WOMAN REALIZES THAT HER HOUSE IS LINKED TO A DARK PAST REGARDING THE U.S. HISTORY

 

She kept running from door to door in her house but couldn’t find the origin of the sound that woke her up in the middle of the night. She looked for the switch to make light in the room as it was too dark to see what lies even an inch ahead of her. That constant “thump”  sound was driving her crazy and the feeling of what is it did not stop for a single moment. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again it was all just a dream.

Some dreams do come true for certain people and the same happened with a woman who found out something really amazing in the basement of her house. To learn more about this historic discovery, make sure you watch the video at the end of this article which will shock you.

It’s Just A Dream You Say

A resident of the town of Lansdowne, Alexandra Poulos has lived there since childhood. She always had this special feeling about her house that made her growing up years really memorable. In an interview with ABC, she told them about her dreams, “When I was a child I would have random dreams about there being other rooms in the house. I’d look it up on dream meaning sites and people always thought I just had a crazy imagination”

Each and every day this house said something to her but being a child she didn’t understand anything but curiosity began to grow inside of her with each passing day. Until this day came.

The White Colonial Home

Her family bought this house in 1974 and after her mother and brother passed away, she became the owner of the house and she felt like the house doesn’t want her to leave and in the end, she decided to rent out the house. It must have been their destiny that these new tenants joined Alexandra and the house on their amazing journey to find out what this house is hiding from them.

Tenants Start Their New Adventure

During her interview, she told about the living situation, “I just love it so much. I started renting it out, and now we have awesome tenants”. Renting out the house provide you with an extra source of income but maintaining the house as old as this one was going to be hard for her and it did not take much time before several problems started falling in front of her related to the house. It started with the plumbing and then one after other the house started to fall apart and introduced them with its secret.

The House Falling Apart

Alexandra told in the interview about the incidents that started to took place one after another, “First it was (the) oil tank that went, and then after that, it was an old cast-iron sewer pipe that just started cracking, so I had to get that replaced”. But one-day things got out of hands when she received a call from Jerry, her tenant, who told her that there are cracks in the walls and they were really afraid about the house condition which was becoming extreme day by day.

A Good Landlord

Alex never ignores her tenants, “I always respond right away because I try to keep the house as I would want it because I still love it” she told in the interview. When she met them and inquired about the problems which were a lot of them but what clicked her the most was the basement. She felt like going down in the basement but decided not to. If she would have gone then she would have seen something different entirely.

Rumour she almost forgot

She can’t forget how her memories started flooding in when she heard about the basement situation of her house because all she could think about was the basement as it required her utmost attention. Basement is the foundation of the house and if your house starts falling apart you just can’t ignore it and even she did not. It was this time when an old rumor which she heard in her childhood popped into her head and it made her think about it every day. Don’t forget to check out the video at the end of the article.

Rumor Continues…

She remembered what one of her neighbors, an old doctor and his wife told her dad. “You know there’s a basement under your basement’ she told in the interview”. Her father just thought that the old lady was crazy but the rumor remained hidden somewhere inside her mind waiting for the right time to reveal itself to her.

If her father would have paid a little attention to the rumor then it would not have taken this long for the truth to reveal itself.

The Detective In Her

To make herself sure about the rumor she started researching about it. She would sit in front of the computer for hours, ”For the past couple weeks, I’ve been looking stuff up on the history of homes in the area. It was, like, 2 a.m. one night, and I came across an article that said there was this house that’s, like, a five-minute drive from my house and the owners found out it was linked to the Underground Railroad” she told in the interview. After reading that she was very intrigued and decided something that will change everything for her.

It Was Time To Decide

She thought about the possible link between her basement and underground railroad but couldn’t decide on what should be her next step. She thought of getting it dug up but then there would be a possibility that the basement could fall apart all the way and the rumor that she wants to believe could all just be a big lie. It was a big risk but she must decide because the house was telling her something. She was struggling with mixed emotions of excitement and fear.

