Cleaning out the home of a passed loved one can be difficult and taxing. One man, who went by the alias of Evilenglish on Reddit, made an unimaginable discovery in his Grandparent's old house while beginning to renovate it. He was shocked to learn their secrets that had been hidden away for years…
An Abandoned Family Home
The grandparents of anonymous user Evilenglish owned a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. After 20 years of being vacant and abandoned, it was time for the farmhouse to be cleaned out and sold. The man traveled to the remote location to help with the process, but he was unaware of what kind of mysteries were lying beneath the surface.
Mysteries Hidden Away For Years
The farmhouse was dusty and nearly decomposing. It was going to take a lot of work to be able to restore it enough to be sold. None of the family members had been to the home in the 20 years since the grandparents passed. They had no clue that they were going to be unearthing a huge secret that none of them even knew about.
Treasure Island Stories
Many of the memories that Evilenglish had growing up were the stories told to him by his grandparents. Most of these stories were about treasure and hidden gold, which then fueled his obsession with the subject as he grew older. One of his favorite memories is his grandfather reading Treasure Island to him. He never realized that maybe some of the stories they were telling him were true…
Walking Down Memory Lane
As Evilenglish walked around the home, he began to remember different memories in different rooms of the home. He then stumbled upon a particular closet that he always played hide and seek in. Upon opening the large closet, he noticed that the carpet was old and loose. He decided to start in that room to rip up the carpets in order to start the renovations.
Dirty Old Carpet
They really wanted to get the home looking fresh and clean, so a lot of that meant ripping up carpeting and floors, repainting and maybe even tearing down some walls. There were a lot of repairs and rebuilding to get done, so it would take a while. The family was unaware of the secrets that their grandparents had hidden…
But When The Carpet Got Ripped Up…
After one tug on the carpet, it came up with ease to reveal a giant, concrete safe in the floor. He was shocked to see this hidden away in the lone closet. Anything of value was left to family members in their wills. So what was this safe doing here? Evilenglish was wondering if anyone actually knew of this thing he had to find out.
Can’t Do This Alone
He had to wait until the next day to hire a professional locksmith to open up the safe. The suspense was killing him! The locksmith finally arrived Monday morning and worked for nearly 30 minutes to get that ancient safe open with no luck. They were both close to giving up, but they both were curious as to see what was inside. It’s not every day a mystery safe is unearthed!
Painstakingly Cracking The Code
Evilenglish and the locksmith sat around the safe, painstakingly trying to open it up and reveal what had been hiding inside the past 20 years. It was an old safe, and it was almost out of the locksmith’s expertise. But eventually, he got so close to cracking it that Evilenglish could almost taste it…
Getting Closer
Finally, they began hearing the right clinks and clanks. The two men were so excited to be getting so close. After a few more clicks, they had finally cracked the code and opened the door…
Old And Dirty Findings
Once that door popped open, Evilenglish’s anticipation and excitement turned into anxiety. He really had no idea what was in this safe. It could be worth money, worth nothing, or worth calling the police! Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but he was really at a loss for what his quiet and quirky grandparents could have been hiding from the family.
Valuables or Trash?
The safe was stuffed to the brim with books and small boxes. Okay, he thought, nothing too incriminating so far! He began to sort through the boxes and papers carefully. It very well could be antiques that his grandparents had collected over the years, but why were they hidden? He decided to start opening things up to really get to the bottom of things. He was not prepared for what he uncovered…
Slight Disappointment
At first, he was slightly disappointed. The image of old books and boxes is not the most exciting one, but he knew that there had to be something worthwhile inside. Assuming that he really had to investigate what he found instead of just judging from looking at it, he still had some hope that there would be some valuable things from his grandparents! In reality, he had no idea just how crazy things were about to get.
Intense Water Damage
The thing he picked up was a book that nearly fell apart at the seams. That’s when he realized it was soaking wet… That’s when he remembered that the home had experienced a horrible flood which damaged the farmhouse dramatically. The pipes that burst must have been close to the safe and damaged the outside… His heart sank. What wonders here were destroyed? And could they even be salvaged?
Antique Coins
Most of the paper products faced water damage. There were even some impressive old bills that were damaged beyond return. Luckily, a book full of extremely rare coins did not receive water damage and were still worth money, among other incredible finds…
But There Was Much More
So, the bills were nearly ruined, but Evilenglish decided to try and save them. There were so many. Maybe even thousands of dollars. He couldn’t let it go to waste. He laid them out to dry where he would then be able to separate and count them. He was definitely shocked to see just how much was hidden away for years…
Almost Too Much To Count
After it was all counted out, he was able to come to the conclusion that he was now in the possession of thousands of dollars worth of old coins and bills. These coins were extremely rare and very old… If he were able to get them cleaned and priced, he could really get a great chunk of change for these! He was still shocked that his grandparents were able to hide such treasures for so long…
Reddit Helped Him
Evilenglish is an avid Redditor. Naturally, he posted his findings to one of the website’s many forums to share his experience and to maybe get some insight on what to do. Luckily, another Redditor actually said that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing could replace the soiled bills!
Rare and Antique Silver Bars
Among the valuable and rare bills and coins were incredible silver bars. They were inscribed with the date 1788, which is when Connecticut was founded, another was from Delaware in 1787, and the last was from Massachusettes. These were a huge part of American history, which made this find even more exciting! Luckily, the water damage didn’t harm these too much. Now, he needed to figure out what to do with these finds…
Worth It
Once it was all sorted and dry, Evilenglish took the findings to a professional. He needed to get everything priced and added up to see just how much these rare finds are really worth. The professional guessed it to be at least a couple tens of thousands of dollars. Evilenglish never revealed the exact amount.
There Could Be More Great Finds…
As he continued with the renovations, he decided to check other nooks and cranny’s in the house to make sure nothing else was hidden. He genuinely didn’t think that there would be, but his grandparents proved him wrong…
Safe #2
He ended up finding another safe. This time, it was his grandfather’s antique gun stash. There were rare Barr notes inside, too. He was shocked to find even more things that they never told the family about. He couldn’t believe that his grandparents kept these things for so long. Now, they were his!
A Sparkling Find
Evilenglish also found beautiful and old jewelry pieces that were definitely some prized possessions of his grandmother. A wave of relief washed over him as he realized how lucky he was to find this. He didn’t even want to imagine if he ended up selling the home along with his grandparents’ possessions.