Renovating an old house generally comes with plenty of surprises. You might find things like outdated wiring or forgotten family photographs tucked away in the attic. However, some homeowners discover things that are much odder than the usual fare. And some are kind of disturbing. Hidden rooms, human remains, and unknown objects have all been found during renovation projects. Sometimes these discoveries have surprisingly ordinary explanations, while others leave homeowners in shock and with very few answers. Here are eight creepy discoveries made during home renovations.
A Missing Woman in a Wall
In 2017, new homeowners in Houston, Texas, made a truly terrible discovery inside their house: human bones and a pair of red eyeglasses, discovered in a gap between the walls of the house. The home was previously owned by a woman named Mary Cerruti, who had suddenly disappeared in 2015, leaving neighbors wondering what had happened to her. One neighbor was so concerned he even hired a private investigator. Exactly how she ended up in the gap is still not clear, but investigators found a broken attic floorboard above the wall cavity, so she could have accidently fallen into the narrow space with no way to get out. However, the 61-year-old had reportedly refused to sell her home to developers, leading to a few conspiracy theories, though Houston police reported no indications of foul play. Regardless of the reason behind the strange occurrence, the discovery came as a shock to many.
A Mummified Baby Behind the Walls
A home renovation on Kintyre Avenue in Toronto, Canada, led to a horrifying discovery on July 24, 2007, when a contractor found the mummified remains of an infant. While working on wiring, he discovered a newspaper-wrapped bundle concealed in the ceiling area. After pulling back the paper, the worker immediately contacted authorities, who confirmed that the remains were human. The baby was wrapped in newspaper dating back to 1925, suggesting the body could have been there for multiple decades. An autopsy later found that the infant was a full-term newborn boy and part of his umbilical cord was still attached. Police investigated but no real answers about the child’s true identity ever came to light. The unknown baby received a proper burial in October of 2007.
A Secret Room with a Camera
While renovating a swimming pool in Los Angeles, Joe Meringolo of JSM Project Management found something pretty darn disturbing: a hidden concrete room. The concealed chamber was connected to the pool but could not be accessed from the house. If the existence of this room weren’t unsettling enough, workers also discovered a camera mounted on a tripod. Even more unsettling, the camera was positioned to point directly into the swimming pool, raising disturbing questions about what the room had been used for. No one could figure out why the room existed or why the camera was set up, but its secret nature and the recording equipment made it a particularly creepy discovery.
A Little Girl’s Coffin Under a Garage
In 2016, a San Francisco couple renovating their home were shocked to find a small bronze coffin under the concrete floor of their garage. Inside were the remains of a young girl around the age of three. The coffin had two viewing windows and was so well sealed that the remains were very well preserved. The find was like something out of a horror movie, as it turned out the house had been built on old cemetery land. In a turn of events that sounds eerily similar to the plot of Poltergeist, the cemetery had been relocated as the city expanded and clearly some graves were left behind. The little girl’s coffin was one of the so-called forgotten burials. Remarkably, researchers used cemetery records, genealogy, and DNA from a living relative to identify her as Edith Howard Cook, who died in October 1876 at the age of two. The little girl was given a new burial in June 2016. What makes this entire situation even creepier, are the homeowner’s reports that they frequently heard the sound of childlike footsteps before and after the discovery of the coffin.
A Bag of Bones in the Ceiling
In May 2013, a homeowner in Salt Lake City, Utah, was removing a basement closet when something heavy tumbled from the ceiling. It was a bag full of human bones. Investigators examined the remains and determined that they seemed to be extremely old, as in ancient. Months later, the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts examined the remains and said they most likely belonged to a Native American man who lived sometime between 1710 and 1910. For this reason, the discovery was treated as an archaeological issue instead of a modern crime scene. Exactly how the remains ended up inside the house was another question.
A Wall Filled with Razor Blades
More than one homeowner renovating older bathrooms has discovered hundreds of razor blades inside their walls. Although this sounds like something from a serial killer documentary, there is actually a surprisingly normal explanation. Older medicine cabinets sometimes had a narrow slot specifically designed to dispose of used razor blades. Instead of throwing them in a trash can, where they could potentially become a safety hazard, people just dropped the blades through the opening and into the empty wall cavity. Definitely a weird practice; but one that likely prevented plenty of accidental injuries. Decades later, homeowners opening walls for standard renovations find hundreds of rusty blades. While the explanation is innocent enough, finding a wall filled with razor blades never feels comforting.