Man Discovers Creepy 40-Foot Well in Crawl Space Underneath Old House

A Pennsylvania family made an unexpected and slightly unsettling discovery in the crawl space beneath their home built in 1901: a 40-foot deep well.

Pictures of the well were posted to Reddit r/oddlyterrifying forum by a woman posting under the username u/definitelynotagurl. At the time of writing the creepy images had been upvoted over 52,000 times.

She told Newsweek: "My husband was doing some electrical work in the cellar's crawl space when he noticed another hole on the wall inside. When he went to check it out he found the well."

The pictures prompted several social media users to speculate on what might be lurking at the bottom of the well.

"Get a go pro and a very long piece of string, and let's see what's at the bottom of that well!" Redditor Chief_wizard commented on the post.

"People in Europe always find cool stuff at the bottom of Wells. Swords, guns, all kinds of stuff," user xxxspaceturdxx commented.

The homeowner was personally hoping to find some coins down there—and with good reason too.

In 2019, USA Today reported on an English couple who uncovered a nest egg of gold coins while renovating the kitchen of their North Yorkshire home. The coins, worth an estimated $290,000 were found in a salt-glazed cup buried underneath the concrete and floorboards of the property, which dated back to the 18th century.

The Pennsylvania house featured in the viral Reddit post dates back to around 1901, according to the owner.

"We bought this house because of its age," she said. "We love antiques and hopefully will one day restore it to what it looked like before. It's been modernized with carpeting and drop ceilings."

Though they are hoping to, quite literally, get to the bottom of what is down there, the homeowner admits she's aware that the discovery bears more than a passing similarity to the kind of thing wheeled out in a horror movie.

For most on Reddit, the discovery was especially reminiscent of the film The Ring, which tells the story of the vengeful spirit of a little girl who died in a well beneath her father's home and now haunts victims through a cursed videotape.

Reviewing the pictures posted online, Redditor blameitonthegrouch said: "I see 2 pairs of eyes down there." User thesnapening commented that the well was also reminiscent of the one fictional serial killer Buffalo Bill kept his victims in during The Silence of the Lambs.

"It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again," Ordinary-Ad6408 wrote in a reference to Ted Levine's classic line as the killer. User apittsburghoriginal called the discovery "horrifying," with kidneycat commenting: "Ohhh, you 100% got a demon in there."

Definitelynotagurl can certainly see the similarities to The Ring and appears a little wary of what lurks beneath—particularly as the property was previously owned by a funeral director.

"I told my husband we needed to seal it before a ghost crawled out of it or our kids discovered it," she said. "I haven't explored the well or crawl space yet but I'm planning on doing some magnet fishing."

However, she stressed that there's a perfectly logical explanation for the well's location underneath the house.

"The house was built in the late 1800's early 1900's and back then they would build the wells in the basement or under the porch to help keep it from freezing in the winter time," she said. "The well in the basement also allowed the pump to be in the house so they didn't have to go outside to fetch water."

Estimating the well is around 40 feet deep, she said they are planning to "see what's down there" and then "probably cover it up" as a safety precaution rather than anything else.

In the event that they make any surprising discoveries, she has promised to return with news, whether it's good or bad.