Nearly two decades after his grandparents’ passing, one Reddit user, known only by his user name EvilEnglish, found out he had inherited their abandoned Tennessee farmhouse. Soon enough, you’ll discover why the user decided to keep his name confidential!
In order to sell the property, EvilEnglish needed to clear out the farmhouse. While cleaning out the old house, he expected he might find a few souvenirs from the carefree days he spent there as a child. EvilEnglish had no idea he would soon discover that his beloved grandparents had been hiding a massive secret from the entire family…
A Farmhouse in Tennessee
Reddit user EvilEnglish uploaded his incredible tale of hidden secrets in late 2017. He started by recalling the many pleasant holidays and summer afternoons he spent at his grandparents’ farmhouse in Tennessee when he was a child.
Initially, the building and surrounding land had been a working farm. In fact, the house is so old that the exact date of construction is unknown! However, by the time EvilEnglish’s grandparents purchased the house, shortly after their marriage, various owners had sold off the farmland. After buying the home, his grandparents lived in it fulltime and worked hard to transform it into a welcoming home.
Escaping The Summer Heat of The South
After their wedding, EvilEnglish’s grandparents moved into the home from an apartment in the deep South. “The house was a home for my grandparents for some 20-odd years,” he wrote. “They bought this house in the late 70s or early 80s to escape the oppressive summer heat of the South.” Even though EvilEnglish didn’t specify where his grandparents moved from, its no doubt that Tennesse does enjoy much nicer summers than the long, hard summers of the deep South.
After turning their little farmhouse into a beautiful home, EvilEnglish’s grandparents decided to start raising a family. To them, this small farmhouse seemed like the perfect place to spend forever. It also became the ideal place for the grandparents to keep secrets from their family…
A Fresh Start
Before long, EvilEnglish’s grandparents had children and became upstanding members of their little Tennessee community. They raised their family in the home and saw no reason to ever move away from the idyllic life they had created over the years. To their friends and family, the couple always seemed perfectly happy and normal.
In time, EvilEnglish’s grandparents’ children moved away and eventually had children of their own. Meanwhile, the couple grew old together in the farmhouse. As the family continued to grow, the farmhouse became the location for holiday get-togethers and summer vacations. Almost all of EvilEnglish’s cherished memories revolve around the home. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever…
Nothing Lasts Forever
Sadly, in 2006, EvilEnglish’s grandparents passed away. In the days after their passing, the family had no idea what they would do without them. Still, even while grieving, they found comfort in knowing that the couple had led long, happy lives. Fortunately, both of his grandparents experienced easy, painless deaths.
After his grandmother’s funeral took place, the family knew that they needed to decide what to do with the Tennessee farmhouse. None of them wanted to leave their cherished family home cold and alone. The location that had once brought them all so much happiness now brought them sadness. However, EvilEnglish and his family didn’t know what to do with the farmhouse…
Letting Go of the Memories
Eventually, the family decided that none of the couple’s relatives would move into the house. While EvilEnglish’s father officially owned the house, neither he nor anyone else could move there, as they found it too painful. Still, they hoped one day someone from their family could live there. It sat empty until, just a few years later, EvilEnglish’s father also passed away. So the Tennessee farmhouse was passed down once again. However, this time, the Reddit user made a different choice.
“My father passed in 2009, and we’ve been working to close out his estate and traveled to the farmhouse to prepare it for sale,” EvilEnglish wrote. To prepare the farmhouse, EvilEnglish needed to clean it out thoroughly. He had no idea of the long-hidden secrets that the house contined inside its walls…
A Daunting Task
As EvilEnglish had been the closest to his grandparents out of all the grandchildren, he knew it would be hard to sort through all their belongings. Plus, he would need to do some minor repairs on the home before selling! Still, he felt happy to do the work. EvilEnglish thought it was finally time for someone else to enjoy the house with their family, just as his grandparents had.
However, when EvilEnglish arrived at this grandparents’ farmhouse, he realized that the task was even more significant than he initially imagined. Not only had his grandparents collected more junk than he remembered, but the house was in serious disrepair!
Avid Collectors
EvilEnglish’s grandparents had become quite the avid collectors over the course of their lives. At first, the number of mementos and items they had stored in their home seemed almost overwhelming. How would he ever get through it all?
