In today's installment of "weird and inexplicable shit we have found when doing up our house", I give you...

[ShowOfHands]

A mummified frog.

Add this to gaping holes literally papered over, bricked up empty spaces (making the room 15% smaller for no discernible reason), a live cable simply cut in half, secret notes, walls held up with cement and gravel and a room we didn't know we had.

Anybody else found anything weird while renovating?

A friend I made at evening classes once, walked round their garden, looked back at their new-to-them house, and realized that there was an extra window upstairs (1930s-1940s? house).Back inside, they started tapping the wall...part sounded hollow, so they broke through it and discovered a long corridor opening up to a large north-facing windowed room.
This is now known as the North Wing

Marking my place

sadladyofthelowlandsea

I agree with you - I've never seen these 'marks' and they are probably protection marks of some sort, but myself knowing the area the house is in, there's no talk of witches etc - it's not Pendle etc! It all just freaked my brother out who like most teenagers was prone to liking weird eerie stuff or being freaked out by it.

After 15 years here we found a big box of photos in a dark corner of the attic. They were the only baby photos of the child of the previous owner who thought her EX had taken them. I knew where she lived and took them back to her. She burst into tears. We've been close friends ever since 😊

Not me but my brother found an old vibrator, possibly from the 60s in the rafters, of his old house. The house was owned by a woman in her 80s! Hope I'm still getting my kicks at that age🤣🤣

Our house is 1930s so I doubt the windows go anywhere that exiting in fairness. But I am going to try solve the mystery this weekend. I can't explain it well but it's near a roof void, part of which is a room. I will let you know when I find out @ThumbWitchesAbroad

@AliceSprings123 - that's me right now! I WANT A NORTH ROOM.
I suspect I'll find a cupboard

My parents built a wardrobe over a window in the 1990s. I couldn’t understand it, it was a beautiful little 1920s stained glass bay. They said it made the room look neater, stopped draughts and they needed the wardrobe space. I thought they were bonkers.

Thankfully they uncovered it years later.

They also put in a suspended ceiling held up by fake beams in the kitchen, about a foot below the real ceiling. They said it made a cold room feel cosier.

Absolutely loving this thread, dh currently chipping old plaster off walls,.sadly I don't his current find of a Philadelphia box under the floorboards will get anyones heart racing!

@Buggersticks

After 15 years here we found a big box of photos in a dark corner of the attic. They were the only baby photos of the child of the previous owner who thought her EX had taken them. I knew where she lived and took them back to her. She burst into tears. We've been close friends ever since 😊

That's such a lovely story - what a nice, kind thing to do!

Not very exciting but lived in a 1930’s semi 15 years ago in which the landlord had boarded over all bar one original fireplace. There were 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs. The two downstairs had been blocked in and replaced with electric fires. Upstairs had been boarded over and painted. The dining room still had the original cast iron surround complete with beautiful 1930’s tiles so... when investigating the others I found that behind the boards and bricks was the original cast iron fire surrounds. I had to put everything back as I found it as it was rented. Still makes me sad!
My mums old house was 1930’s and the previous owners had built fitted wardrobes over the upstairs fireplaces! My mum actually never took them out in the 20 years she lived there but I believe the new owners have removed them so they may have found a hidden gem!

@CleverCatty. Thank you, it just made sense to give them back. You can't replace those sorts of memories. I also found a very small red wellington boot (same child) he's now a grown man 😊

Middersweekly hopefully someone else will enjoy rediscovering those hidden fireplaces in the future and bringing them back to life. Think of it as you having had a sneak peak.

This is such an interesting thread, so many unexpected finds.

It does make you wonder about the hidden rooms and what may have gone on in them, sinister or otherwise.

Well in the garage we found an inspection pit, and in the pit stained glass of Jesus and eleven disciples. Still out there.

