All’s well that ends in the well.
A UK woman was left flabbergasted after uncovering a 22-foot well underneath their house while renovating their kitchen.
“It’s absolutely beautiful inside,” Louise Watson told South West News Service of the unexpected amenity. “We were shocked as we thought it would be all grimy inside but it’s perfectly preserved.”
Accompanying photos showed the three-foot wide reservoir, which is lined with bricks and contains about 6 feet of water like something out of the 2002 horror flick “The Ring.”
The Brit and her husband David, 46, had discovered the well while doing extension work at the back of the three-bedroom cottage in Furness, Cumbria last year.
Originally built for iron miners, the abode had been occupied by her parents-in-law before the couple moved in with their son Jack, 11, a decade ago.
However, no one realized what lay beneath them — until now.
Watson, who works for British aerospace company BAE Systems, said that the builders were excavating the foundation for their property’s new addition when they happened upon a mysterious stone slab attached to their 130-year-old terrace.
They started hammering away it, causing a fragment to break off, revealing a massive hole. Shortly thereafter, they heard a plop of water.
The mother subsequently received a call from David, who informed her that they found a water pit extending deep underneath their property.
“My husband rang me in work to tell me that something had been found during the building work,” Watson exclaimed. “At first I panicked and was like ‘Is it a body? Is it a bomb?’ And he was like ‘No, it’s a well.'”
Watson, for one, was flabbergasted that multiple generations had lived right above this old-time watering hole without even realizing it.
“We have lived in the house for ten years,” she said. “My husband lived here as a child with his family — they were here for around 25 to 30 years — none of us had a clue it was here.”
She added, “It’s obviously been covered up by somebody.”
Watson believes that the reservoir could’ve been used by farmers a hundred years ago, but remains unsure of its original purpose.
”The area where the homes were being built was farmland, so we’re assuming it’s something to do with the farm,” she said. “But it’s a big mystery. We don’t know why it’s here or who put it here.”
She added, “I’m fascinated by it and we really want to know its history.”
Hoping to get to the “bottom” of it, Watson sent a camera down to inspect the well, whereupon she discovered 6 feet of crystal clear water.
“There’s no stream nearby running into it — the water trickles down the walls and it just feeds off the natural water table,” she described.
Watson even contemplated using the well as their water source but decided against it after learning that the project would cost them over $6,000.
Instead, the family decided to make a “lovely feature” out of the pit — which now sits at the back of their kitchen — by illuminating it and topping it with glass like a museum exhibit.
“We’ve added three lights at the top and got specially made durable glass so you can walk on top of it,” she said. “My son Jack is quite happy to walk across it however some visitors can’t handle it.”
In fact, she says some guests are still freaked out by the “Silence of The Lambs”-evoking feature. Some even told her to keep the thing covered, presumably to prevent it from unleashing whatever evil they believe lies within.
“Some people have said they’d be quite unnerved to have a well under their home, with some saying, ‘Oh don’t ever watch ‘the Ring,'” she said. “I’m lucky, I don’t really watch films that often, especially horror films so it doesn’t bother me.