However, as he walked through the farmhouse, EvilEnglish started to look at things differently. He realized he had been given a chance to learn an awful lot about his grandparents. After all, he would be going through all of their belongings! Before long, he began to daydream about everything he could find there! Who knew what he might discover in the farmhouse?
Initial Findings
As soon as he started looking around the long-forgotten farmhouse, EvilEnglish found interesting collectibles. “My grandfather was an avid sportsman and enjoyed collecting various firearms. And my grandmother was a collector of coins and other antiques and curiosities,” he wrote. The very first day, EvilEnglish found the remains of his grandfather’s pistol collection in the farmhouse!
As EvilEnglish continued sorting, he remembered how his grandma used to read him stories about pirates and treasure. Sometimes, she would even tell him her own real-life adventures. Even though she later said she made them up, EvilEnglish liked to believe they were all true. Little did he know that he would soon uncover the secrets his grandparents hid from the rest of the family…
Sorting Through Their Things
Room by room, EvilEnglish sorted through his grandparents’ things. First the dining room, then the living room, then the bedrooms. According to EvilEnglish, it actually went pretty smoothly! By the end of the first day, he had finished much more than he predicted. However, he still needed to clean out the storeroom and closets. As he inspected them, he knew the most challenging part of the job lay ahead – the closets were stuffed with even more valuables!
So far, EvilEnglish hadn’t found anything too incredible. Even so, he still enjoyed spending time in the Tennessee farmhouse, as it made him feel close to his late grandparents. So, happy with his work for the day, he decided to spend the night and clear out the closets the following morning.
Emptying Out Their Closets
The next morning, EvilEnglish woke up ready to resume the difficult task of sorting through his grandparents’ personal things. After taking a look at the closets the night before, EvilEnglish began to become excited, imagining what he might find in them. Unfortunately, he was disappointed.
You see, instead of valuables, EvilEnglish’s grandparents had filled them with useless old items, like rusty kitchen stoves and broken telephones. Throwing away all the junk took EvilEnglish hours! Finally, he cleaned it out, revealing the carpeted floor beneath. Everything looked normal, but the carpet made EvilEnglish stop dead in his tracks. There was no carpet anywhere else in the farmhouse. So why was there carpet in this one closet?
The Mystery Behind The Carpet
The moment he saw it, EvilEnglish knew there was something not right about the carpet. To the best of his recollection, his grandparents never had carpets anywhere in their home. In fact, he could remember them talking about how much they adored their wooden floors!
Plenty of ideas came to EvilEnglish’s mind, but none of them made sense. At first, he wondered if the carpet was an expensive, antique piece. However, as you can see above, it was too dirty and old to be worth something. Then, he thought perhaps it came with the house. But the house was too old to have carpeting! The Reddit user knew there was only one way to get to the bottom of the mystery…
He’s On To Something
Drawn by curiosity, EvilEnglish took a closer look at the carpet. Scrutinizing it, he noticed it was not only dirty but also torn and ripped in a few places. While EvilEnglish felt exhausted from cleaning the entire house all by himself and ready to head home, he just knew that there was something wrong with the carpet.
Since he could not shake the odd feeling, EvilEnglish decided that the ugly carpet needed to go. So, grabbing his tools, he started ripping it off the floor. Once he finished, he thought, he would finally be able to head back home. However, underneath the carpet, EvilEnglish discovered the surprise of a lifetime…
Ripping Up The Carpet
As EvilEnglish began pulling up the carpet from the corners, he noticed that it felt like something had broken underneath it. He began to wonder if his grandparents had installed the carpet to cover a broken floor. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to do even more repairs! Afterward, he moved exceptionally carefully, just in case it wasn’t stable or safe.
Finally, after a few moments, EvilEnglish managed to free the carpet from the floor. There, he found a large square piece of white metal placed into the floor, with a wooden circle placed inside (seen above). EvilEnglish could not understand why his grandparents would ruin the floor like this! That’s when he noticed the wooden ring was removable…
An Unexpected Discovery
Feeling a little nervous about what he would discover, EvilEnglish decided to reach down and remove the circular piece of wood from the metal plate in the floor. He expected to perhaps find an old pipe or something else that needed a repair. However, his discovery only complicated this more.
