A woman found a fascinating secret hidden in her bathroom after moving a bathtub.
Mandy, 59, bought an 18th century chapel house in west Wales to renovate, along with the chapel itself. When she started working on the bathroom, she found a mystery door underneath the bathtub—and took to TikTok to share the discovery.
“We were nervous to open the door, and put it out to our TikTok audience to see what they thought it was for,” she told Newsweek. Among the theories about the mystery door shared with Mandy on social media were “a coffin drop, safe stash, priest hole, coal store, laundry drop, [and a] maid’s entrance from kitchen to bedroom.”
@littlewelshhousea/TikTok
The home once belonged to a priest and has three bedrooms. It will be transformed into a fresh new home, as will the neighboring chapel.
Mandy’s video, which has amassed over 200,000 views on TikTok, shows the suspicious door that was once underneath the bath, with Mandy using a chisel and a hammer to pry it open.
“The suspense is killing me,” she says in the video. “My husband couldn’t wait to get into the hole. It was just driving him absolutely crazy.”
Once opened, the small door opens up to what appears to be a small storage space, which Mandy calls “a bit disappointing.”
“We are just so thankful there was no bodies!” Mandy told Newsweek. “[But] sadly no treasure either.”
However, after speaking with the caretaker for the previous tenants, Mandy and her husband discovered that the hole was once used by the priest to drop down a ladder, but it has since been covered over.
@littlewelshhousea/TikTok
Mandy posted a follow-up video, explaining that she also spoke to someone that used to live in the chapel house a long time ago, who informed her that there used to be outside stairs that led to a door in one of the bedrooms. She learned that there used to be a ladder in the hole under the bath, which the priest used to get down to the kitchen.
“It does seem weird, but maybe that was a normal thing for the 18th century,” she said.
Buying and renovating old homes isn’t an unpopular choice nowadays. In the US, the sale of existing homes far exceeds that of new builds. In fact, over four million previously owned homes were sold in the U.S. last year, compared to just over 600,000 new ones.
TikTok users shared their thoughts on Mandy’s discovery in the comments section of her video. “My parents-in-law have a very large Victorian house and they have stairs off the back of the kitchen that goes up to the back part of the house with a very similar trapdoor. They’ve opened it up now,” said Jodi.
“Put something random and a note in there for the next excited person to find,” joked @TINKERbell.
@craigfisher320 commented: “A lot of old houses used a ladder to go upstairs. Only wealthy had stairs.”
Meanwhile, CJ suggested: “If you don’t put a new bath back over it, it would make a great laundry chute.”
Leanne said: “That would have been the best hiding place for hide and seek. You’d probably never get back out though.”
Have you transformed your house into something you’re proud of? Whether it’s a DIY project or a full-scale renovation, share your success stories with us. Let us know via life@newsweek.com, and your dream home could be featured on Newsweek.