Finally! She Made A Decision

What if it’s not about the underground railroad and it is something else entirely. What if something is lurking around her basement? What if its a ghost that is speaking to her not this house? Thought like these made her more and more afraid of the whole house basement situation. She started reading about the real ghost stories related to housing basement from her town and neighboring towns. Her heart and her mind were talking to her in a manner completely opposite to each other.

So, she made a decision of not doing anything about the basement and will leave it like that. It was only a matter of time when she will start regretting her decision. Her decision brought this secret in open. To know more about it keep reading and check out the video at the end of this article.

Tenants Situation

Alex decided to look into her tenant’s problem other than the basement issue. There was so much work that was needed to be done before this family decided to move out and she did not want that to happen as she loved the family of four members. “They are nice people,” she told in the interview. Every time she talked to the family they kept asking her about the basement and about when the work will start in the basement. She kept dodging the question but for how long? She thought.

The Detective Rises Again!

She started looking for the stories related to the basement on the internet to find some solutions to her problems. There were several articles related to the basement but none of them helped her out but instead made her more afraid because there were articles about girls getting kidnapped and were forced to live in the basement, also about the group of students who found out that there was a stranger living in their rented house and how that stranger used to crawl out from the basement in the night to mess up with them by opening every single door of the house.

What Could It Be?

After reading some weird and terrifying stories she made up her mind and decided to find out the truth about the basement. She left it all on her heart and decided to look further into the basement and it all started. She contacted a local that does all the house works but did not tell them the real reason for the work. They agreed to it and doesn’t take long for the construction workers to realize what they were dealing with.

 Fixing And Digging

Alex contacted Baldwin Masonry to help her fix the basement problem. They were working at full speed and they stopped for a moment to hear what she just said to them, “I asked him if, when he’s digging in the basement, (to) dig a little deeper, and I knew he thought I was a total nut”, She told in the interview. Baldwin was not convinced about the extra digging in the basement and decided to stop the work because it was too risky for his workers.

He Was In

After Baldwin stopped the work and decided not to go further into this risky business then she decided to tell him all about the rumor from her childhood days. He was very excited after hearing it and agreed to do it after all the convincing.
“But I explained the possible historical connection, and he wrote me back and said, ‘Yeah, I’ve never encountered anything like that, but that would be really neat’”. So the adventure was about to begin which could change all of their lives. If you want to see the adventure then you should definitely see the video which we have provided at the end of this article.

The Very Next Day

The workers started the work with all the excitement they had and it didn’t take long for the workers to find out about the mystery they were chasing after. They did not believe what they were seeing and what is lying in front of them, “I get a call saying, ‘You’re not going to believe this. They found it. A large hole in the basement floor leads to a previously unknown room 14 feet below”. Alex was so shocked after hearing it and she felt like in dream again. The same dream she used to have when she was a child and the possibility of her dream coming true was just so mindboggling for her.

How? to Wow!

Your intuition is never wrong. If you are suspicious about anything then there is a possibility that you might be right. “I said, ‘You’re joking’. I swear to God, they found it. It’s a whole other area of the house”.  She told in the interview.
Jerry sounded so full of energy that he was eating up his words while telling everything about the discovery they just made. She could actually hear him grasping for oxygen every time he tried to speak on the phone. He was not able to believe how old everything was in there.“It’s just suspicious because I think what we found might have predated the house being built. It’s about 14 feet deep and maybe about 6 to 8 feet wide by about 15 feet long. It’s a nice-size room” She told in the interview with ABC.

Further Room For Discovery

Alex wanted the excavation to move further, but Jerry was not convinced and he told her about the damage she could suffer. After listening to him, she decided to stop the work because more work in the basement could have destroyed her whole house and she loves her house. But Alex did not stop there, as she wanted to know more about the discovery and she decided to know more about the room from the professional angle. If pictures are not enough then the video will surely make the discovery exciting for you.