Removing the wooden circle, EvilEnglish found a dial to a safe! All of a sudden, everything made sense. The carpet covered the safe, which must hold hidden treasure inside! In a flash, all EvilEnglish’s inhibitions went out the window – could his grandmother’s stories of treasure hunting be true? However, something still stood in the Reddit user’s way: the safe’s combination.
A Week-Long Struggle
Of course, as anyone would, EvilEnglish immediately tried to open the safe. “I gave the handle a tug, but it wouldn’t budge. If you twist the handle, it will still spin,” he wrote in his Reddit post. Afterward, he began trying every combination he could think of.
“I spoke with my Mom, and she said that my grandparents had a safe in Florida, and the combination was my Dad’s birth date. She also recommended trying his Social Security Number as a back up to that. None of the combinations are proving successful.” So, EvilEnglish started going through his grandparents’ belongings again, searching for any clues to the safe’s combo. Believe it or not, he tried day after day for over a week to no avail. Finally, EvilEnglish gave up and decided to call a locksmith.
Tim, The Locksmith
After a week, EvilEnglish called a local locksmith, Tim, who came out to the farmhouse quite quickly. After all, opening a safe filled with hidden treasure is the kind of challenge most locksmiths would jump at taking!
However, the safe was not easy to unlock, even for a professional. “[Tim] said about 30 minutes into this that if he had known what he was getting into, he would have referred the job to someone else. It looked like a complete pain in the ass to open this up. He had to keep his weight above the drill, and the workspace was very uncomfortable.”
An Incredibly Difficult Task
Believe it or not, it took Tim hours and hours to work on the safe. Of course, it seemed like even longer, given how excited the two men felt to finally discover the hidden treasure locked away inside the safe. While he watched Tim work, EvilEnglish paced around eagerly, adding even more pressure to the poor locksmith. Needless to say, it was a tense time!
Finally, after almost six hours, the time to open the safe finally arrived when Tim managed to crack the lock! Both men could barely keep their hands from shaking as they took a look inside…
The Grand Reveal
Opening the lid of the safe, Tim and EvilEnglish first saw only a heap of bricks and stones surrounded by water. As you might imagine, the men felt very confused! Why would anyone fill a safe with bricks and water? Then, it dawned on EvilEnglish!
“I remember that there was a pipe leak in the house a few years back. I’m sure some of the water from that had accumulated in the safe,” he wrote. However, while the bricks seemed quite useless, EvilEnglish felt sure that he could see a pile of books or boxes behind the bricks. Were these the antique treasures his grandmother had always told him about? As he dug deeper into the safe, everything became much clearer…
Unimpressed…At First
As EvilEnglish and Tim began removing pieces from the old safe, their expectations began to dip. After removing the bricks, it did not seem like the safe held much of value. At first, it looked as though it only held books damaged by the water, empty boxes, and a handful of coins.
EvilEnglish began to think that he and Tim had gone through all that hard work for nothing. However, he decided to take a closer look at each object. Before long, the Reddit user realized that this hidden treasure was far more valuable than he initially thought! Not only that, but the safe held more hidden treasure for the two men…
Traveling Back in Time
As EvilEnglish and Tim began removing more objects and rubble from the safe, they found more and more hidden treasure! The Reddit user felt like he was traveling back through time. As he examined the coins and objects, he realized that almost everything came from an entirely different era!
One of the very first things that EvilEnglish removed from the case was a coin book from 1937! Even though he knew little about collectible coins, he knew that often antique coins sold for major money. Plus, EvilEnglish knew these pieces had to be valuable. Otherwise, his grandparents would have never locked them away in a safe!
A True Passion for Coins
As EvilEnglish removed more and more coins from the safe, he realized his grandparents had a real passion for coins. In fact, it seemed like a borderline obsession! Inside the safe, Tim and EvilEnglish found literally thousands of coins, from all over. The sight made EvilEnglish laugh, thinking of his grandmother and grandfather caring so much about these little coins.
Many of the coins the two men found in the safe were relatively recent and standard issue. However, the Reddit user also noticed that some pieces in this collection were extremely rare and unique. Unfortunately, not everything was salvageable from the safe…
Rendered Unusable
The majority of the coins survived the damage that the water from the roof leak did. “The moisture in the safe makes the covers very mushy, but the coins inside are in surprisingly good shape,” EvilEnglish wrote. “There were so many rolls of coins down there. Some of them were in plastic tubes, but more were unfortunately in paper tubes.”
