- [Narrator] They say some
doors are best left closed, but curiosity will often get the better of anyone posed with a
mystery of what lies beyond. And out of the many door varieties, trap doors take the cake for generating the most intrigue and, indeed, hiding some
of the creepiest finds. From secret underwater passageways to hidden horror pits, grab your torches as we venture through some of the strangest
trapped doors ever found. (upbeat techno music) The Secret Swamp. When vacationing in the
English countryside, a quaint lakeside cottage might seem like the perfect destination for some rest and relaxation. So, when TikTok user robertibus booked a Lake District AirBnB
for his family vacation, he was expecting to
have a wonderful holiday surrounded by greenery. Little did he know that
things were about to get a lot greener than he'd intended! Upon entering the property, everything was just as
Robert had expected, comfy couches, a TV, a piano, but in the midst of the carpet, partially covered by a sofa, was a large wooden door. Baffled by the unexpected door, Robert's curiosity led him to investigate, and after a quick sofa shuffle, he was able to pull open
the spooky basement door. At first, he was met with only a stairway leading to impenetrable darkness. With his pet dog nearby for moral support, Robert descended the stairs, and nearing the bottom, he was confronted with
what looked like a sea of bright green toxic waste that was certainly not
mentioned in the rental ad! At first, Robert was as
baffled as the rest of us, but in an update, he told followers it seemed as though
the green water was due to the use of a staining
solution used to find leaks. Considering the whole basement
was bright green and flooded, I guess you could say
it served its purpose, although it seemed a little
late to help that leak. But green dye or not, the discovery of this swamp pit
wasn't the only creepy thing Robert and his family encountered while staying at the cottage. Water faucets reportedly
began turning themselves on and off, and after hunting high and low for a missing TV remote upon arrival, it mysteriously appeared right in the middle of the
sofa the very next morning! So, was a combination of bad plumbing and forgetfulness to blame, or was there something sinister lurking in that swampy green pit? Well, I'll leave that up to you. Door in the water. The allure of most trap doors
revolves around the mystery of working out what's inside, but the secret behind this
next hatch is finding it in the first place! The man behind this trap door
discovery is Martin Zero, a history buff who spends his
time uncovering the secrets of the northern English
city of Manchester. Being something of an expert on the hidden architecture of his city, Martin had found out that
there was a hidden river that ran beneath Manchester
known as the River Tib. Pretty fascinating on its own, but why would there be
a river under a city? Well, during the Roman period, the River Tib marked the border of a settlement known as Mancunium, until it was built over during the industrial
revolution of the late 1800s. During this boom in manufacturing, towns and cities like Manchester found that they needed a more effective way to transport goods quickly. As waterways, canals
provided greater control over the flow and level of water compared with a natural river, which making them less likely to flood and disrupt the transport of materials. And so, the River Tib was bricked over and replaced by the Rochdale Canal that currently runs through Manchester. While Martin had heard rumors about a legendary trap door in the canal that led to the hidden River Tib, he wasn't sure what to believe. Legend had it that the
trap door lay in the depths of lock 89 of the Rochdale Canal and was installed to act as a plughole when the canal needed clearing. But, ever the historical adventurer, Martin wanted proof! After doing some
research, Martin found out that there was actually physical evidence of the trap door at the canal itself, and sure enough, when
he went to investigate, he found it. Carved into a concrete slab on the canal bank was an
arrow pointing to the water, and Martin felt sure that he'd found the X that marked the trap door! Despite this incredible find, the water was far too murky
to be able to see a door for that crucial proof, and Martin sadly concluded that he'd never get the chance to see it, if it was really there at all. That was until one day, when he heard that lock 89
was due to be cleaned out. This meant that if it was really there, that the coveted trap door
drain was about to be revealed. Donning a hard hat and a camera in hand, Martin was able to
capture something amazing. Not just proof that the door existed, but also a very rare look at
the trap door drain in action! The trap door itself is over 200 years old and acts as a plughole through which water from the canal journeys
a 16 to 20 feet drop into the lost River Tib, which runs through to meet
the much larger River Medlock. While he couldn't get down in
there to have a look inside, the trap door itself was the
real star of the show here, and looks like something
straight out of an old shipwreck. While you might think this
