We’ve talked about weird houses to live in before. There was the castle in Michigan that people could buy for their family to live in. Then there was the jail in Missouri that was also a house that people could live in. Now, there’s a house in Connecticut—a quite ordinary house, compared to the previous two, but one where there was a secret water well inside of it.
Yes, you read that correctly—apparently, some houses have wells inside them. However, it wasn’t supposed to have one; it just happened because it’s an old house. What also shouldn’t have happened was a man accidentally fell into it.
Christopher Town was helping his friend move in when he felt the floor suddenly break underneath his feet
Image credits: Guilford Police Department
So, last week, the Guilford Police Department shared on their Facebook that they had an extraordinary rescue mission. They received a 911 call from a woman by the name of Angela Town who said that her husband Christopher had fallen into a well.
When asked for more details, it began sounding a bit bizarre. Turns out, the couple were helping their friend move into her new home. Whilst carrying some stuff inside, Chris heard wood crack beneath his feet. Moments later, the floor gave way and soon, the man found himself around 20 to 30 feet deep in some sort of shaft full of water—a former well. Inside a house. Yeah.
In their post, Guilford Police explained that the house was initially built nearly 2 centuries ago, in 1843. The well was most likely outside at the time, but in 1981, the house underwent some renovation and an addition was built right over the well. Unfortunately, there was no subfloor, well cap, or anything else—only simple wood flooring waiting to break.
Thus, he found himself 30 feet deep in a well, struggling to stay afloat in 7 feet of well water
Image credits: Guilford Police Department
Soon after Chris fell into the well, Angela called 911 and help was on the way. Both the police and the fire department sprung to the scene to help the man. When they got there, they immediately threw him a life vest to help him keep afloat in what felt like 7 feet of water while they prepared a hauling system to pull Chris out.
While it was difficult for Chris—having fallen up to 30 feet down a ridged rock shaft into water full of debris, sustaining minor injuries along the way, plus the shock of the fall and the cold water and having to soak there for at least 25 minutes whilst hanging on above water—professionals got him out safe and sound.
“It is important to note that some of these older, historical homes may have hazards that were not upgraded by current code,” explained the Guilford Police Department in their Facebook post. “This situation could have ended with a fatality, but due to the extreme professionalism and capabilities of the Guilford Fire Department, everyone went home safely tonight.“
Luckily, his wife was there to call 911 who rushed over to help him get out
Image credits: Guilford Police Department
The friend the Towns were helping, Diane Martin, was set to start renting the house last week. She found out about the well right after the incident. Work is currently underway to patch the hole up, after which the landlord will have to show the building inspectors that (and how) there are no more hazards in the home.
Angela remarked that it all ended quite fortunately given the circumstances: not only because her husband Chris got out of it with very minor injuries, but also because it wasn’t Diane or her kids who fell into the hole, and they were lucky that help was there right there and then.
This isn’t the first rescue mission in the vein of water that Guilford Police and Fire Departments have had to undertake. Back in June, they saved a man who fell into the water while crabbing and was in danger of being sucked into a pipe under the road due to an outgoing tide and current.
Turns out, the place was built over a well and nobody secured it, as explained Guilford PD
Image credits: Guilford Police Department
After 25 minutes of struggling with minor injuries in 7 feet of cold water, the man was rescued
The post received quite a bit of attention online. Besides making headlines across the internet, the post itself received nearly 30,000 reactions with over 8,000 comments and more than 40,000 shares on Facebook.
People were praising the brave and very responsive men from the firefighting and police teams in the comments, being glad that everything turned out well (no pun intended) in the end. The fact that it was all good in the end allowed many to pull out their best well-related puns and make jokes about how they now have an indoor pool. Sort of.
What did you think about this? Do you have some interesting architectural decisions from the past left in your house? Let us know in the comment section below!
Here's what the internet had to say about the secret well and the subsequent incident
