Ohio Couple’s House Makeover Uncovers Shocking Discoveries Leading to FBI Probe

One couple from Ohio got the surprise of a lifetime while renovating their vintage home. While working on the basement, they started finding clues that their new residence was more than just a place to live happily ever after. In fact, they found an amazing discovery after hacking away the homes old plywood.

The suburban house the couple bought was a fairly large. The house had two main floors and a large basement. With a house this size the couple knew the entire renovation process would be a pretty long one.

Once the renovation process began, it went off pretty much without a hitch. Of course the couple faced a few setbacks along the way, but nothing out of the ordinary. They braced themselves for what they expected would be their most costly and time consuming area of the renovation—the basement.

After pulling back the wallpaper, the homeowners noticed drawings and writings all over the place which were incredibly unusual. While they didn’t know what it all meant, they had a gut feeling this room was going to reveal more to them about their home than they knew.

Whatever it was, it was lodged tight and he had to tug to get it out. It took a little bit of courage and effort, but he was eventually able to get it down for further inspection. As he kept working, he started to find other clues.

The homeowner assumed someone stored the green-and-grey suitcase up there to ensure nobody else could find it. As he took it down, he was amazed at just how heavy it was. He wondered how long it had been stashed away in the ceiling. What could possibly be inside a container like this and why was it hidden? 

Before opening the suitcase, he decided to call his wife. He didn’t want her to miss out on this exciting discovery. After all, it was probably a good idea to have someone else around, just in case what he found was gruesome or dangerous. So he waited for her to come home before going forward.

It was possible that it was really nothing valuable or horrific—like bricks or papers, or some family photos that everyone forgot about. Perhaps the suitcase wasn’t purposefully hidden, but rather pushed into the ceiling for storage and simply forgotten about.

They began thinking up a list of what could be inside the heavy case. Money? Jewelry? Heirlooms?

After opening the suitcase, the couple found a bunch of odd bundles wrapped in wax paper. Neither the husband nor the wife could guess what they were. They decided to start unwrapping the paper to reveal what was carefully wrapped within.

Peeling away the waxy material, the husband realized what they were dealing with was money. In fact, what he held in his hands was actually a giant stack of twenty-dollar bills! After inspecting the cash more closely, they realized these were not new bills. Even more baffling was the sheer amount of cash that was inside the suitcase.

The homeowners must have felt like someone was playing a prank on them. After their discovery, they told journalists that they were freaking out by that point. They even said, “This doesn’t happen to us! What do we do? Where are the hidden cameras?” 

As you might expect, they were hoping to find more twenty-dollar bills. However, they found stacks of fifty and hundreds instead. These stacks were adding up fast and the couple was curious about how much money could possibly fit in this one suitcase.

After finding a suitcase full of stacks in their own home, the husband and wife initially thought it was a funny joke. But then reality hit. Finding this much money hidden away in a suitcase stashed in the ceiling of the basement all seemed rather suspicious. Who hid it there and were they dangerous?

They realized that everything was old, from the suitcase itself to the money. This meant that whoever put it there did so a long time ago. If they could figure out a better time frame of when the suitcase was hidden, they may become that much closer to understanding the story behind it.

The newspaper came from decades ago and was from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Judging by this 1951 newspaper and the fact the bills themselves were also decades old, the couple believed it was fair to assume this suitcase had been stashed inside this Ohio home for five to six decades.

The couple started to look at the bills more carefully. Some were marked as star note bills, rare bills that are denoted by a printed star next to the bill’s serial number. Because of their rarity, they’re typically worth more than their face value.

It was an amazing find, and they weren’t exactly sure what to do with their discovery. They decided to call a lawyer to help with the next step in the process.

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Unfortunately, the homeowner was alone again when he found the second suitcase. And this one was heavier than the first! He decided it would be a good idea to wait for his wife to come home. Knowing what the last one contained, he knew she would be just as shocked, excited, and nervous. 

After the first suitcase had been loaded with money, they assumed this second one might be very similar. Their suspicions were correct. This other case was full of money, neatly arranged. It may not have come packaged in wax paper, but it was money all the same. In fact, this time the amount totaled more than before.

As mentioned, the second case had more money that the first suitcase. So, how much did they find? It was worth over forty-five thousand dollars! But this didn’t solve the mystery. Instead, it was just more mysterious evidence, leaving them wondering why it was happening and what else was hidden within their home.

About the same time they found suitcases of money in their basement ceiling, the family noticed a strange door on the second floor of the home. After this discovery, the couple was even more determined to uncover all of the secrets of their home. They began looking deeper and deeper into this mystery.

The small secret door actually opened up into a much larger room that looked like it was used often in the past. However, the dark secrets they would uncover here were tucked away in the corner of the room.

The first thing the couple found in this mysterious hidden room was an old, worn-out brown leather briefcase. The couple expected to find more cash inside, but this time, the contents were more than just money.

The couple was confused by the contents of the old briefcase. Nevertheless, they went further into their newly discovered hidden room to see what else was there.

Inside of the safe was a white piece of paper with black ink bleeding through the paper with the words, “SAVE YOURSELF.” The husband and wife suddenly felt the chill of the room in their bones as they pondered what this could mean. Who needed saving? And what was this room used for?

Inside the lid of the safe, the words “DO NOT” were written in white ink. What did that mean? The couple wondered if this message was meant for them, or if it was meant for someone who was in this room in the past. They felt nervous as they kept looking into the contents of the safe. Lying under the creepy “Save Yourself” warning were multiple video tapes.

Some of the tapes were labeled with numbers and letters that didn’t seem to make any sense. Were they the dates the tapes were made? Or maybe a secret code for whoever once owned them? The couple had no idea how old these tapes were or how long the safe had been in the room. However, unlike the contents of the suitcases they found earlier, these tapes seemed newer than 1951.

The couple decided to just forget about the tapes and continue with their home renovations. They didn’t want to get involved in something that was above their heads, and possibly dangerous. But, as the days passed, they began to wonder more and more what was on those six video tapes.

The couple was not prepared for what they saw on the tapes. They now knew one thing for certain: their house in Cleveland, Ohio, was full of dark secrets. To our dismay, the footage on the tapes is not public knowledge, so we don’t know precisely what was on them.

The local authorities immediately decided this was a matter for the FBI. The Feds showed up to their house and declared it a crime scene. Agents arrived, confiscated the tapes, and started a full-fledged investigation.

Their Ohio home became the scene of a crime—and the FBI combed over every detail. However, we still don’t know exactly what crime was actually committed. In the end the Feds seized all of the jewelry, watches, the briefcase, the note, and the tapes.

The husband had been posting updates and photos of the entire discovery on a Reddit thread, and the story was gaining popularity. During the time that the couple was questioned, the police noticed the following he had gained.

Now, we can only speculate what was on those tapes that were found in the hidden room. It seems likely that whatever it was, it was a very dark and sinister secret, especially because the FBI responded immediately and quickly confiscated the tapes.