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 to the grave. Now, only the couple’s son remained to inherit the farmhouse — but in 2009, he died as well, passing 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. But in his grief, he didn’t feel compelled to rush back to Tennessee. 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?

Fellow homeowners Kerrie and Bleddyn Jackson definitely would've preferred a collection of coins and dollar bills over the spooky discovery they made inside the walls of their centuries-old Welsh property. Uncovering a stash of objects with ties to the supernatural, what the pair soon discovered about their find is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.

Now, you’re probably wondering what on earth greeted Bleddyn when he peered into that dusty hole, right? Well, the first thing that jumped out at him – thankfully, not literally – was a stash of old boots. Totally random and unexpected, we know! But as the couple delved deeper into their home’s past, the eerie truth about the objects started to emerge.

Even when Bleddyn first made this bizarre discovery, it was obvious something didn’t quite add up. According to the couple, there were eight shoes inside the hole. But all of them were meant to be worn by left feet. That’s not all, either. While some were designed for male adults, others were fit for children.

As if the shoes weren’t weird enough, Bleddyn soon realized that more eerie objects were hidden away in this crevice. Yep, alongside the footwear, he uncovered a hat and pieces of a gun barrel. But perhaps the freakiest find of all was the skull, which looked like it had come from a horse.

Naturally, these discoveries left the Jacksons with a lot of questions. Their house dates back to the 16th century. So had the shoes, gun, hat, and horse skull been resting there for all that time? And, perhaps more importantly, why on earth were they there in the first place?

The Jacksons were understandably confused by the things that they’d discovered in their home. So, the couple started to do some research. And it wasn’t long before they came across information that seemed apt. Long ago, their findings stated, people used objects like the ones they’d found in order to protect against wicked forces.

So, the couple’s house – which is located in the northern Welsh market town of Denbigh – may have something of a dark history. In any case, it certainly has an interesting one, as is illustrated by its status as a “listed building.” In the United Kingdom, this basically means that the structure is protected by the government because of its historical importance.

Apparently, these structures may not be altered, extended or destroyed without specific permission from the authorities. They must also exhibit most of the features that were present when it was first raised. And the website British Listed Buildings notes that there are almost half a million of these historically important structures in the U.K.

The Jacksons’ house, then, fits the bill quite perfectly. Known by the name Plas Uchaf, the home and its grounds have a long history which stretches back centuries. British Listed Buildings notes that it was initially the home of a wealthy English settler family called the Goodmans. But ownership of the property was passed on several times over the following generations.

The property’s core remains the same today as when it was first built, though a number of extensions have been added since then. According to the website, a staircase was installed around the year 1680 at the behest of one Meredith Wynne. And it’s actually under here that the creepy objects were first discovered.

Meredith’s child Edward later took on responsibility of the estate and made his own renovations. But these works were apparently quite cosmetic. In much more recent times, an entire wall of the house had to be knocked and built up again. Though generally speaking, the main home has retained its original qualities.

The aforementioned website notes that Plas Uchaf became a Grade II listed building back in 1952. Apparently, the reason for its status was because of the property’s “special historic interest as a fine vernacular unit-planned sub-medieval gentry house with good surviving interior features.”

Plas Uchaf has actually been in Bleddyn’s family for generations, and he has been renovating it with the help of his wife. In doing so, the couple have ended up delighting in the exploration of their historic home. They’ve even set up an Instagram page dedicated to showing off the incredible things that they’ve found there!

Among the many discoveries made at Plas Uchaf is a striking print of a young Queen Victoria behind some shutters. The Jacksons explained on their Instagram page that they hadn’t touched them since moving in, so they had no idea the picture was even there. It was only when a laborer was at work in the room that the creepy image was spotted.

Elsewhere, the couple managed to reveal the contents of an old safe that had been in the house. The object appeared to have been cleared of anything valuable when the Jacksons found it, but it did contain things like bottles and broken chains. The Jackson’s opined on Instagram that wages meant for employees at the house and its surrounding farmlands may once have been kept inside the safe.

Another find that provided an insight into the property was a collection of old, musty papers discovered in the granary. The couple claimed that these were receipts related to activities that were once going on throughout the farm. It looks like the most recent of these pages was from 1941, so we can safely say that they’re pretty old!

The grounds beyond the main house are also full of interesting signs of the estate’s former life. Among the relics discovered are an old rusty kettle and a similarly weathered pan. The family suspects that this latter implement may have once been used to make traditional Welsh cakes.

But what else have the Jackson’s stumbled across? Well, the couple have found an old boot which is in a state of decay and sprouting plant life. On top of that, it seems that the grounds are littered with a huge array of old glass bottles. The family have accumulated quite the collection of these containers, which come in a variety of shapes and colors.

Other discoveries have apparently been much more difficult to categorize. In the couple’s 17th-century walled garden they found several artifacts in the shape of butterflies. Based on the objects’ weight and texture, it’s suspected that they were made of lead. Their purpose, however, is something of a mystery.

On the creepier side of things, there have been plenty of old and eerie artworks discovered in Plas Uchaf. Some are portraits of people from another era, while others are religious works or pieces depicting important historical events. And a number of the pictures are so old that they’re in a state of rot.

