins, Eric also found three silver bars, each inscribed with the name and founding date of a different state. And that wasn’t all. Underneath these precious objects, he uncovered an old, decaying toolbox encrusted with dirt. But when Eric prized it open, he found something incredible inside.

As it turned out, the box contained a collection of old jewelry once owned by Eric’s grandmother. Among the items was a watch with a gold face as well as several individual velvet boxes and a number of silver chains. Clearly, these were objects of great personal value — so why had the woman who once owned them never returned to retrieve them from the safe?

Sadly, we might never know why Eric’s grandmother decided to leave her valuables behind when she abandoned her Tennessee home. But now, decades down the line, her grandson looks set to benefit from her bizarre decision. So how much, exactly, could the total haul be worth? According to 24/7 Mirror, it might be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

“Just so you know anything from 1964 or older is 90 percent silver, worth about 20 times face value of the coin,” Eric wrote. “I also believe 1965-71 coins of those denominations are 40 percent silver and still worth more than face value as well. That’s a pretty good score even if half of those pre-date 1965 and not to mention those silver bars!”

According to Eric, the silver bars appeared to weigh around a kilo a piece, with an estimated value of almost $800 each — amounting to a fairly hefty legacy. He wrote, “Funny that as a boy, in that very house, my Grandma used to read me Treasure Island. And I always dreamed of finding something like this.”

Amazingly, the safe in the bottom of the closet wasn’t the only unusual thing that Eric discovered while renovating his grandparents’ home. In another room, he spotted a curious coffee table made from wood and sealed with a heavy metal latch. What, he wondered, could be inside this puzzling object?

Intrigued, Eric looked inside the coffee table, only to spot something completely unexpected: a second safe. According to 24/7 Mirror, this locked compartment contained relics from his late grandfather’s firearms collection. And while there weren’t any pictures of this discovery posted online, it added another chapter to an already fascinating tale.

Apparently, Eric also discovered other treasure hidden inside the farmhouse — though we don’t know exactly where. This time, 24/7 Mirror reports, it was a stash of dollar bills signed by Joseph Barr. Given that the one-time Secretary of the Treasury was only in office for less than a month, these notes are believed to be incredibly rare.

On this occasion, though, Eric was out of luck. According to a number of collectible-focused websites, the bills, known as Barr notes, aren’t actually as rare as you might think. And even though the Secretary of the Treasury signed comparatively few during his tenure, they’re rarely worth much more than face value today.

Still, Eric had plenty to fall back on. And as his Reddit posts gained traction, plenty of commenters came forward to share their thoughts on his remarkable haul. A user known as LanceSykera, for example, advised him not to try to separate the damaged bills. Apparently, they can be patched back together by experts at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, even if they seem beyond repair.

On another post, Marty Mitchell, who runs the coin-collecting website Air-Tites.com, weighed in with his own advice. He wrote, “First and foremost, do not clean the coins… yet. I would recommend that you compile a list of what you’ve got, including denomination, date, mint mark, and general condition of the coin.”

Signing off, Mitchell pointed Eric towards the Red Book and Blue Book by Whitman Publishing in order to get a clearer idea of what the haul was worth. And others agreed that, even though much of the packaging was damaged, the coins themselves had likely retained most of their value.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that a mystery safe has kept visitors of Reddit enthralled. Back in 2013, a user known as dont_stop_me_smee submitted a series of photos to the popular online community. Allegedly, they showed a locked compartment that’d been found within a home once used by a drug dealer.

Now, the post explained, the house had changed hands — and its new owners were keen to see what was inside the safe. But despite ongoing speculation and a deluge of advice from professionals and amateurs alike, the compartment remained sealed. Eventually, it was cracked open — with disappointing results — but not before a legend had been born.

Reddit users still recall the story of the safe from the drug dealer house and lament the fact that once it was eventually opened, nothing of note was inside. But perhaps Eric’s discovery and subsequent posts will serve as something of a consolation prize? After all, what better to find inside a secret compartment than actual treasure?