30 Things People Found In Old Houses That Weren’t Mentioned In The Listing

Buying an old house means you’re willing to accept that things happened in there. Hopefully, they were all positive things, but you don’t really know until you find something that tells you otherwise. It’s like checking into a hotel room. There’s an unspoken agreement that whatever happened before you got there is none of your business.

That’s where my mind always goes, but sometimes an old discovery is innocent, like the linoleum underneath the floor they installed to sell you the place. You get a little glimpse of what the house used to look like.

Other times, it’s, “Wow, I didn’t know there was a drain under the basement carpet.” Could’ve used that information before the water came in.

These people found a few things in their old houses that the walkthrough didn’t cover.

1. I Was Doing Some Painting And Carpet Removal In Our 1920s Dutch Colonial When We Realized These Stained Glass Windows Were Underneath The Wood Paneling

2. I Found This Victorian Terracotta Tiles Underneath Layers And Layers Of Wood And Linoleum. It Was Such A Pain To Get There, But So Worth It

3. Discovered Original Tin Ceiling In Our 1920s Foursquare

4. Uncovered This Beauty – We’re Still Finding As Much History As We Can. We Have Found That This Pub Of Mine Was Built In At Least 1835 As A House, Before It Became A Pub In The 1870s

5. I Was Sorting Though Some Old Bricks That Was Left Over From Our 1890s Townhouse, And Came Across This

6. I Found Louisa May Alcott’s First Editions In The Century Home I Acquired. Rare Book Lottery Won

7. I Developed A 120-Year-Old Photo Found In A Time Capsule

Someone in my family told me about a possible time capsule in our old house. After investigation, I found a box dating from around 1900 and the belongings of a little girl judging by the objects found inside.

8. Note Found 3 Years After Death

9. Medical Chest I Found In My Grandfather’s Attic. I Think It’s From Japanese Showa Period

10. I Found A 130-Year-Old Recipe Book While Cleaning Out My Grandma’s House

Grandma was from the UK, and it contains handwritten recipes. I’m struggling to read most of them, but they get more plain in the times during the world wars.

11. We Found This Beautiful Old Cast Iron Furnace Vent, Original To Our 1897 Farm House

12. Plate Warmer Rediator In Our 1888 Home. We Bought The House About 5 Years Ago. I’ve Been In And Seen Hundreds Of Historic Homes And Never Seen Anything Like It

13. I Found This In The Yard Of My Old House In Agra, India

Update: My father sent a few samples to the Archaeological Survey of India in Agra, as suggested by many, so thank you. Those of you who said they are Terracotta figures, you were correct. They are Portuguese Terracotta figures from the 3rd to 4th century. I can’t believe I thought these figurines were nothing of value and considered throwing them away.

14. We Found This Tunnel In The Basement Of Our Rowhouse. The House Was Built Between 1850-1874

It’s located in southeast Pennsylvania. Directly above the tunnel is a public sidewalk and street. If you continued down the tunnel, you would be under a cemetery established circa 1750. The house is rumored to have been part of the Underground Railroad, and the realtor alleges the tunnel is connected.

15. We Find Out That Our New 1912 Foursquare House Has Hundreds Of Old Books In The Attic

16. A Woman From Edinburgh Discovered A 135-Year-Old Note Buried Under The Floorboards Of Her House

The Victorian time capsule was found in the exact place in the floorboards where it had been left on October 6, 1887. The Victorian-era note reads: “James Richie and John Grieve laid this floor, but they did not drink the whisky. October 6, 1887. Whoever finds this bottle may think our dust is blowing along the road.”

17. Apparently, I Slept 10 Feet Away From A 1910 Singer Sewing Machine My Entire Life Without Knowing It

My family inherited our 1920-built home from a family friend whose father built it, and when she passed away, we also got everything inside it. That was over 30 years ago, and we found lots of treasures over the years. My mom recently, dug in the eaves and found this 1910 Singer sewing machine with a cabinet. It was closed, so she always thought it was just an old table until she opened it last week. It needs a new lightbulb, and the pulley belt disintegrated, but other than that, it appears to be in good shape. For now, it’s going to be a nice showpiece in my home, but one day I’ll replace the parts. I just can’t believe it took us 30 years to find it.

18. I Found My Great-Great-Grandfather’s 1899 Certificate Of U.S. Citizenship, In Which He Renounced His Allegiance To The Emperor Of Austria

19. I Found Some Coins In A House I Recently Bought In Alexandria, Egypt

20. I Found These Stacked In A Secret Drawer Left In My 1885 House

21. I Found This Lamp In The Old House During Renovation

22. While Replacing A Wall In My Basement, I Found A 100-Year-Old Marriage Certificate

23. The House I Grew Up In Was Being Torn Down, So I Went Up Into The Attic And Found This Between The Rafters. Label Reads: “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1765”

24. I Was Cleaning Out My Dad’s Old House Today And Stumbled Upon His Amazing Spider-Man Collection. He Has Every Issue From #15 To #700

25. Found A Box In The Rafters In The Garage. Thought I Found A Safe, But I Ended Up With Even Better. Now I Have To Get A Player For These. Can’t Wait To See What’s In Them

26. Fireplace Lottery?

I decided to take a sneak peek behind a wall that covered up one of the fireplaces on our first floor, hoping to find an exposed brick. I Didn’t find it, but we came across something else. Our House was built around 1898, and we wonder if this is original to the house. I will remove the entire wall tomorrow to see what else I’m working with. I’m hoping to restore this thing to its glory.

27. Vintage Board Games I Found In Attic Of My New House, Which Was Built In The 70s

28. I Removed A Huge Mirror Today And Discovered My House’s Original “Flavor”

29. I’m Clearing Out My Recently Deceased Grandfather’s Attic And Found Just Over 200 Grams Of Gold Powder

30. Found This While Cleaning Behind The Stove Of Our Century Home