But what about the main building’s attic rooms? Well, they too have an immensely rich history. The Jacksons explained in one of their Instagram posts that these upper rooms were once inhabited by prisoners of war from Italy. These people had apparently ended up at Plas Uchaf during WWII to help out on the farm.

The attic rooms in the granary also exhibit signs of their past life in the form of graffiti. People working at the property left their mark on its walls – leaving their names and other pieces of personal information. Incredibly, the Jacksons revealed that the oldest etching they had found to date was from 1888!

Another piece of interesting graffiti can be found on the grounds. The nature of this etching, however, is a little different, as it was carved into a tree. It reads, “D.W. 1961.” The Jacksons have no idea who this might have been, but they’d most certainly like to find out.

Among the more chilling discoveries made at Plas Uchaf and its grounds was a faceless figurine of a man. The Jacksons wrote on their Instagram page, “Eagle-eyed oldest boy just found this heavy little lead chap!” Take a look at the picture: its aged appearance has a decidedly haunting quality, doesn’t it?

Creepy as this figurine was, though, the most frightening discovery at Plas Uchaf was undoubtedly the haul of objects under the stairs. Speaking to WalesOnline, Kerrie Jackson explained how they had come across these strange items. She said, “Bleddyn was working in the room next door when he saw something through a hole he’d made in the wall.”

Kerrie went on, “The staircase had been built across a sealed up medieval doorway that once connected different parts of the house. And the void underneath it had become exposed by the repairs being carried on the old timber frame. It was very eerie to peer into the darkness and make out all the objects inside. And, initially, we could only see a couple of shoes through the rubble.”

“... As we kept pulling them out, more and more were found, until, eventually, we’d lined up eight odd shoes...,” Kerrie explained. Plus, they were all different sizes, with some fit for children and others for grownups. There’s no question that this was weird, as was the discovery of a woolen hat and bits of a gun. But the fact that the collection of items also included an equine skull really made things quite terrifying!

The Jacksons were understandably baffled by the things that they’d stumbled upon. So, they turned to the internet in search of answers. And the results were chilling. It appears that the items may have been placed under the stairs by people who’d been terrified by sinister and mystical forces.

Kerrie told WalesOnline, “There’s an old superstition that says witches would enter homes ‘between’ places such as staircases, or at twilight or the chiming of midnight. People believed that by leaving out items such as shoes, witches or demons would be attracted to the scent left by the wearer. And once they entered the shoe or boot, they were unable to reverse back out and were therefore trapped.”

“Other theories suggest that perhaps they would become so distracted by the novelty of the find that they would leave the family alone,” Kerrie continued. “There are also lots of notions about why anyone would conceal horse skulls in houses, and we wondered if there was perhaps a connection to the Mari Lwyd.”

The Mari Lwyd is actually an old pagan winter tradition which continues today. During this event, the men of a town dress up and parade a horse’s skull on a pole. They then take it to local homes, where they request entry for food and drink through the medium of song. The houses’ owners are then expected to deny them access, and the two groups continue in song until one gives up. Interestingly, if the homeowners are the ones to relent, they then have to invite the group in and dine them.

Though its true origins are difficult to pin down, Mari Lwyd is widely linked with Christmas nowadays. The practice’s roots, though, are said to go further back in time than Christianity. This suggests that people may have been parading horses’ skulls around for several millennia now. If nothing else, that is a testament to the power of tradition!

In any case, it’s unclear whether or not the skull found in the Jacksons’ home was related to Mari Lwyd. But one person who saw the pictures of the haul on Instagram shared their thoughts on all those shoes. Apparently, the fact that they were all left-footed was meaningful because of an odd religious quirk.

The user commented, “The left shoes are also of significance. The whole thing of ‘the left hand side being against God’ was very much a thing. And [it] still [persists] in some forms to this day – hence why you hear stories of some teachers forcing children to write with their right hands. Left-handed shoes would have been seen as a very inviting place for a disembodied spirit to stay the night!”

So, whoever left all these items under the stairs was probably very superstitious. And they would have likely been relieved to learn that the Jacksons soon put all the stuff back where they found it! Indeed, witches wouldn’t be getting into the house any time soon.

But did the Jacksons put all these things back under the stairs in the spirit of tradition – or were they superstitious themselves? Well, apparently it was the former. Kerrie told WalesOnline, “We’re not worried about [the objects] being there and we’re not spooked by it at all.”

The Jacksons are committed to documenting all the oddities to be found in their home. But they’re equally determined to preserve the spirit of the property’s past. For that reason, they try to place their discoveries back where they found them so that future generations can experience the thrill of coming across the items themselves.

Speaking to WalesOnline, Jackson elaborated on this idea and revealed her family’s motivations for adhering to it. She said, “We quite often come across quirky things around this old house that really connect us to the past. We believe it’s important to record what we find and then return them for future generations to discover.”

In future years, Plas Uchaf will be defined by the influence of Kerrie and her family – especially in light of the renovations that they’re undertaking. And she is mindful of this, naturally. Kerrie explained, “It does make us wonder what future inhabitants of this place will make of the things we’ll end up leaving behind.”

So far, the Jacksons have made a huge number of discoveries at Plas Uchaf – both inside and outside the property. There’s also no sign that the amazing finds are likely to dry up any time soon. And as they continue to renovate and explore the place, who knows what else they’ll stumble upon?