trap door just conceals water, it's actually hiding a whole
200-year-old world underneath, a doorway into Manchester's rich history. Anyone else really want to
go and explore down there? An Elementary Mystery. Memories of school days
are different for everyone. Some look back fondly and some
with utter shame and disgust. But for one pair of adventurous students, one particular day among their time in elementary school
was shrouded in mystery! Reddit user Asian_Prometheus
shared the story of the strange discovery he made after being caught in the midst of a mischievous pranking
frenzy in elementary school. He and another student were
left to clean out the school gym as punishment while the
rest of the class went off on a field trip. Bored senseless and left all alone, these whippersnappers were
desperate for some excitement, and when they noticed a
mysterious-looking understage panel, they sensed that an adventure was afoot. The massive amount of dust covering the small door told the boys it hadn't been opened
for a really long time. But with a bit of perseverance, they were finally able to prise it open. Crawling into the
darkness below the stage, the boys were stunned to see
that there was another door in the old floorboards! A trap door, of course, just in case you missed
the title of this video. Being the fearless, or possibly
stupid, kids they were, these boys didn't hesitate
to jump straight down, through the trap door, only to find themselves
ankle deep in water. (water splashing softly) Regardless, they ventured on, splashing along a gloomy tunnel into an even darker room. The boys deduced that they were below the school's newly-built
kindergarten playground. Despite the presence of a tiny window, they couldn't see a thing But, high on the adrenaline
of their adventure, they were thrilled at the thought of having found themselves
a potential secret hideout! However, they soon concluded that the water that covered
the floor was too deep to make good use of the secret spot, and so they decided to
give up and tell a teacher. Confused by the boys' revelation, the school sent a team
down with flashlights to investigate what was
beneath the trap door. What they found will send
a shiver down your spine. Despite concluding that the underground
bunker was nothing more than an old storm cellar, no one could have predicted the terrors that had been lurking in the dark, totally unbeknownst to the boys. Little did the boys know that when they'd been
down in that dark room, there had been several pairs
of eyes looking right at them through the darkness. Thanks to their flashlights, the team sent down there were able to see that the dark room was
filled with a whole lot of incredibly creepy wooden dolls! While the boys weren't
down there to play out their own rendition of "Annabelle," the question of how the
dolls ended up there and what happened to their
owners remains a mystery. I know I wouldn't have stuck around there long enough to find out, would you? Don't Ask About The Trap Door. When checking into a 2-star hotel, you probably anticipate
that it might not be the best night's sleep of your life. But one 2-star hotel
guest had 5-star's worth of the heebie jeebies when they discovered something
disturbing in their room, something that just kept
getting stranger and stranger. Addison Cassel, who shared
her story with TikTok, was relaxing on her hotel bed when she first noticed a cut
mark in the carpet below. Picking away at it, she was surprised to find
a hidden flap in the floor! Seeing as this particular
hotel had just one story, Addison didn't think she'd
actually find anything below, but lifting the flap, she uncovered an eerie hidden crawl space! The space was pretty small
and chock-full of cobwebs, and served no apparent purpose. But while there wasn't
anything in it at that moment, it was hard not to think about one fact, that the space was pretty
much the perfect size for a human body. Still feeling a little unnerved after she'd left the next day, Addison's curiosity got the better of her. She called the hotel after leaving to ask about the unexpected cavity in her room, and this was where
things got much stranger. To her surprise, she received
quite the bizarre response. The hotel receptionist
became audibly annoyed by Addison's curiosity, answering every question by claiming that it was none of her business. Finally, the receptionist told Addison that the crawl space
under her room was used for pipes and nothing more, evasively ending the conversation. If that's what it was really for, why was she so shady about it? And as if that wasn't odd enough, as we can see from Addison's footage, there's not a single pipe to
be seen in this creepy hole, only a wooden crossbeam at the end. So, what do you think? Merely a rude receptionist? Or a hotel with something to hide? Let me know in the comments below. The Tailor's Trap Door. While the insatiable curiosity to explore the hidden depths of off-limits places can be dangerous, it can also result in some
truly amazing discoveries. One guy out there that can't get enough of
adventuring is Brennen Evangelista, a YouTuber with a passion for
exploring abandoned buildings, shared on his awesome
channel, Uncharted Travel. In September 2018, one of Brennen's explorations