We couldn't afford to do the kitchen for years and when we did we found a second larder, the layout of our kitchen meant we couldn't keep it, so we have a new cabinet on top and an L shaped cupboard on the bottom and our kitchen guy put a drawer on runners into the space, which we then lit, we keep the kettle and the toaster and the bread bin in there so the sides can be super tidy at times.

Note at times, not all the time.

[quote Buggersticks]@CleverCatty. Thank you, it just made sense to give them back. You can't replace those sorts of memories. I also found a very small red wellington boot (same child) he's now a grown man 😊[/quote]
It's good you had the address etc. I think it's kind of you! the wellington boot - how cute - I had similar red wellington boots as a young child!

It's so sad - can't think of the person who said it here - but the 1900s couple who had a baby/child who died young and they put their baby stuff in attic - but of course I think you'd do that then and maybe even now - gives you food for thought. We all are born, die etc and have memories.

Not too exciting, but a couple of old 13A sockets from the 50s under the floorboards.

Maybe someone has already found this and posted but for those curious ...'to dream of a secret room represents your neglected potential or realizing an undiscovered aspects of yourself. ...

to dream of a forbidden room may represent actions or experiences that you are afraid to take. It may also reflect your feeling that an issue is time sensitive..

The Dream Doctor says the extra-room dream is associated with “a rediscovery of lost aspects of the self,” noting that it's often experienced by women “who have scarified personal hobbies and passions (painting, music, desire to own a small business) for the responsibility of parenting.

A beautiful secret room may represent quietness and well being.

Something for everyone there I think.

Rather lovely that so many people have these dreams. I have had them and woken feeling happy and somehow wistful. Like there are parts of my brain or consciousness I don't know about yet, or can't normally access in day to day life. For me, to do with writing creatively I think.

I wonder how far back this goes - if women in paleolithic times dreamed of a secret cave at the back of their actual cave?

I found 1970's newspapers used as underlay and wallpaper liner. Unfortunately the mid 70's residents had ripped out the 1920's fittings that we were hoping to unearth.

@NewHouseNewMe - brilliant! Good luck finding them, and I look forward to hearing your update - it's still a bit exciting!

@CleverCatty I found that train of thought definitely kept me going when I had baby blues. Imagining all of the people who'd been and done this before, their hopes&dreams and how fleeting it all is ultimately.
This thread has inspired me now; I've already said what I've found in my house- Def too small for hidden rooms unfortunately :(
But I have lots of outdoor space and outhouses I haven't even checked out yet that date from mid-1800s so I'm going to conduct a thorough inspection!!

And thanks everyone for your secret room dreams; I was thinking it was just me!
@KisstheTeapot14 that's a fascinating thought about palaeolithic women!!

[quote Werkwerkwerkwerkwerk]@CleverCatty I found that train of thought definitely kept me going when I had baby blues. Imagining all of the people who'd been and done this before, their hopes&dreams and how fleeting it all is ultimately.
This thread has inspired me now; I've already said what I've found in my house- Def too small for hidden rooms unfortunately :(
But I have lots of outdoor space and outhouses I haven't even checked out yet that date from mid-1800s so I'm going to conduct a thorough inspection!![/quote]
It's strange that - isn't it? we don't often think about past people and what they've been through unless maybe we speak to older people about their memories.

Back in those days babies and children often died young and it was more common and women had more children but yes I agree - it keeps one grounded to think of that, and other hopes, dreams etc - that people lost jobs, but also had good times too.

I wish I had outdoor space and outhouses to check!

In our first flat we found a penis extender tucked in the the bottom of the airing cupboard, complete with a fold out ruler.

@110APiccadilly

I know someone who found grenades buried in their garden... turns out the person who lived there during WW2 worked at the local explosives factory, though whether they had dreams of leading the local resistance if it came to it, or a more sinister reason for teaching the odd bit home, I don't know.

We found grenades in my Grandpa's garage when we cleared it after he had to move to a care home, just merrily lying there in a drawer... Someone from the local army base came and made them safe and took them away! He was a lifelong soldier so we assumed they were a souvenir of something, sadly by that point he couldn't tell us what.