A Kansas father and son were shocked to discover a long-hidden secret lurking in the basement of their home.
Nick Lerner, a real estate agent from Lawrence, Kansas, took to his TikTok, @Nick.The.Realtor to reveal what they found underneath a refrigerator in the previously hidden bowels of the property.
The two videos chronicling their discovery and exploration of what was found have gone viral, and with good reason. Lerner’s story starts back during what was supposed to be a routine home inspection for one of his clients.
Lerner told Newsweek: “The inspector that was doing the home inspection said, ‘Nick, I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but there’s a secret room in your house, and discovering it was just about the coolest thing I can remember from my childhood.'”
It turned out the inspector was childhood friends with the boys from the family that had lived at the property prior to Lerner moving there. “He told us the location,” Lerner said. “We used a crowbar to uncover the hatch.”
Dragging the refrigerator out of the way and pulling up a small wooden hatch, Lerner was presented with a set of metal steps descending into pure darkness.
Lerner wasted little time in going to explore the space alongside his 17-year-old son. The videos posted to TikTok capture the first time Lerner and his son entered the mysterious space. Though it might have seemed daunting to some, given how long it had been closed off, Lerner’s overriding emotions were “sheer and utter excitement.”
“We were very excited to find out what was down there,” he said. “Although my son probably was a bit more reasonable and was concerned there might be trapped carbon dioxide or some snakes down there.”
What Lerner and his son found down there was a square space that could easily be turned into a small spare bedroom, home office or used for additional storage.
Most U.S. homeowners would love a little more space. In a poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by the storage service Neighbor.com, 1 in 4 said they needed more space.
As a real estate agent, Lerner said he is already thinking about the potential. “I think we could really add some value if we turn it into a cool and unusual space,” he added. “My wife wants to turn it into a wine cellar. I want to make it into a hidden grotto with a pool or something. It’s fun to think of the possibilities.”
As for why the space exists, many commenting on the clip appeared to share the same theory that the space previously served as a root cellar; this would have been used to store food in a time before refrigeration was easily available in the home.
While Lerner has big plans for the new room, he said it could prove useful in the short term as a storm shelter. “We’re in Kansas in Tornado Alley,” he said. He added that he is keen to take things slow in terms of deciding what they do with the room in the long-term.
“We’re in no rush to do anything and open to all of the possibilities,” he said. “At the least, we’ve got to figure out how to make the stairs more usable and the room more accessible.”
TikTok/nick.the.realtor