However, the hidden treasure did not end there! Believe it or not, there were also many dollar bills. Unfortunately, they were all destroyed by the water, and therefore, rendered unusable. While EvilEnglish was a bit disappointed to throw the dollar bills out, he soon discovered even more valuable goods in the safe!
A Unique Signature
While the majority of the bills were too damaged to be useable, EvilEnglish did find a few he thought he could sell for a bit of cash. You see, some of the bills had been personally signed by Joseph Barr, the Secretary of Treasury in 1968. You can see his signature in pen below, on the bottom left of the dollar bill. Not only that, Barr was only Secretary for a month, meaning artifacts from his time in power are extremely rare. The best part of all? The Barr bills had been wrapped in plastic, keeping them safe!
Soon enough, EvilEnglish realized that he was staring at a gold mine! However, while the Barr bills were an excellent find, nothing could prepare Tim and EvilEnglish for what they would find next…
The List of Treasure Continues to Grow
Putting the coins and the destroyed cash aside, EvilEnglish found even more of his grandparents’ hidden treasure. Inside the safe, the Reddit user also found multiple pure silver bars in the safe! Not only that, but his grandparents had even kept the information on the silver’s manufacturer right next to the silver bars. Now, EvilEnglish could prove their authenticity and, therefore, value!
But the surprises were far from over! Right beneath the silver bars, EvilEnglish found an old rusty box. Even though it looked like a small, worthless toolbox, he knew better than to take chances. For all he knew, this box could be hiding the safe’s biggest secret! Once again, EvilEnglish was filled with excitement…
A Mystery “Toolbox”
Before long, EvilEnglish managed to break into the old toolbox he found. To his surprise, the toolbox was, in fact, a jewelry box – complete with the jewelry! It contained multiple pieces of gold and silver jewelry, as well as pocket watches and wallets. While some of the objects had been ruined by water, he was glad to see that most items were in good condition.
EvilEnglish couldn’t believe his eyes! He would have never suspected that his grandparents owned possessions such as this. What’s more, it was clear that they had spent most of their lives collecting these amazing objects. However, EvilEnglish still had trouble understanding why his grandparents had kept this hidden treasure from him and his family…
A Mysterious Coffee Table
Oddly, after successfully retrieving all of the valuables out of his grandparents hidden safe, EvilEnglish trusted them less. Why had they kept this all hidden? With these questions in his mind, EvilEnglish knew that he need to search the entire house to ensure that there weren’t any other hidden treasures lying around! While searching, he spotted an unsuspecting-looking coffee table, one his grandparents never used.
While initially cleaning the home, EvilEnglish thought it was just another old piece of furniture rotting away. However, he now knew better and wouldn’t leave the house without going through every drawer of the coffee table. As he opened the first drawer, he found something truly unusual and unexpected…
Another Safe
Believe it or not, when EvilEnglish opened the first drawer of the ordinary-looking coffee table, he found yet another safe of hidden treasure waiting for him! In just two days, this young man had discovered two of his grandparents’ biggest secrets. Not only had his grandparents kept some incredible goods locked away, but they also had some hiding in plain sight!
Once again, filled with excitement, EvilEnglish brought the second, smaller safe over to a work table and began working on opening it. This one opened much easier and, upon opening it, the Reddit user’s jaw dropped. He never expected to find something dangerous in the safe!
“Dangerous Antiques”
As it turns out, the second safe of hidden treasure EvilEnglish found in his grandparents’ home contained many of his grandfather’s favorite collectibles: pistols! As stated, EvilEnglish’s grandfather was an avid collector of antique pistols. So, while EvilEnglish was not surprised by what he found, he had no idea what to do with the pistols. After all, it’s not as though he could just go to a gun shop and sell them!
Over the next few days, EvilEnglish continued to look through the house but found little else. However, the Reddit user now faced one of the hardest decisions of his life: should he keep his grandparents’ possessions or sell them for cash?