History Decorated The Room

This room was about 14 feet deep and 6 to 8 feet wide. If you consider the size of the room you can actually realize that’s a nice size room or even equal to the room of your present house. But why did the previous owner of Alex’s house hid a room that too under the basement? What was the reason behind all this? So many questions and still no answer to any one of them.
Alex was ready and decided to meet the local historian from her town.

The Historian

When a local historian looked into the situation of Alex’s house, she was also surprised by the size of the room. He told her that there could be several reasons for this hidden room under the basement but one reason he emphasized was about the connection between this room and the underground railroad. Underground railroad? She asked. Now that is something you don’t come across every day. But it seemed the only proper explanation for the room as Alex’s neighbor’s homes had such same historical connection and she felt proud about the possibility that her house too can be historic.

Alex Met Rachel

When Rachel Moloshok, the managing editor of publications for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania heard about the story of Alexandra Poulos, it peaked her interest and she paid a visit to Alex’s house. Alex’s first question to Rachel was about the underground railroad. Though she visited many internet sites to find out about the underground railroad, with so much information in hand she got really confused and then Rachel told her all about the underground railroad.
Rachel was also interviewed and in her interview, she told, “The region in general historically has been known as an abolitionist sympathizer area that probably did have a good number of people who have been involved in or were sympathetic to anti-slavery activism, including potential participation in the Underground Railroad”.

How To Confirm The History

But how do you confirm the history? How to further investigate it? Moloshok told in the interview, “The only way to really follow up on that would be to research who the owners were in the past and follow up on property records and see if there were people who were known to be vocal abolitionists, based on the actual documentation of that”.
Alex tried finding the previous owner but no success in hand she decided to drop the idea. But when she heard about the rumor that people used to hide gold in rooms like these, her mind didn’t stop her from thinking about the possibility that there might be some gold hidden in that room.

Gold? Or Something Different Entirely

Alex had a clear picture in her mind of the room and while picturing it she remembered that this house has a stone wall that had some loose stones in it. Could those be the small spaces where the gold is hidden? She was intrigued by the thought but she can’t do anything about it because of what Jerry said, If excavation was done further then it could damage the whole foundation of the house.
Rachel also told about the other angles behind the room, “[maybe] somebody was paranoid and hiding gold”  or maybe the family was hiding something different other than gold or it was just a storage room. But why to hide the storage room under the basement?

A Thrill Ride For Everyone

After keeping every possible explanation aside, Alex and her tenant were just excited about the fact they found something hidden in their house. It doesn’t matter what it was used for but the fact that her childhood suspicion came true made her really happy, “I need to figure out the next steps,” she said. “Jerry is so enthralled by it. They’re just as obsessed with this stuff as I am”. Jerry even gave comment about his personal feelings on the house, “I’ve always known this house is special, from the second I walked in. It’s like a spirit saying, ‘Don’t leave me’”, she told in the interview.

Not A Normal House Anymore

After the discovery that has connections with the history of Underground Railroad, Alexandra beliefs about the house of being something special changed her life forever. Today, she is a proud owner of a house that not only holds some childhood memories but a special place in the book of American History. Just imagine that proud moment when Alexandra took the first step into her house after she discovered that the basement of her house was used in the struggle of African-American people. We have provided you with the video of the discovery at the end of the video.

 Underground Railroad- A Black History

If you live in Pennsylvania then you should know that historic sites from the underground railroad are spread out all over the state. Underground railroad is an essential piece of the horrific history of African Americans. There were some group of people(Quakers) who empathized with slaves and their condition and risked their own lives to save them from slavery.
Historian has no idea when this underground railroad came into existence, but it operated during the late 18th century.

Who Were Quakers?

Quakers became a religion followed by the people who believed in equal rights of men and women. George Fox was the founder of the Quaker Movement. Issac T. Hopper, a Quaker abolitionist from Philadelphia started an underground railroad network which helped slaves who were on the run and In North Carolina, Quakers laid the similar groundwork to provide routes and shelters for the slaves who were on the run.
In 1786, George Washington complained that Quakers has tried to free one of his slaves.

