This incredible incident occurred with Simon Marks of Luton, Bedfordshire. He had bought himself a new house and had relocated to that a few months ago only. The man was an ordinary person with an ordinary lifestyle until he saw a bump on his driveway. He initially took it lightly but could not ignore any longer when the bump changed into a hole. He mistook it for a sinkhole but that was not the case. Upon further investigation, he realized that the hole was keeping a long-hidden secret. A secret that swept the floor off his feet.
Simon Marks lives in Luton of Bedfordshire. He makes his living as a computer support technician. He had been in his business for a long time and had even saved a lot of money. And with that money, he bought himself a house. That was his first house.
The 37-year-old man lived a normal life. His daily routine of weekdays includes going to his 9-5 work and after that spending some me time with himself. And on weekends, he would go on trips with his family and friends to do away with the office stress. That too was not often.
It was the first house that he had bought with his own money. Naturally, he was very happy until a rotten piece of his newly bought house's past came to the fore. The man was under the impression that he had bought an ordinary house.
The man was living alone in the house, at least that is what he thought. Little did he know that the house he had bought was way more than what he had thought it to be.
What did he like the most about his house. Well, you may find it strange but he liked his driveway the most in his house. The reason? Well, he himself does not know. He just felt an attraction to that part of his house. There was no reason only that uncanny emotion.
He could not catch the weird vibes of his new house until a few days. He was spending the usual life. Just like always he would leave for his work. The house was changed but his routine was still the same. Every day before leaving for work, He would make sure that the front door is locked and then he would get into his car to drive to the office from the same driveway that was something else from inside.
The cards began to reveal itself in October of 2016. On that day, like every other day, the man got into his car to go to work. He had no idea that reversing the car that particular day would turn out to be such a mess. He was about to find a mystery.
Simon tried hard to back out his car but something in his driveway was making it difficult for him. The wheel was getting stuck by something. He was getting late for the work so he forcefully pressed on the gas and pulled the car away from the driveway.
The man had just gotten a bump on his driveway, his favorite part of the house. But he had no time to think about it. He rushed to his office. However, the thought was still in his mind. But the man did not know that the bump he had left ignored on his driveway was just the tip of a gigantic mystery.
After coming back home, Simon assessed the driveway. He concluded that either the concrete of the pavement was not built properly or maybe the driveway was once used as a front yard. And maybe because of that, it was not stable and was rebuilt in the poorest manner.
These problems were not of much concern. They could be fixed easily when addressed properly. But that was for an ordinary bump. What Simon had come across was way far from being an ordinary bump.
One fine morning he woke up only to see a heart-rendering sight. The bump had gone and with that the entire driveway too. Simon got fear-stricken and could not understand what to do. Simon had never seen anything like this ever. What was wrong with his driveway? First, it was a bump and now this big giant hole.
How did this hole appear out of nowhere? He had no answer to this question but soon he was going to have. Simon had never imagined that he was going to be in headlines by the dawn of the day.
Well, what could it be? A Sinkhole? That is what came to Simon's mind. He had bought this house a few months ago only and now his house was disappearing into a hole. The truth was something else.
The phenomenon of collapsing of ground into a hole is called sinkholes. There have been many sinkholes in the past and many of them keep on occurring. Though many sinkholes occur in desolated areas, there are some who have caused casualties. Luckily, Simon was not there when sinkhole occurred.
It was not going to stop. The slabs of his pavement were dropping down piece by piece. The hole was becoming vast. The man ran outside his house as it seemed the hole was going to swallow the whole of the house. There was no trace of his driveway now.
The man ran inside his house and came out with his selfie stick. He with a racing heart stepped closer to the hole and switched on the flashlight of his phone. Thereafter, he attached his phone to the selfie stick and moved it inside the hope. He did it to capture pictures of the inside of the hole.
Simon reminisces, "I was just terrified the whole house was going to vanish. I took some pictures and sent them to my dad." What was he going to do now? The hole had shaken him from inside.
In the place of his driveway, there was a giant ever-increasing hole. He called in his father and professionals to look into the issue. The man waited for them to arrive outside his house. He was yet to recover from the incident. Soon his father reached him.
His father said, “Get digging, Son.” The man had called in help from his father and other professionals to look into the matter. As he could not figure out what was that, he asked his parents and experts to help him find out.
The crater had taken a horrifying form. As much as the team explored it they realized that it was not a sinkhole. It was something else. The hole was not the result of natural calamities but it was man-made. But for what purpose?
Simon needed to find out a solution to their problem. He and his father had not taken such a massive work of digging before. They were confused but at the same time, they were curious as well. Clearly, something was hidden deep down.
They kept digging the soil deeper and deeper with their shovels and stopped dead on their track when Simon's shovel hit something hard. His shovel clanged with a tough object. He hit it again only to confirm. They dropped their shovel immediately and started removing the dirt with their hands.
There was something hard buried beneath the ground. They started removing the dirt even more quickly. Clearly, this mystery was man-made. But what is it all about?
