English man finds hidden passageways, secret rooms behind bookshelf in family home

[left-of-center2012]

A man from Sussex, England recently found what used to be a door hidden behind a bookshelf leading to a series of underground tunnels that led to various secret rooms left closed for decades, maybe centuries. The New York Post reports that the family of 23-year-old Freddy Goodall has lived on the estate for roughly 500 years. As Goodall perused through some old photos featuring the home’s library, he noticed something strange: a doorway that was nowhere to be found in the modern day was clearly pictured years ago in black-and-white.

This was an even more interesting discovery, as Goodall realized a wall behind some of the books he was clearing out earlier seemed hollow. “I searched for it but couldn’t see anything at first, then realized it was hidden behind a bookshelf,” says Goodall to Jam Press. “Eventually behind one of the books, I found a hole that looked into the hidden room.”

Indeed—after entering the first hidden room, Goodall pulled up a part of the floor that revealed a ladder going underground to old, cobweb-covered tunnels that led to even more hidden rooms. The U.S. Sun continues to report that cobwebs (and a huge wasp’s nest) weren’t the only things the secret rooms contained: Goodall also found a number of old books and other writings, including a letter from 1887.

It is believed the tunnels were used by servants to carry out their duties unnoticed by the lords and ladies of the home.

https://www.pennlive.com/life/2021/09/english-man-finds-hidden-passageways-secret-rooms-behind-bookshelf-in-family-home-watch.html

[underpants]

1. Not buying it - this has vampires written all over it.

Just kidding. Very interesting.


Whether Mr. Body was murdered by Mr. Green with the candlestick in the library remains unconfirmed.

[CaptainTruth]

27. Definitely vampires!!!

[underpants]

41. Thank you. 🧛‍♂️

[Trueblue1968]

66. definately good looking, sexy vampires ....

https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/

[Trueblue1968]

67. fyi .... some vampire news

A reboot of teen vampire classic 'The Lost Boys' is on the way
Nothing is sacred, and that could explain why Warner Bros has plans to resurrect the 1987 teen vampire classic The Lost Boys.

Originally directed by Joel Schumacher, who passed away aged 80 last year, the horror-comedy is set to be reimagined with starring roles for Honey Boy’s Noah Jupe, and Jaeden Martell (of It and Knives Out).

Beyond the fact that it’s directed by filmmaker John Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World), with a script by Randy McKinnon, details about the reboot are fairly scarce.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, however, its setting — a fictional California beach town in the midst of being terrorized by a vampiric biker gang — is being updated for the modern day.

At: https://www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/54210/1/a-reboot-of-teen-vampire-classic-the-lost-boys-is-on-the-way-noah-jupe

[Stallion]

2. I've Had that Dream Many Times-Is it a Common Dream?

I'm sure it means something awful

[nuxvomica]

14. Dreams about your home are usually dreams about your body

I had a complete Lyme panel once that was all negative though I had all the symptoms (except a rash) and had been in the woods three weeks before. That night, I dreamt about a secret passage in my home that contained a dragon. My reaction in the dream was "That's contrary to science! There are no such things as dragons!" The next day, I was sure it was about the failure of the scientific test to recognize the infection. My doctor put me on doxycycline because had just learned that the false-negative rate for the Lyme panel was very high, and the symptoms cleared up in a few days.

So when you have that dream, make note of what you find.

[forgotmylogin]

15. I have a recurring dream about an endless attic.

I go up in the creepy attic filled with artifacts (it's creepy in a good way, I love that aesthetic) and keep finding more doors that lead to other attics and it goes on and on.

I always feel like I *want* to explore, but I fear getting lost or intruding on other people's property somehow? It never feels like my house, but a mansion I've discovered by accident. In the dream I usually backtrack, close the doors, and plan to explore carefully later, marveling at how lucky I am to find all this.

[Hekate]

20. Hmmm. Time to find a Jungian analyst.

[Lochloosa]

21. That one is about your brain.

[wnylib]

28. Could be a metaphor for your life in general.

People, careers, paths to consider exploring. Opportunities and directions you might go in, plus a hint to what's holding you back - not wanting to disturb other people.

