By Amanda Thomason September 16, 2021 at 2:00pm
A 500-year-old estate passed down for generations. Hidden passageways, dark tunnels, forgotten rooms. Ancient names written in chalk.
It all sounds a bit spooky because, well, it is — but that hasn’t kept millions of people from watching 23-year-old Freddy Goodall of Sussex, England, give tours of his old family home.
It started when Goodall was perusing old photos of the house and noticed an unfamiliar feature: a doorway in the library where there is now only a bookcase.
He decided to investigate and post his findings on TikTok in May 2020.
@freddygoodallWe found a hidden room😵 ##hiddenroom ##oldschool ##library ##spooky ##crazy ##fyp♬ original sound – Freddy
“I searched for it but couldn’t see anything at first, then realized it was hidden behind a bookshelf,” Goodall said of the doorway, according to the New York Post.
“Eventually, behind one of the books I found a hole that looked into the hidden room.”
And that wasn’t all.
As he continued to explore, he made his way through a network of secret rooms, tunnels and a basement — all dusty, strewn with cobwebs and very much out of use.
The 16th-century house had many servants at one point and then became a school. Goodall believes the tunnels were originally used by servants so they could discreetly access different parts of the home.
The novelty of a new discovery in a very old house was not lost on Goodall, who reported finding old schoolbooks and unfamiliar names written in chalk on brick walls below the house.
@freddygoodallPart 2 – Exporing the hidden room👻 ##hiddenroom ##oldschool ##library ##spooky ##crazy ##history ##fyp♬ original sound – Freddy
“I was excited to find something new in a house I have lived in for so long!” he said. “It was pitch black — so very creepy at first.”
“I left the rooms as they were. I like that they have been the same for hundreds of years. There is so much history to be found in each room.”
@freddygoodallOpening the safe in the hidden room😵##hiddenroom ##oldschool ##library ##spooky ##crazy ##fyp♬ original sound – Freddy
But he did bust into an old safe he found, revealing old books about the house and its history.
Goodall certainly seems excited about the whole thing, and so do his millions of curious viewers. There’s something irresistible about mysteries hidden in plain sight for so long.
Amanda holds an MA in Rhetoric and TESOL from Cal Poly Pomona. After teaching composition and logic for several years, she’s strayed into writing full-time and especially enjoys animal-related topics.
As of January 2019, Amanda has written over 1,000 stories for The Western Journal but doesn’t really know how. Graduating from California State Polytechnic University with a MA in Rhetoric/Composition and TESOL, she wrote her thesis about metacognitive development and the skill transfer between reading and writing in freshman students.
She has a slew of interests that keep her busy, including trying out new recipes, enjoying nature, discussing ridiculous topics, reading, drawing, people watching, developing curriculum, and writing bios. Sometimes she has red hair, sometimes she has brown hair, sometimes she’s had teal hair.
With a book on productive communication strategies in the works, Amanda is also writing and illustrating some children’s books with her husband, Edward.
Location
Austin, Texas
Languages Spoken
English und ein bißchen Deutsch
Topics of Expertise
Faith, Animals, Cooking