Over the decades, unsuspecting homeowners and renovation teams have discovered all sorts of things inside walls—from the weird to the wonderful.
Here’s a list of 20 intriguing “hidden in the wall” stories we found in the papers on Newspapers.com!
1. 300 pounds of honey
In 1910, a “cave of honey” was discovered and removed from the walls of a building in California. The honey haul totaled 300 pounds!
13 May 1910, Fri The Evening Index (San Bernardino, California) Newspapers.com
2. A mummified arm
Workers “engaged in excavation operations” at a British train station found the mummified arm of a woman in the wall of the stationmaster’s office in 1931. The police were called to investigate but did not find any more human remains. [Read the full article.]
16 Oct 1931, Fri Liverpool Daily Post (Liverpool, Merseyside, England) Newspapers.com
3. $800 in gold and coins
Two brothers found $700 in gold and $100 in coins hidden in the wall in a tin can while renovating their Kansas home. $800 in 1939 would be equivalent to over $18,000 today!
15 Mar 1939, Wed St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Missouri) Newspapers.com
4. A secret compartment filled with animal bones
A team doing restoration work on a 200-year-old home in Montreal in 1964 was startled to find a secret wall compartment filled with bones. But they “rested more easily” when they learned the bones were those of a cow or horse. [Read the full article.]
09 Sep 1964, Wed The Sun Times (Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
5. A cache of heirloom jewelry
A forgotten wall safe in a Minnesota mansion was rediscovered by a new owner in 1942 and, when opened, revealed a hoard of jewelry and documents. [Read the full article.]
04 Jun 1942, Thu Minneapolis Daily Times (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
6. 200 love letters
In 1924, 40-year-old love letters were found in the wall of a house being torn down in Chicago. There were more than 200 of them!
13 Feb 1924, Wed The Kentucky Post (Covington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com
7. 12th-century gold
Workers repairing an ancient house in France in the 1930s found a chest hidden in a wall that was filled with 800-year-old gold!
01 Jan 1938, Sat The Northern Herald (Cairns, Queensland, Australia) Newspapers.com
8. Valuable paintings
In 1957 Massachusetts, a court battle ensued after a couple who bought an artist’s former home discovered he had “painted some of his work on the inside of wall boards.” The artist, John O. J. Frost, had passed away about 30 years prior, and his son contended the valuable art should belong to the estate. [Read the full article.]
23 Jun 1957, Sun The Montana Standard (Butte, Montana) Newspapers.com
9. Decades-old dynamite
A heating contractor found 20 sticks of dynamite in a wall while doing work on a Pennsylvania home in 1960. It turned out the dynamite had probably been there for 34 years!
01 Oct 1960, Sat The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) Newspapers.com
10. A 19th-century mystery photo
A “mystery photo” at least 80 years old was uncovered inside a wall of a Kentucky office in 1963 while the building was being remodeled. The local paper published a copy of the photo to see if any of their readers could solve the mystery of who was in it—with mixed results.
13 Jun 1963, Thu The Sentinel-News (Shelbyville, Kentucky) Newspapers.com
11. A Prohibition-era arsenal
A Pennsylvania man repairing his mother’s staircase in 1958 discovered a secret compartment with 60 pistols and ammunition from the 1930s. Hidden along with the arsenal were 6 deep-sea fishing rods. [Read the full article.]
20 Jan 1958, Mon Tri-City Herald (Pasco, Washington) Newspapers.com
12. A 128-year-old report card (and money from the Revolutionary War)
When carpenters removed a wall of a New York home in 1954, they discovered a report card from 1826 and a $2 bill from 1776! The report card stated that Carolina Case “payed good attention to her studies.” [Read the full article.]
28 Jan 1954, Thu Springfield Leader and Press (Springfield, Missouri) Newspapers.com
13. 150-year-old beer
In 1930, four dozen bottles of beer were found bricked behind a wall at Sudeley Castle in England. The 150-year-old beer was “tasted and found to be in perfect condition.”
12 Jul 1930, Sat Weekly Call (Birmingham, Alabama) Newspapers.com
14. 19th-century textbooks
When an old California schoolhouse was torn down in 1931, a trove of textbooks was found inside the wall. One the books was from 1848! [Read the full article.]
18 Apr 1931, Sat The Oakland Post Enquirer (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com
15. Tools from the 1700s
In 1895, an old building in Scotland was demolished, revealing a variety of antique items dating back to the building’s construction in 1713. They included a trowel (found in a wall “at the north side of the building”) that was described as “a quaint specimen of the tools used two centuries ago.” [Read the full article.]
10 Apr 1895, Wed Aberdeen Weekly Journal and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland (Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland) Newspapers.com
16. A skeleton that might be the remains of an ancient queen
When a skeleton was discovered bricked into the wall of a church in Wales in 1934, archaeologists claimed it was “probably” the legendary Queen Boadicea, who lived during the time of the Roman Empire.
25 Apr 1934, Wed Elmira Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York) Newspapers.com
17. A rare book by a famous poet
Coming home after shearing sheep in 1926, a Scottish farmer “thrust his shears into a hole high up in the wall” and noticed an “obstruction.” That obstruction turned out to be a valuable first edition of poems by Robert Burns. [Read the full article.]
10 Aug 1926, Tue Evening Despatch (Birmingham, West Midlands, England) Newspapers.com
18. 200-year-old slippers
In 1956, “a pair of slippers and three cobblers’ lasts” were found in the wall of a house in England. The slippers turned out to be nearly 200 years old! (A “cobbler’s last” is a foot-shaped form used to make shoes.)
22 Sep 1956, Sat Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
19. A hidden room
A family tore down a wall in their Wisconsin home in 1949 only to find an entire room they hadn’t known about—even though they’d lived there for 43 years!
28 Jan 1949, Fri The Standard (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
20. A 50-year-old newspaper
In Indiana in 1955, a couple remodeling their home found a newspaper from 1904 in their wall. (And here’s a copy of that same 1904 paper on Newspapers.com!)
29 Apr 1955, Fri The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) Newspapers.comSearch today on Newspapers.com to find more stories of things found in walls! And follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, Threads, and TikTok for more content like this!