[Stallion]

43. A Realtor Would Think of Extra SF and Bedrooms for the Listing

[forgotmylogin]

55. Hm! Very thought provoking!

[utopian]

39. Me too

Attics, levels I was unaware of, hidden rooms, thinks like that, always filled with stuff.

[muriel_volestrangler]

46. What dream? (nt)

[alphafemale]

59. I have that dream every now and then.

It is never an ominous feeling.

[SharonClark]

3. Its unlikely that they were servants' passages and more likely to be

a hiding place or escape route for Catholic priests.

[XanaDUer2]

8. yup nt

[Hekate]

22. GMTA

[ms liberty]

26. Or for smuggled goods, if it's old enough and close enough to the coast

If his family has lived there for 500 years, then that's certainly old enough for the French Revolution and the heyday of smuggling, and Sussex is the right county for it..

[smirkymonkey]

40. Yep, Priest Holes, especially if these were build around Elizabethan Times. They are all over

homes in England dating from around those times.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Priests-Holes/

[canetoad]

63. Exactly

Dissolution of the monasteries began around 1536. The timeline seems about right.

[Ilsa]

64. That was my first thought as well.

Perhaps it was just a built-in escape route from authorities. Maybe the family was involved in smuggling or pirating hundreds of years ago.

[luvs2sing]

4. One of my ex's friends had a house..

with a mystery room above the garage. There was no way to get into the room, but when the sun shined through the window at just the right angle, you could see a wooden rocker near the window.

After a couple years of speculation and ghost stories, ex, his friend, and friend’s father who was a building contractor, figured out there was probably once an opening to this room from the top of the stairs in the house. One weekend, they tore the wall out and, sure enough, there was the room, the old wooden rocker, an old crib, and some random books and magazines from the early 1940s. Nothing unusual. They ended up finishing the room, and it became a great playroom once they had kids.

[mcar]

5. How big is your home if you don't notice that there must be more rooms?

Also, I highly doubt servants would carry the silver tea service up a ladder - even back in days of yore.

Still, the pictured old room is awesome.

[Dr. Strange]

16. My friend Will Navidson had this experience.

He kept telling me how his house was bigger on the inside and he kept finding rooms that hadn't been there before, or huge rooms that were way too big to exist inside the house.

[Action_Patrol]

30. House of Leaves!

Haha. Amazing. Thanks for the reminder.

[Dr. Strange]

50. :)

[wnylib]

24. How big is your home that you don't

notice that there must be more rooms?

Well, the article says that house was in the family for 500 years. That's more likely to happen with with large, well built mansions, than small wood frame houses.

[mcar]

29. Yeah, I saw that.

One would think, however, that there would be some record, since the house has been in the family for 500 years.

[wnylib]

36. Unused and forgotten. With that many rooms,

I guess it's possible. Not talked about after a few generations, so a modern person would not think to look for records of something he had not heard about.

Old masions are enormous, with only a few rooms used today for daily living. Whole wings can be shut off from use.

[underpants]

42. It's hard to see what's not there

But still, as I posted above, I’m thinking —- vampires

[Ocelot II]

6. The house I used to own has a little room behind the built-in buffet

that you could get to by crawling through one of the lower cupboards. It wasn't very big, but you could stand up and move around. My ex still lives there (in the house, not the secret room), and I've encouraged him to buy a life-sized plastic skeleton, dress it in tattered old clothes, and leave it there when he sells the place (if he ever does).

[ret5hd]

9. How long has your ex lived there?

Maybe you should let him out. I’m sure, whatever he did, he is very sorry.

[Ocelot II]

10. LOL!

[Sogo]

33. Maybe it was for the underground railroad.

[Ocelot II]

34. In Minneapolis? And the house dates from 1906, so no.

I think it was just an architectural mistake.