became even more intriguing when he stumbled across
something he'd never expected while exploring the small commune
of Elice in central Italy. In 2009, Elice was hit
with an extreme earthquake that shook the Abruzzo region of Italy. Shortly after the devastation, the population of Elice
declined from 2,000 to around 800, rendering
it quite the ghost town. Due to the steep decline in population, Elice is home to many abandoned villas, left behind by families
fleeing the earthquake. After speaking with some locals, Brennen was able to get access to one such vacated villa that had been home to a
tailor and his family. Inside the villa, Brennen found a whole host of creepy abandoned personal effects, including the tailor's craft
supplies, old photographs, as well as cracks in the tiles, presumably from the earthquake. While exploring the kitchen, Brennen noticed a mysterious trap door in the corner of the
room with a lock on it. Amazingly, Brennen found
that the door was unlocked. When he finally opened the hatch, he was amazed at what he saw. Behind the door, a wooden staircase paved the
descent into the unknown. When Brendan reached the bottom, he found the cellar's contents, thick with dust and decay and presumably had been left undisturbed for almost 10 years after
being abandoned by the family. The villa itself was built
sometime in the 1400s, so the cellar was likely
to be hundreds of years old and would have been used by
many families in its lifetime. Unfortunately for its
most recent inhabitants, their life here was sadly cut
short by their evacuation, and the haunting remnants of a beloved home left in
a hurry were everywhere. The place was filled with eerie reminders of what would have been
used in the kitchen, from half-filled casks of homemade wine to jar upon jar of pasta sauce and other vague, rotten jarred goods. With no idea what the tailor
or his family are doing today, nor what their reasons were for never returning to
collect their stuff, the whole experience had an
undoubtedly eerie quality to it. All that remains are the
ghosts of possessions past, but I'd say that beats a
basement full of ghosts, or snakes, or ghost snakes. Tunnels Of Horror. While the contents of that
last trap door were steeped in family history, how about one that reveals the
history of an entire country? This trap door may look straight out of a found footage horror movie, but the reality within
is even more terrifying than any work of fiction could ever be. This is one entrance
to the Cu Chi tunnels, a network of underground burrows used by soldiers during the Vietnam War. When closed and covered with leaves, the trap-doored tunnel entrances are almost completely undetectable and helped Communist Vietnamese soldiers, known as the Viet Cong, stay hidden from enemy forces. The Cu Chi tunnels span for 75 miles in and around Ho Chi Minh
City, now known as Saigon, and are still accessible today. These tunnel complexes were
made up of one to four levels, each separated by secret trap doors and included kitchens, hospitals, and other rooms needed
for a functioning army. Not only that, but the tunnels were
chock full of booby-traps, including spiked snares
hidden in the darkness. These were there ready to greet any anti-Communist Vietnamese
fighters or Americans who were unlucky enough
to be assigned the job of scoping out the underground burrows. Despite providing cover
from aerial bomb attacks, living conditions in the Cu
Chi tunnels was appalling. Food and water were scarce, and the tunnels were often infested with snakes, scorpions, spiders, and rats, and that wasn't even the worst part! One of the most challenging aspects of tunnel life was breathing underground. Despite the use of cleverly
disguised air vents, like this one, disguised
as a termite mound, it was utterly suffocating down there, and the stale air caused near-constant headaches and dizziness. On top of that, in such
cramped, hot conditions, diseases spread like wildfire, and thanks to this, malaria
became the second-largest cause of death besides battle wounds. What's more, the darkness in some of these tunnels was so absolute that many long-term tunnel
dwellers even suffered temporary blindness when they
emerged back into the light. Jeez. If I wasn't claustrophobic
before, I sure am now! Hole-ier Than Thou. If all this talk of secret tunnels and basements isn't spooky enough for you, how about a spooky basement
inside a spooky attic? UK-based TikTok user badgalbeepbeep, who lives in the boarding
school her mom runs, found quite the double
threat in an attic conversion when she stumbled across a
strange, creaking floorboard in the corner. Peeling back the carpet and removing a dark wooden slab, badgal discovered a hole with a ladder descending into the unknown. Badgal by name, badgal by nature, the TikToker bravely
scaled the ladder rungs and found herself in a bunker that looked as though someone
had been living down there! The place was filled with trash, but with no hidey-holer to be seen. Badgal was on the hunt for answers. In a follow-up video,
the TikToker explained that the boys' boarding school
her mom was in charge of had been built sometime
in the 18th century, and the hole in question
