Ella Sims, a 24-year-old first-time homeowner from South London, thought she had struck gold after buying a Victorian House with “some damp issues.”
Just a week after moving into the property on September 15, she started noticing something was seriously wrong with her purchase.
A strange smell filled the house, weird sounds were heard at night, and hundreds of flies started to inexplicably fly from beneath the property. That’s when she decided to peel back the floorboards, sharing the dumbfounding discovery online.
Highlights
- A new homeowner discovered an eerie water-filled pit lurking just beneath her hallway floorboards.
- The hidden cavity was swarming with flies and cockroaches, raising health and safety concerns.
- A heritage architect revealed the “poll” was actually a forgotten Victorian coal chute, long sealed and now flooded.
Ella found what looked like a stagnant, foul, hidden swimming pool underneath her hallway.
A woman discovered a filthy “swimming pool” infested with flies beneath the floorboards of her newly bought Victorian home
Image credits: ell_aaa
Ella explained she had already been made aware of “moisture problems” in the home through a survey and negotiated a discount on the price. But when she noticed insects coming up from under the floor near her front door, she knew something wasn’t right.
Image credits: ell_aaa
“At first I wasn’t too worried because I’d bought the property knowing there were issues, and I’d actually got money off because of it,” she explained.
“But when the flies started coming up from below, I started to panic a little. I was mildly concerned there could be a crime scene or lifeless animal under my stairs.”
The viral clip shows her pulling up sections of decaying wood to reveal a dark, stagnant body of water.
“My reaction was to laugh, as I didn't really know what else to do,” Sims added. “About 10 minutes later, the reality set in.”
Elle’s viewers pleaded with her to leave the house, arguing that the stagnant water could pose serious risks
Image credits: ell_aaa
The cavity below her front hallway was flooded with standing water, and its origin was a mystery. Internet users flooded her comments with suggestions, ranging from the grim to the absurd.
“Just put the carpet back down. It’s a tomorrow problem,” one viewer joked.
Others congratulated her for having a secret “pool” underneath her floor, while some reflected on the eerie nature of the hidden water pit.
Image credits: ell_aaa
Some commenters, though, weren’t laughing. As the video continued to gain traction, concerns turned from curiosity to genuine worry for Elle’s safety.
Viewers pointed out that prolonged exposure to stagnant water could pose serious health risks, from mold-related respiratory issues to potential infections carried by the flies swarming the cavity.
Image credits: ell_aaa
Others feared for her mental well-being, warning that the overwhelming number of problems, flies, roaches, crumbling ceilings, and now a mystery pit, could take a psychological toll.
Still, some even raised the alarm over the structural safety of the property, noting that she could accidentally fall through a weakened board.
“There might be even more loose floorboards you haven’t even found yet,” one person cautioned.
When asked if she would be open to leaving the property altogether, Elle refused, determined to fix her house
“I won’t be leaving like some people have suggested,” she said. “My absolute priority is getting rid of the flies, because there’s genuinely hundreds. I also need to replace ceilings and get rid of roaches.”
Speculation over the waterlogged pit only intensified as Elle’s video went viral.
Some viewers floated the idea of a collapsed drain or an abandoned well, while others guessed it might be a forgotten cellar sealed off decades ago.
Image credits: ell_aaa
The most thorough explanation came from Federico, a self-described heritage architect based in the UK, who messaged Elle directly after seeing the footage.
Federico identified the space as a remnant of a once-common coal chute system used in Victorian homes.
“Back in the day, Victorian homes like yours were heated with coal,” he explained. “In fact, often the burner would also be located in the same basement as the coal storage.”
Image credits: ell_aaa
To avoid hauling dirty coal through the house, architects of the time designed a more efficient delivery method. Near the front door, a small round hatch, typically sealed with a steel cover, would serve as a chute that funneled coal directly into an underground corridor beneath the hallway.
An expert reached out to Elle to explain that the “pool” was actually a remnant of an old corridor used to move coal
“People delivering coal would pour it down the chute directly into the corridor where staff or workers would collect and store it in the basement,” he said, “without any of it passing through the main house or being seen by the owners.”
It was an elegant—for the time—system that allowed the main living areas to remain untouched by the soot and dust associated with coal. Federico added that these underground corridors were usually accessed through a trapdoor under the staircase.
Once coal heating fell out of use and homes were updated with modern central heating, most of these chutes were blocked off and forgotten.
"Wear a mask." Netizens believe Elle was exposing her health by checking out the 'pool' by herself.