Reports On Underground Railroad

In 1831, slave Tice Davids successfully escaped from Kentucky into Ohio and his owner made the report explaining how a Quaker helped his slave to get free from one of the underground railroad network.
In 1839, a Washington newspaper reported about a slave named Jim who tried running through an underground railroad network to Boston and he told about everything about the secret routes while he was being tortured. In New York and Philadelphia, Vigilance Committees was created and by 1840s, they expanded their activities in almost every part of America. This committee guided the slaves on the run.

How Did The Underground Railroad Work?

People who guided the slaves in the underground railroad were known as conductors and after reaching their hiding places which included private homes, churches and schoolhouses. They were also called stations, safe houses, and depots. The people who were in charge of them were called Stationmasters.
The underground railroad network was stretched through Ohio To Indiana and Iowa. Some were stretched through Pennsylvania To New England.

Fugitive Slave Act

This act was passed in 1793, by this act the local government had all the right to apprehend and extradite escaped slaves back to their point of origin and punish those who helped them in escaping. This act was so harsh in northern states that slaves on run from southern states always made sure that they don’t lend in northern states by chance.
For slaves, Canada was just heaven where they were allowed to live wherever they wanted, allowed them to sit in juries, allowed admission in public offices and more.

Who Was Harriet Tubman?

She was born a slave named Araminta Ross, and later took the name, Harriet. In 1849, she escaped from Maryland where she worked in the plantation with her two brothers. She was a brave woman who was never afraid to come back to the plantation on several occasions to rescue her family members. She was the most famous conductor for the underground railroad and helped people escape to Canada.

All Aboard!

The Underground Railroad covered destinations like northern and southern US states, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In the end, Canada was the most desired place for slaves on a run as Canada was providing them with the freedom they were running after for years while living under constant fear of getting caught and going back to their owners. Though the routes were not like we have today where so many means of transport are available. All they had was hope.

Some Other Famous Quakers Abolitionist

Frederick Douglass, a former slave from New York, who helped 400 slaves make their way to Canada. He used to hide fugitives in his home. Reverend Jermain Loguen, from Syracuse, helped around 1500 slaves. Robert Purvis, an escaped slave from Philadelphia, who formed the Vigilance Committee in 1838. Josiah Henson, a former slave, and railroad operator who opened the Dawn Institute in 1842 in Ontario where he helped the escaped slaves to learn work skills.
Some other names are escaped slave Louis Napoleon, John Parker, and William Smith who kept the clearest accounts on Underground Railroad activity and he kept it hidden until after the Civil War.

Who Ran The Underground Railroad?

Most of them who operated the underground railroad were ordinary people, farmers, and business owners and ministers. Even millionaire like Gerrit Smith, who ran for president twice, once purchased an entire family and set them free. One of the youngest Quaker from North Carolina, Levi Coffin started helping the slaves escape at the age of 15. He was always on run but wherever he lived he helped the slaves on run. 

Not A Real Railroad

 It was really hard for the slaves who traveled through the underground railroad. They did not have any means of transport so they would sneak out in the night and would travel by foot. They had to wait at every station before the confirmation of the second station. It was a very long journey for the slaves and the constant fear of getting caught by the officers made traveling hard because they had limited food and resources.

How Many People Escaped?

There is no official figure on how many slaves escaped because they had to live in secrecy and they were always on a constant run from one place to another. There are some unofficial estimates tell us that over 100,000 slaves escaped during the whole history of the underground railroad movement. During the Civil war around 30,000 escaped their captivity.

End Of The Line

The Underground Railroad began its journey around 1780 and ended when President Abraham Lincoln brought the Emancipation Proclamation Law in 1863. Lucy Bagbewas the last person who was caught under the Fugitive Slave Act. Abolitionists tried their best to give her freedom back but they did not succeed but was freed later when Union soldiers occupied her owner’s estate.