[XanaDUer2]

7. priest hole nt

[tanyev]

11. Cool.

[Captain Zero]

12. Upstairs, Downstairs, and REALLY downstairs.

I would say.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. If my home looked like that I'd want a place to hide too!

It's always about wealth, money, and grandeur isn't it?

[Hekate]

19. Fascinating! The photo is so visually cluttered I can't see the door in question, tho

Off to read the article.

[niyad]

25. 500 years of accumulation will do that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. More, including video, at The Sun

https://www.the-sun.com/news/3659784/man-makes-shocking-discovery-mysterious-bookcase/

Not just a priesthole - cellars, that were accessible in the early 20th century, when schoolchildren (it was a school for a bit) signed their names on the bricks.

[Sogo]

37. I watched the video.

Damn! I want to see what's in that safe!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

47. Video continues here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9990201/Property-developer-finds-underground-passages-hidden-rooms-beneath-500-year-old-family-home.html

Spoiler follows:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

19th century letters.

[Crunchy Frog]

31. Did he find Narnia? That's really cool.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

32. Put the candle back!

Put the candle back - Young Frankenstein - Gene Wilder

Someone in Sussex removed the magic candle!


KY..........

[keithbvadu2]

35. 1+

[Hekate]

38. Really interesting.I'd like to see more still photos from today, as the spaces seem to be utility...

… utility tunnels and maintenance access in the recent century, however they began. So “used by servants” can be loosely applied. I can see pipes, and that “creepy old ladder” is not 500 years old. Someone was accessing the plumbing more recently than half a millennium ago. A scrap of TikTok seems to show a disused wine cellar that he imagines being rehabbed.

This young man would do well to research whatever building and maintenance records there may be, any architectural plans — jeez, the place is 500 years old, so there are bound to be all kinds of records just waiting to be found. A great pile like that needs maintenance in any century.

Given the gigantic wasps’ nest — eww, I think I’d want to send in a modern pest-control guy.

[BobTheSubgenius]

44. My stepson bought a house in N PA that has hidden rooms and passages.

It has a mounted plaque in the yard, declaring it a national historic site as one of the stops on the underground railroad. It's as cool as the other side of the pillow!

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

45. I grew up in a big 150 y/o house used in the underground railroad, secret rooms in walls in cellar

All rotted out by then, of course, I only saw ghosts though, as a kid, no treasure, but I kept looking

[wackadoo wabbit]

60. You saw ghosts? /nt

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

61. Non malevolant presences, my sisters said I talked about my campanions all the time

I was 4 or 5, in the before times, I do recall having an invisible friend with me a lot

Maybe I was just a bit touched, a sensitive, could be

[wackadoo wabbit]

68. It sounds as if you are definitely a sensitive

What a wonderful experience!

I've only ever seen one ghost. I was visiting a friend who had moved into an old, smallish Victorian in San Francisco. As we walked by his bedroom, I looked in and saw an old lady. I knew she wasn't corporeal, so I asked him if he was aware of her. He wasn't, and he totally freaked out. Then he began recounting strange experiences he'd had since he'd moved in there.

As I recall, he didn't stay at that house long.

[Roland99]

48. Was there a Bat Pole?

[left-of-center2012]

49. Did you read the linked article ?

[Roland99]

51. Never saw Batman as a child?

It was a joke

[left-of-center2012]

52. No I never saw Batman as a child

Every movie, TV show, or comic book I saw about Batman showed him as an adult.

[Roland99]

58. Ha

[Catherine Vincent]

53. Wow

It's too bad that safe didn't have any money in it.

[Poiuyt]

54. I would never leave that room!

[Grasswire2]

56. a letter from 1887 isn't that old if the rooms have been closed off...

....and unused for centuries.

1597 would be impressive.

[left-of-center2012]

57. 1887 ...

134 years ago.

[Grasswire2]

69. yes, but the dwelliing is much much older.

Heck. I have old family letters and documents from the late 1800s right here in my home, which is only 100 years old.

[brooklynite]

62. Aren't we supposed to hate the fact that he has such a large family estate?

[left-of-center2012]

65. I don't know

Why would you?