When Courtney and Matt bought their old Victorian house, they thought they knew what they were getting into. But shortly after moving in, they got a strange letter in the mail that completely changed their understanding of their new home, which they shared on TikTok.
According to the New York Post, the couple shares videos about fixing up their house on TikTok where they go by @living_in_history. One day, they received a letter that was simply addressed to “purchaser” and came from Canada. The letter was from someone who said they used to live in the house many years ago.
The message started with a strange introduction that immediately caught their attention. The person wrote that they were the last living member of the Madison family who once owned the house and grew up there. Then came the really interesting part. The letter said they wanted to tell Courtney and Matt about secret rooms hidden throughout the property and other things the couple might not know about. This kicked off an exciting search through their 130-year-old home.
This is actually kind of amazing
The couple followed the clues in the letter and found their first hidden spot above the fireplace in their living room. When they pulled back a mirrored panel that could slide open, they discovered a secret cabinet packed with old bottles of alcohol.
Inside were unopened bottles of French rose wine from 1970 and cabernet sauvignon from 1989, plus old bottles of bourbon, beer, and cream sherry covered in dust. People watching their videos thought these hiding spots might have been used during prohibition when alcohol was illegal.
The letter also told them about another secret spot in their bathroom, which Courtney said was already the scariest room in their house. The instructions said to look on the wall directly across from the door and find a knob hidden in the wood paneling.
When they went looking with their young daughter, they found a small space you could crawl into instead of an actual room. Courtney told viewers she thought there might have been a proper room there before, but now it was just a creepy attic area. Finding hidden crawl spaces in old houses has become a recurring source of terror on TikTok.
But they did find something bigger in that same bathroom. Right across from their toilet was a tiny door with a lock on it. When they opened it up, there was actually a huge storage room behind it. Courtney was clearly excited about the find and said they would need to figure out how to use all that space, but for now it was just a really cool room they didn’t know existed.
The couple found a third hidden area down in the basement behind a wall, but the people who owned the house before them had covered it up with boards.
This made it really hard to get inside and see what was there. Courtney and Matt also made other videos showing stuff the old owners left behind, including old furniture and a music box that plays a creepy version of the wedding march song. Their mysterious letter and hidden rooms got people talking about spooky house stories.
One person joked about the letter being from “the watcher” while someone else laughed about how the letter came “all the way from Canada” like it was some distant land. The couple hasn’t said exactly where their house is located, and they haven’t shared much information about the Madison family who used to own it.
Published: Nov 12, 2025 01:58 pm