Shock as Man Unearths 'Secret' Cellar in His 1800s House Filled With Liquor

Sep 08, 2023

A man has captured viral attention online after sharing the secrets inside a 200-year-old basement in England.

Luca and his friend Tom started by cutting a chunk from the floor of Tom's house after they were told there was a long-hidden basement underneath.

In a video with the hashtag #secretroom", posted on TikTok on November 12 by luca2198, the pair used a saw to cut through the floorboards.

With over three million views, people were dying to see what was inside: "Get to the point," said one commenter, while another wrote: "This feels like the start to a horror film."

In a part two posted not long after, Luca and Tom headed down the newly created gap to see what was beneath.

Newsweek has reached out to Luca and Tom for comment.

Climbing down a ladder into the depths of the basement, they were greeted by a brick room filled with dust and trash.

But in a corner, they also stumbled on some glass bottles.

"Dust it off," said a voice from behind the camera as one of the men picked up a bottle. On the empty bottle, the embossed text read "Clarke's World Famed Blood Mixture."

Francis Clarke was a three-time mayor of the city of Lincoln, England, and a noted philanthropist. Born in 1842, he was the son of a chemist and set up his own chemist's business when he was just 17 years old.

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Clarke quickly began concocting his own medicinal products. Among these was Clarke's World Famed Blood Mixture which gained huge popularity in the 1860s as it claimed to cure various complaints including sores, glandular swelling, scurvy, rheumatism, gout, pimples, and piles.

The British Medical Association analyzed the product in 1909 and found that it contained mostly water, a little sugar, alcohol, and traces of chloroform and ammonia, according to Lincolnshire Life magazine.

"That's mad," said one of the men in the basement as they looked through the bottles.

Among the bottles was a full bottle which they believed to be brandy.

"Looks like there was some sort of ancient party going on down here," they joked as they continued to film their finds.

In the comments, TikTok users shared their reactions and thoughts on the videos.

"Those bottles are worth a lot of money," said one commenter, while another wrote: "Little gold mine you've found."

"Get these bottles appraised NOW," said another. "You could pay off the house."

Other bottles in the cellar included a whiskey dated 1897 and a pair of boots.

"Old whiskey can sell for thousands," said another TikTok viewer, while another commenter suggested: "Should get a metal detector over that whole area."