Sharing His Story on The Internet
Now, EvilEnglish faced quite a dilemma: to sell or not to sell the hidden treasure? After all, they had passed and everything in their farmhouse, including the hidden treasure in the safe, was now his! So, he took to the popular online forum, Reddit, to ask for their advice and appraisals, as well as tell his story.
Many recommended that EvilEnglish not sell the items, but instead keep them for himself and his family, as a fun memory of his grandparents. Others told him to keep the items, many of the pieces looked so damaged they believed EvilEnglish would only be able to sell them for a total of around $100. However, others told him that, even damaged, the hidden treasure could be quite valuable…
Offering Some Advice
Not everyone agreed that the damaged coins were worthless. One commentator, a professional coin collector, wrote that there was likely a reason that EvilEnglish’s grandparents had kept the coins and notes in the safe. Collectible coins are worth something, he wrote, even if damaged. “Notes are often collectible as well, check everything, even if damaged they can still have great value,” he continued.
Meanwhile, another commenter wrote, “Just so you know, anything from 1964 or older is 90% silver worth about 20 times the face value of the coin. $0.50 = $10, $0.25 = $5, $0.10 = $2.00 … not to mention those silver bars!! They’re worth about $22.10 per ounce.”
Moving Forward
Unsurprisingly, EvilEnglish and his family felt emotional after finding valuable possessions belonging to their deceased loved ones. So, they each decided to keep items that meant something to them and then sell the rest. After paying Locksmith Tim, of course! In the end, EvilEnglish decided to keep some of the coins, in memory of his grandmother. When he sees them, he always thinks of the treasure-hunting stories she would tell him as a boy.
But what about the rest of the hidden treasure EvilEnglish found? Well, the last everyone heard, he was deciding between selling the items individually to collectors or taking the entire lot to an auction house. Unfortunately, while some of the items have popped up in auctions, we’ll likely never know what entirely happened, and for a good reason…
Once a Mystery, Always a Mystery
Just when he had everyone on the edge of their seats, EvilEnglish decided to delete most of his posts relating to his grandparents’ farmhouse safe. Unsurprisingly, many of the readers who followed the Reddit user’s updates felt a little letdown. Thankfully, a short while later, he updated everyone, explaining why he had pulled the posts. Apparently, after posting his discovery, people started threatening to track EvilEnglish down and steal his stuff! So, just to be on the safe side, he deleted the posts.
So here’s a tip: when you find something incredibly collectible or worthwhile, wait to share it with the internet until after you have the money! Another Reddit user, Lmbrjack, also learned this lesson when he too found a hidden treasure trove of bizarre items in his new house…
Sound Familiar?
Just like EvilEnglish, Reddit user Lmbrjack found something hidden and bizarre in his home. To save some cash, he and his wife had recently purchased a fixer-upper in the midwestern United States. After moving in, the couple immediately started renovating, beginning with the basement. However, they had no idea their construction would lead to the FBI knocking on their front door!
As they began work on the basement, they started making some strange discoveries, including a frightening suitcase. Soon enough, the FBI bombarded their home, and their story went viral. If you thought EvilEnglish’s grandparents’ hidden treasure was odd, you haven’t seen anything yet!
A New Home
Lmbrjack and his wife’s mysterious adventure began after they purchased a new home outside of Cleveland, Ohio. As any couple would, they looked forward to filling their first home with lots of memories. While the house had decent bones, some parts just needed a little love and care. Since the basement required the most work, Lmbrjack started there.
You see, graffiti covered the basement walls, the ceiling drooped, and the rest of the wood had warped. It also needed a new coat of paint…the list went on and on. So, Lmbrjack simply got to work. Nothing to do but get on with it! Of course, he had no idea that his basement contained both great fortune and horrible secrets…
Hidden in the Rafters
During his renovations, Lmbrjack started taking down the ceiling of the basement. There, he found an old suitcase hidden away and covered in dust. Obviously, someone went out of their to way to hide it there, making sure that no one would find it. Of course, Lmbrjack immediately stopped working and removed the old suitcase from the rafters. Then, he called his wife down to the basement, sharing his discovery.
As the two of them marveled over the suitcase, they couldn’t help but wonder what on earth hid inside the case. While neither knew what lie in the case, they knew one thing for sure: it did not end up there on accident. Somebody wanted to make sure that no one ever found the suitcase and its contents ever again.