A millennial couple is discovering secret rooms, hideaways and compartments in their 130-year-old home.
Matt and Courtney owe the discoveries to an eerie, unexpected message from the “last surviving member” of the family that previously owned the estate.
“We got a letter addressed ‘purchaser,’” explained Courtney in the couple’s trending tell-all on TikTok, adding the correspondence came from someone in Canada.
“It says, ‘Let me introduce myself. I am the last surviving member of the Madison family who once owned the house, and I grew up in it’,” read the letter, New York Post reported.
“‘I would like to … tell you about the secret rooms and a few things you may not have been told when you bought the house’.”
The location of Courtney and Matt’s new home is unclear. The pair has also not shared any definitive information about the Madison family who previously owned the property.
But in the clip, which has clocked up more than 1.5 million views, the new homeowners took a tour around their rambling Victorian-style abode — which, according to a separate video, they recently purchased from a historical society — and uncovered its previously camouflaged details.
First, they unearthed a secret liquor cabinet above the fireplace in their front parlour. The treasure trove of dusty, vintage spirits was tucked away behind a sliding, mirrored panel. Decades-old, unopened bottles of French rosé wine from 1970 and cabernet sauvignon from 1989 were stashed away alongside aged containers of bourbon, beer and cream sherry.
Next, Courtney and Matt followed the letter to a secret room found “in the (bathroom), directly opposite the door in the wall.”
However, when the couple, with their toddler daughter in tow, hunted down the hidden escape in their bathroom — which Courtney deemed “by far the scariest room” in the house, owing to its antiquated and shabby appeal — the nook turned out to be a small crawl space rather than a room.
“My guess is there probably used to be some kind of room up here,” said Courtney, “but really, it’s just a creepy attic space.”
The slightly anticlimactic discovery aside, Courtney then revealed a tiny, locked door stationed directly opposite their toilet. The small entrance opened up to a sprawling trunk room.
“There is this huge space,” she exclaimed.
“We’re going to try and figure out how to use this space, but right now it’s just kind of a cool, cool room.”
And intrigued TikTok watchers agreed.
“I love your house! This is like a treasure hunt!” gushed an online onlooker.
“This is my literal dream! So jealous!” raved another, in part.
“I love that [the previous owner] mailed you a letter telling you all about the house,” one spectator cheered. “So cool!”
In separate posts, Courtney and Matt also revealed the former homeowners left antique furniture and trinkets in the house, including an old music box that plays a hair-raising rendition of the wedding march when cranked.
“Oh, my God!” yelled Courtney in a clip featuring the discovery. The video earned 1.2 million views on TikTok. “Every day, a new treasure.”
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and reproduced with permission