Realtor discovers hidden room disguised as closet: ‘Some call that a basement, others call it a dungeon…’
A realtor has revealed her confusion over a room she discovered in a house she was showing.
Jessica Law, who works in Gainesville, Florida, was filming a home tour for prospective buyers in Central Florida when she noticed within a bedroom there was a door towards the back that looked like it was only a closet. In her video posted to both TikTok and Instagram, she captured the moment that she realised she was wrong.
“I’m not gonna lie, in all the years that I’ve been selling real estate, I’ve never had something quite like this come up,” Law said in her video.
Within the bedroom, the assumed closet door revealed a second door reminiscent of a prison as it had a swing latch and a grid-like formation of iron bars. There were also stairs beyond that door, which led to an “underground room” made out of concrete blocks.
“The original house was built in 1958,” she told viewers. “This structure definitely does not seem to be post 1958.”
According to Law, the room had electricity, water, and a dehumidifier and could only be described as a basement, which isn’t typical of houses located in Florida because their proximity to swamps or marshes make the ground too wet to construct one.
Her clip ended as she asked her viewers if they would “hang out” in that room and to give their guesses on what it was originally used for.
After posting, Law’s TikTok video went on to receive almost two million views, with many people leaving comments about being scared to assume what the room was used for.
“That’s a werewolf den for full moons! I got one in my house too,” one commenter joked.
Another commenter suggested, “nuke bunker because door latch is on inside, also wrap around concrete walls help against initial radiation exposure (can’t go around corners)”. According to the poster, they have a similar one in their house.
“Probably was built with a house as a fallout shelter,” a third commenter assumed. “Considering the date of the home and proximity to Cuba it seems more plausible than a torture chamber.”
“Some call that a basement, others call it a dungeon…” a commenter wrote.
Other commenters didn’t care about what the room could have been used for, they just didn’t want to be there themselves.
“Lord have mercy no, run fast, save yourself,” one person commented on Instagram.
“That’s a big NOPE for me! I’ve seen this true crime episode,” a second commenter chimed in.
In follow-up videos, Law came to the conclusion that the theory for the room that she agreed with the most was it was a fallout shelter or a nuclear bunker. “The house was built in the 50s,” she told her viewers on TikTok.
“That would have been during the Cuban Missile Crisis and people in Florida were really freaked out. But then there’s that iron cage-looking door and if you were trying to keep out the radiation, why would you do it like that?”
The Independent has contacted Law for comment.
