A family renovating their dream home in Italy has stumbled upon a sealed-off door in the stable that lies underneath their apartment.
Artist and photographer Marianne Pfeffer Gjengedal, who is originally from Norway, posted a video to her TikTok @sweetnpfeffer explaining how she and her family had “uncovered a real mystery” while renovating their palazzo in Sicily, which dates back to 1850.
“We noticed it when we went on the first viewing in June 2022,” Pfeffer Gjengedal told Newsweek. “But it was brief and we didn’t think that much about it.”
Beneath their apartment lies an area that once served as an ancient stable. At the back of these stables, they found a “sealed door.”
“When we had bought it and got the keys in December 2022, we walked around the house and asked the previous owner what was behind the blocked door,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said. “He didn’t know anything about it.”
So, when the renovations on the property began, they were eager to find out what was behind it. Breaking open a small hole in the wall, Pfeffer Gjengedal and her partner Alex Molkom were able to get a camera inside for a closer look.
What they saw and what was shown in the video posted to TikTok was a “man-made cave” full of stones. The couple brought their architect, Sebastiano Pisana, who knows the town well, to consult on the contents.
“He has a few theories,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said. “One is that our house was built on top of an old man-made cave, and during renovations or construction, it may have been filled with waste.”
Another idea is that it’s connected to the sewer system. “There’s even a possibility the cave links to a tunnel system,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said.
Renovating a property can be stressful. In a survey of just under 1,000 U.S. citizens conducted by Schlesinger Group on behalf of home renovation and remodeling service Sweeten, 85 percent of respondents said they consider the process stressful.
Pfeffer Gjengedal’s has caused her personal stress for slightly different reasons though. While the footage they recorded provided a glimpse of what was inside, it also revealed how something or someone was “glimpsing” at them, with a pair of eyes visible in the darkness captured on the video.
Pfeffer Gjengedal hadn’t originally spotted the unknown guest on the video. “It wasn’t until I went upstairs to show my kids, that my oldest calmly commented that what I thought was a stream of light, was two eyes catching the reflection from my phone,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said. “I screamed and a cold chill went down my back.”
Quite what it was staring back at them that day is unclear. “My first guess was a cat, because of the size of the room and the eyes. But we don’t know,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said.
“Thankfully I didn’t see it then and there. The hole is too small, so I was just able to stick my arm through it and film with my cellphone. The kids have had a lot of fun the last two days showing me all kinds of Italian animals and rats that could be down there.”
What’s clearer, however, is their plans to open up the space. “We’re definitely emptying the cave to see what’s down there,” Pfeffer Gjengedal said “Our house is 600 square meters [about 6,500 square feet], so it’s not like we need the extra space—we’re just way too curious to leave it as it is. Living above a cave without knowing what’s inside? No thanks.”
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