After coming across a large stone in her backyard, a mom decided to lift the slab and take a peek at what was underneath. She never expected the 160-foot surprise she was about to discover.
Like many of us, Rebecca Hobson, a 34-year-old British mom, began to grow bored during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, according to Metro. With not much else to do, she started thinking about things she had been told about her property from her neighbors, who believed there was something special in the backyard of Rebecca’s Kent home in England. After being briefed by locals about the potential surprise just waiting to be discovered, Rebecca and her partner, Darren, decided to investigate.
With locals suggesting there may be “something in the garden” dating back to World War II, the mother of two, who had moved into the three-bedroom terrace house 15 years prior, lifted a paving slab in her backyard. After moving the stone out of the way, Rebecca exposed a remarkable find, having unearthed a hidden passageway to a potential underground, 160-foot air raid bomb shelter from the Second World War.
Despite being informed by neighbors about the possible discovery that was just waiting to be uncovered in her backyard, Rebecca said she was never moved by their requests to check it out earlier. Even more shocking, after finding the opening to the tunnel during the lockdown in 2020, Rebecca didn’t start exploring the passageway until years later.
“When we moved into the house we had no idea about the air raid shelter being in our garden,” Rebecca Hobson said. “A few years later some of the locals said there might be something in the garden [from the war]. We’re still trying to dig into the history of it, but it’s still really interesting.”
Once Rebecca began to explore, however, she and her partner Darren could hardly wait to share their discovery with the world, posting photos and videos of the amazing find on social media. They even uploaded clear-cut footage to TikTok, giving viewers “a virtual tour of what appears to be a mid-sized tunnel supported with lights to navigate through the cave,” the NY Post reported.
@bexh5 Finding an Air raid shelter in our garden. Part 3 – The video tour. We added the lights to save carrying torches. 😊#airraidshelters #wartime #history #england #coolplaces #fyp This video is exclusively managed by Kennedy News and Media. To license or use in a commercial player please contact [email protected].
In the footage of the underground bomb shelter that was connected to Rebecca’s backyard, viewers are taken down the 160-foot passageway, with the video slowly panning down the tunnel and revealing debris with rat traps, bottles, and bowls covered in dust. Unsurprisingly, the stunning clip of the unusual World War II discovery quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of views within days of being posted.
As the views ticked upward, comments also flooded in from both impressed and curious viewers, many of whom either had suggestions for Rebecca Hobson or questions about the discovery.
“This is insane! Such an incredible find! Excuse the pessimistic in me, but I’d definitely still keep as a shelter due to the state of the world,” one user wrote.
“Given current events,that’s not a bad thing to have access to!” another agreed.
“I’d have kept this completely to myself,” another suggested.
“Does the other end lead out to anywhere?” a curious viewer asked, to which Hobson and her partner replied, “It comes out at the bottom of the road but that end has been sealed off. So the only way in and out [is] from our garden.”
Of course, Rebecca Hobson isn’t the only homeowner to discover a rich, vast history underneath her property. According to the Post, a woman named Carly also made an interesting, possibly war-related discovery when she found a basement-turned-nuclear bunker in her grandmother’s house. According to Carly, the previous owners installed the shelter in anticipation of a nuclear war or maybe even a zombie apocalypse.
Like Rebecca, Carly also shared video footage of her hidden site on TikTok, showing false piping hanging down from the ceiling that, once pushed, activated a hidden wall door in a coat closet. Unsurprisingly, the clip quickly garnered millions of views, proving there is just something about a discovery that’s rich with history that piques our interest and captures our attention.
@itsmecarlys Best thing about coming to this house. #doomsdaypreppers #bunker #endofdays #coolhouse #housetour
Similar to the comments on Rebecca Hobson’s clip, many viewers suggested that Carly keep her discovery “clean and maintained” because “you honestly never know” when such a shelter might be needed, considering the state of the world today. Others suggested that they would not “want to survive this badly,” with some even saying it reinforces their hope “to get taken out in the first blast” should we find ourselves in the middle of a nuclear war.
Perhaps that’s why these discoveries from this unfathomable time in history end up going viral when shared on social media. They garner our attention because they are a reminder of not only our own mortality but also what humans are capable of when at war with one another. Or perhaps it brings us some relief to see them acquiring dust, meaning we’ve lived many blessed decades where something so drastic hasn’t been needed for our survival.
