Cleaning
Cleaning out a cluttered attic or garage can be a BIG job. This is especially true if it has been decades since the area was cleaned last. When items have been in storage for a while, it is easy to forget what is there. An Imgur user named Todirel was going through his grandparent’s ceramics room that hadn’t been touched in a long time and found something incredible. A mysterious box discovered in grandparents’ house holds a decades-old secret nobody saw coming.
The Ceramics Room
Todirel’s grandparents’ ceramics room had gone unused for a long time. Inside, there were finished and unfinished art projects that he had never seen before. He took a quick look at all of the art projects that his family had completed and never had a chance to. In the back of the room, hidden behind their art, Todirel saw a tall cupboard. He decided to see what types of art projects were inside the cupboard, so he opened it.
Something Hidden
When he opened the cupboard, Todriel discovered that the cupboard had a false bottom. There was a rectangular box at the bottom of the cupboard that was packed with gravel. This piqued his curiosity. Why would someone install a false bottom in a cupboard if they didn’t have something to hide.
A Hidden Safe
When he brushed away the gravel, Todriel found a safe underneath. It had a combination dial. He asked his grandmother if she knew the combination, but she didn’t. Unfortunately, his grandfather had passed away, so he had no way of getting the combination to open the safe. He wasn’t going to let something as simple as not knowing the combination stop him, and he headed out to the garage.
Power Tools
Because the safe was old and flimsy, Todirel decided to use power tools to get into the safe. His father had a grinder in the garage which Todriel was sure could help him get into the safe. First, he used the grinder to get the safe out of the gravel. Next, he used it to pry the top off. He was excited to see what was inside the safe. Since his grandmother was shocked by his discovery, and she didn’t know the combination of the safe, he was sure that she didn’t know what was inside. Todriel loved mysteries, and this was a real mystery.
A Note
The first thing that he found was a note. It read, “Abandon all regret ye who enter here.” Todriel recognized the passage. It was from Dante’s Inferno. This line was scrawled above the entrance to hell. Todriel was sure that it was his grandfather’s idea of a joke. The note wasn’t the only thing that he found in the safe. Inside, there was also a large cloth with a Chinese symbol that meant, “double happiness.”
The Pouch
When Todriel went to grab the next object from the safe, the dial broke into pieces. This gave him an idea of how old the safe was. Next, he found an old leather pouch wrapped in the black cloth. On the pouch was the year 1776. Inside the pouch was a British Army issue barrel cloth that was in pristine condition. There was also a pocket watch inside.
Stamps
Todriel also found a collection of old stamps inside the pouch. Some were so old that they were from countries that no longer exist such as the Soviet Union, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and Zaire. He knew that these stamps would be a stamp collector’s dream.
Old Photos
What Todriel found the most interesting was the old photos. He found a picture of his great-great-grandmother standing in front of a window. The picture had to be at least 100-years-old. Had he never found the safe, he never would have seen a photo of his great grandfather looking incredibly dapper.
Coins
At the bottom of the safe, Todriel found coins. The coins were very old, and some were incredibly strange. He also found an old key. He discovered that the coins that he found were from empires and countries that were long gone. One of the coins was a 1921 Morgan silver dollar which was said to be worth a lot of money. When he posted the photo of the coins, many Imgur users told him to hold onto the coins becasue many of them were rare. He couldn’t believe what was hidden in his grandmother’s art room for so many years. She seemed pretty surprised as well. He says that finding the safe helped him learn a bit about his family, which to him meant the world. It isn’t too often that you find a hidden treasure that can open up secrets to your past.
Alex Carson
