A Murder Confession, Dinosaur Bones, And 19 Other Wild Discoveries People Made In Homes They Were Looking To Buy
When I tune into home renovation shows, one of the highlights is when they uncover the unexpected and bizarre items hidden within the properties. I recall an episode of Flip Or Flop where Christina Hall's reaction was unforgettable – she was startled and started screaming after discovering a person living inside the house they were planning to flip.
These home buyers reveal the weirdest things they've ever found in their house search, and yes, people living in "vacant" houses are pretty common:
1.An OBGYN Table
"When I was apartment hunting a few years ago, there was one duplex that I'll never forget. I could immediately tell that the unit itself wouldn't work for me, so I was trying to bail politely, but the owner/landlord was insistent that I see the basement. It was an old house with the typical mildly creepy stone basement, but then I saw the rusty old OBGYN chair in the corner, complete with stirrups and everything. Let me tell you, I was so fucking glad my mom was with me, holding the door to the outside open. I couldn't nope out of there fast enough."
2.A Trunk With A Woman's Family Name
"Before I met her, my wife got a call from someone she worked with saying they'd just bought an old house in the city, and in it was a steamer trunk with her family name (not a common one) carved into the woodwork on one end. As it turns out, it was the trunk that her great-grandfather used when he came over from Germany, and it made the trip to my wife's hometown when he met her great-grandmother on a visit and subsequently moved to her city to marry her. We now have it and it's full of family portraits and albums."
3.A Room Behind A Wall
"Not my house, but the school my friend worked at, a pipe had leaked and ruined a wall in the building at one of the oldest schools in the city. It was a beautiful property. Anyway, the pipe leaked so they pulled down the ruined wall and behind the wall found a door. A fully furnished apartment was there. It had a coal-burning stove to heat it. Early 1900s appliances and decor. It was for the caretaker of the school."
4.Helpful Notes
"Not really weird but they left a typed-out and printed note about the house and how to take care of it. Detailing all the plant life in the backyard and how to prep for the winter. Described how to take care of the hot tub and gave random tidbits about the electrical. They were good people lol."
5.A Diary
"A diary of an American soldier in WWII, South Pacific Theater. Found it above a door when remodeling 20+ years ago. My wife and I tried everything we could think of to find a descendant but to no avail."
6.Dinosaur Bones
"The acerage my wife and I moved to three years ago had a bucket full of wrapped dinosaur bones. Took them to our local museum where they confirmed they are roughly 68 million years old. Hadrosaur. Pretty cool."
7.A Bomb Shelter
"A friend bought a house with a zig-zag tunnel leading to a bomb shelter. Empty with some rust, it was otherwise just a dirty room. The only thing cool about it is was that it was built under a pond so it had a skylight to let in light. She boarded it up when she divided the house into apartments."
8.Medical Equipment
"Didn't buy the house, rented. Built in 1904. There was a walk-in closet food pantry in the kitchen with built-in cabinets. The cabinets on one wall, after living there for a year, I noticed had a gap between the wall and the cabinet. Drunk, I put my hand back there, and something moved. I scooted it out and it was a small box. Turned out to be a violet ray from the late 1800s. Designed by Nicolas Tesla. It still works, too. But the last time I plugged it in it electrocuted me slightly. I still have it."
9.A Scary Doll
"Tucked away in a crawl space under the kitchen, the previous owner placed a dummy with a horrifying Halloween mask on it. Went in to replace a pipe and had to replace my undies."
10.Gameboard Tiles
"We bought a house that has scrabble tiles in the most weird places. In the gutter, redoing the garden, they're buried and scattered there, they're embedded into the skirting boards, under the kitchen units, and even behind the bath panel when I replaced it. I've yet to go in the attic, but I wouldn't be surprised if I found a few there. It has become a little joke between me and my partner when we will next find some Scrabble tiles. It's probably not the most weird, but it did give us a chuckle as to why there were so many scrabble tiles hidden about the place."
11.A Murder Confession
"Not a house I bought, but I worked for a construction company that specialized in historical restoration and structural repair of historical buildings (pre-1900). Once when demolishing an old brick chimney, we found a murder confession — very detailed — from the late 1800s. This was in the era before digital cameras and scanners, but I have Polaroids of all the pages — we gave them to the historical society. It was pretty creepy shit — the dude explained that he had to kill an old man because the old man had done something (not clear) to him when he was younger. He strangled the old guy and wrote all about how the old guy's face and eyes had been haunting him since he did it. Pretty crazy."
12.Nuclear Attack Instructions
"The house was built by a couple who had immigrated from Latvia in the 1950s. They had a poster in the basement on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Cover windows, fill bathtubs, and move all food to the 'safe room.' We have kept it on the wall. They were apparently very afraid of Cold War USSR"
13.Selfies
"When I was in college we rented a house and in almost every cabinet the previous owner hid a picture of himself. It was hilarious because we found them throughout the year. I have one of them still in a small frame in a cabinet I rarely use in my office. I laugh every time I open it."
14.Oddly Placed Toilets
"Side by side toilets."
15.A Shower In The Kitchen
"Ya'll ever see showers in the kitchen? Oh yah. They're seen in some small apartment rentals in NYC, but I've seen one during a home search. Also, the kitchen is in the basement. The main kitchen (not a second kitchen)."
16.MAGA merch
"Also there was a Trump cult house. Everything in the house was normal then when you step into the garage you’re greeted with huge MAGA and ALL ABOARD THE TRUMP TRAIN flags and a bunch of other Trump gear stuffed into the garage."
17.Autopsy Tables
"We enter, and find two...autopsy tables. No question, that's what they are, we can recognize them from TV. Stainless steel tables with slanted tops and channels to drain bodily fluids. WTF??? There's a drain on the floor, and two huge freezers, also the biggest I've ever seen. Who are these people? Serial killers? The owners come back early to the open house. A nice clean-cut couple. I hear the agent tell them a lot of people have commented on the room with the two tables...one person called it a kill room. The wife goes, 'OMG! Is that what they think?'"
18.An Aquarium
"Giant aquarium with fish in the living room. My kids liked looking at fish at the open house. We got keys from the seller and he said he left a present for my kids at the house. We walked in and saw the aquarium. I knew nothing about maintaining an aquarium."
19.Toenail Clippings
"A whole drawer in the master bathroom full of toenail clippings. I guess they would prop their feet up on the drawer and clip their nails and just close the drawer. It was a lovely surprise!"
20.Western Themed Backyard
"Didn't actually end up buying it, but when my wife and I were house hunting years ago, we viewed a house that was completely normal in front. But the backyard was turned into a scene from an old west movie. There were facades for a jail, blacksmith, and saloon. There were actual leather saddles on the walls, old-timey tools, antique whiskey bottles, a water trough for horses, and a fake wishing well."
21.And Finally, A Person!
"I looked at a house that was illegally turned into a 2-unit duplex. The family lived upstairs, and their disabled grandmother lived on the first floor. At the open house, they had ripped out all the appliances from the second floor, and left these big open gaps in the new kitchen. They left Grandma on the first floor. All the doors to the living room were closed. If you went in, there was an elderly bedridden woman lying in a king-sized bed who was just sitting there watching TV. It was incredibly awkward."
What's the wildest thing you've seen while house or apartment hunting? Let us know in the comment section below!
H/T: /r/AskReddit and /r/RealEstate