They found a ladder under the ground. A ladder made of steel. What a ladder was doing beneath the ground? The sight brought a sense of peace to Simon as now it was clear that the foundation of his house was safe. But what was the mystery tucked beneath the ladder?
The ladder actually led to somewhere. There was only one way to figure out and that was descending the ladders and enter the hole. But was it safe? Well, Simon was not going to back out and his father Gerrard was with him.
In the hope of finding something interesting inside, he brought his flashlight and selfie-stick home. Burdened with doubts, Simon began to climb down the ladder. He was holding his flashlight in one hand while going down by grabbing the ladder with another. It was then he realized something.
Simon did not take much time to realize that it was an empty hollow that was built with bricks. Space was vast and had a concealed room. This space had remained a hidden spot for a very long time. But why was it kept hidden? They had a lot to figure out.
There was only one way of finding that out. Simon decided to talk to the previous owner of the house about this mysterious hole. He wondered if they had any clue about it. Well, another surprise was awaiting them.
Simon had bought the house from an elderly couple. It had costed him £400,000 ($518,000). He loved the house at that time and did not inquire much before buying. Nor did the owner informed him anything about the hole.
The house was only a few decades old. It was built in the '70s, to be more precise. Right now the ground on which the house was built was used differently at the time of WW2. Simon said, "The previous owner must have known it was there and when he built the house and put a garden in he must have filled it in." He just had forgotten to inform them about it.
This new piece of information had certainly fuelled his curiosity and now Simon was even more hell-bent on getting deeper on this subject.
His investigation gained him more information about the house. He learned a lot about the history of the area where he was living. He found out that his house was the first that was constructed on that piece of land.
Prior to that, the land was taken in use in WW2. The army forces used it for strategic protection for villages of around. It was a relic from wartime that was taken in use for air raids. But the question was who built it and how was it constructed?
There was a lot of new things to learn for Simon. It did make sense to him. The bunker was an air raid chamber and was named Anderson Chamber. The chamber was named after Sir John Anderson, the British home secretary. The chamber was constructed by Oscar Carl and William Paterson.
What do you think these shelters are made of? They are built with flexible aluminum with the intention of quick and cheap production. These chambers provided protection from German bombings.
Simon said, "It was so well structured with the concrete roof and the walls, it was quite clear what it was going to be. We googled other air raid shelters and they were all of a similar structure, so it clicked quite quickly what it was."
But here the scene was a bit different. However, his bunker wasn't aluminum built. In fact, it was built of bricks. Historians further confirmed his doubt that the chamber was not Anderson shelter. So what was it?
The investigation was not over yet. More investigation was yet to follow. After doing some research work, Simon figured that the Anderson-style tiny personal chambers were not strong enough to endure bomb attacks so they decided to go for heavy community bunkers.
Simon's ordinary life had turned upside down. He in no way was going to leave the investigation in the middle. The bunker had a greater space than the Anderson-style. Besides, the bunker had many rooms.
They kept walking till they reached the far end of the bunker and found a brick wall. And when they found the wall they all had only one question on their mind. What was lying on the other side of the wall?
Whereas everyone was excited to uncover the mystery lurking behind the wall Simon decided to not to touch the wall. He feared that the wall was included in the base of the house and tampering with it might weaken the foundation. So, was the mystery behind the walls going to remain a mystery?
Simon was enjoying his new expedition a lot. Every day he was coming across something new and interesting. One day the man stumbled upon a piece of the newspaper The Herald and with that evidence of bottles that conveyed the chamber was once stocked with them.
These pieces of evidence confirmed that it was built to protect people from attacks by rival teams. And the place was stocked for as long as the war goes on.
He by now had found out a great deal about the bunker and wanted to know more about it. He kept on removing the dirt and mud that had layered the area for so long. What more was he going to find?
Had the bump not appeared on his driveway, he would have never found out about that secret chamber. So, what he considered a trouble a few days ago, was now extremely proud of that bump. He made the right choice.
Simon is very proud of his decision to explore the hole. He was glad that he thought of doing research about the history of the area. And now he is working on restoring the bunker to its previous self. He considers it his duty as well. Being a British citizen it is his responsibility to preserve the bunker as it is a part of Britain's history.
That is why Simon and his father have decided to preserve the bunker. They have taken their efforts forward by sweeping dirt off the bunker and with that they are also restructuring the broken or damaged part of the bunker.
Simon said, "He clearly wasn't very worried about it and it just sat there until the hatch fell through. I think it's great and I want to clear it out and preserve it if it's structurally sound. It's incredible to think it has all been made by hand. It's part of our history so it should be kept."
They know that an artifact of historical significance can teach one way more than a book can. Students should be taken on tours of historical monuments like this. This could be an effective method of education.
Surprises come when you least expect it. Obviously, that is why they are called surprises. Simon would have never guessed that the house would make him a subject of interest in the country. Have you witnessed such kind of situation in real life?