was actually what's known as a priest hole. Hey, get your mind out of the gutter and let me explain what
a priest hole is, okay? In 16th and 17th century England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, being a Catholic was a big no-no, and priests had to go into
hiding to escape persecution. These secret chambers were often concealed in walls and, like this one, under floors. Turns out that the hideout
found by badgal hasn't been used by priests in a couple hundred years, but it was clear that it had hosted some far more recent mischief. The soda cans, snack packaging, and empty bottles of alcohol revealed that the boarding school boys
had obviously found themselves a little party pad for after hours. Despite badgalbeepbeep
clearing out the trash, the hideout still doesn't
exactly look ideal for a chill spot, unless
you don't mind hanging with some spiders and priest ghosts! I guess a clergyman poltergeist or two would've made Sunday
school a lot more interesting. Manhole Masterpiece. By now, we can see that the contents of some trap doors give
their finders a lot more than they bargained for. But this next set of hatches
are quite the opposite! Street artist Biancoshock has
taken the idea of a trap door and re-positioned it as far as possible from large, dark, cobweb-covered rooms with an exhibition that colorfully, and satirically, showcases
the tough reality of cramped living conditions. Dubbed "Borderlife," the 2016 exhibition
showcased opened trap doors all across the Lodi district in Milan, depicting a downsizing of
ordinary household rooms. Beneath each heavy metal
trap door lay a cramped world that seems unimaginable
for anyone to inhabit, including a tiny kitchen with a clock and hanging utensils, as well as a minuscule bathroom. The underground installations
might be modeled on what you could find in a traditional house but are actually inspired
by the estimated 600 people who are thought to inhabit
Bucharest's sewer system in Romania. While no one lives in
Biancoshock's Milanese manholes, as nicely-decorated as they are, the thought of being locked
inside one is, for me, the ultimate nightmare fuel. But what do you think? Could you stay in one of
these cramped Borderlife rooms for the night? If you think you could handle it, I challenge you to handle this other video of mine about some of the most claustrophobic
horror stories shared online. If you make it through
without sweaty palms, you're certainly braver than me. Under Home Dungeon. Moving home can be a stressful time, but if a great deal on
a place is on the table, you need to act fast! That's exactly what this next
trap door discoverer did, though, not without a
few shocking surprises! On move-in day, he found something that turned out to be a whole lot more than he'd bargained for. Everything looked totally normal at first, just your average studio apartment. But, just outside the bathroom, a strange hook hung on the wall, and below was a mysterious trapdoor that stood out among the dark floorboards The rent for the one-bedroom
property had been pretty cheap, so it seemed unlikely there would be anything
extraordinary below. Even so, he couldn't contain his curiosity and slowly opened up the trap door. At first, it looked like the secret hatch was just
a small storage space, but after taking a closer look beyond the bulk of DIY supplies, it became clear that things
were not as they seemed. Peering down inside the hatch, the new tenant was
startled to see something that most certainly wasn't on the lease, a stairway into darkness! With the purpose of the
wall hook now clear, he attached it to the trap door, holding it open as he cleared a path and made his descent. As he continued exploring, it became apparent that this
wasn't just an underfloor room, it was a full-on labyrinth that stretched across the
entire apartment complex. There was a lot to
discover within the maze, including some cryptic
graffiti which might be a nod to the initials of English soccer team Coventry City Football Club, but could just as easily be
the initials of a crazy cult! Maybe the Cannibal Cuisine Fan Club? Anything's possible. An even creepier find was a concrete slab that looked like some kind
of bed or sacrificial altar. The tenant later found out that his new digs were inside
a renovated English monastery that dated back to the 1800s, making the discovery of the
tunnel all the spookier. Turns out the basement extended way beyond the edges of the apartment, and he could even hear his new
neighbors in their apartments above the ceiling of the tunnel. With a dungeon space as big
as that beneath the apartment, spreading out below other people's homes, the scariest thing about this
dungeon is the fact that, unbeknownst to his neighbors,
the previous tenant of the trapdoor apartment
could've been spying on them from below! With that horrific thought now plaguing our minds into paranoia, I think a universal ban on
trapdoors might be in order. But which of these trap door findings creeped you out the most? Would you be bold enough
to explore the depths if you found a mysterious trap door? Let me know down in the comments below. And as always, thanks for watching! (upbeat techno music)
