So many interesting and cool stories! Too bad I can't add anything to it. I have engraved my name into my parents' home when I was a kid...but that doesn't mean anything since they still live there. :(

I did find a strange old iron candlestick in a basement closet of a house I had that was built in the early 40's. It didn't have any markings or anything. Actually, I think I still have it after a couple subsequent moves!

We found a bankbook in a door trim, while redoing a closet a couple of years ago. Only 2 entries - $100.00 deposit on October 28, 1929 and a withdrawal of the same a day later. Guess the stock market crash ruined whatever confidence this lady was going to have in banks! That was a lot of money back then.

My grandfather was a pawn broker during the Depression. We had tons of "treasures" in the basement, when I was a kid .. but nothing in great shape or worth a lot of money, just things a kid like me loved finding during my explorations! There was a German WWI helmet, a bayonet from the French Foreign Legion, a WWII Civil Defense helmet, and a Boy Scout bugle I almost blew my brains out, trying to play :)

Broom closet with a false back concealing a gun room. Same house had a fallout shelter.

Don't feel bad Jeannie, ours was a flipped house so if there was anything good, it's gone now. Except......the neighbors all tell me the previous homeowner killer her husband, and every time my husband does yardwork he worries about what he'll find! Probably not what you're looking for, tho.

olldbobbi, that's still an interesting story! My parents are the first and only owners of their house. Definitely no cool stories there.

Well then Jeannie, it's your obligation to put something there! When we installed a built-in medicine cabinet in the master bath, we drew a big heart with our names on the wall behind it!

I used to live in this very small and quaint community in NorCal, and a lot of the houses still had the original war doors. I guess they were there in case you wanted to build a bomb shelter in the backyard.

That is really cool, Sam. Would LOVE to try to track down who wrote them.

We found guns...that worked...a rifle, a shotgun, a pistol and ammunition. Our house was built around 1820. Called the police department, turned them in, and they gave us a $50.00 gift certificate to a local store. Better than 50 to life.

I live in the house I grew up in until i was about 7, and then returned to live in it with my daughters about 5 years ago. I found a very faded comic book, the actual blue prints for the house, straw for insulation (YIKES) old pictures behind the radiators... BUT .... the best thing I found when I renovated was my father's very distinctive AND at times illegible handwriting marking the back of moulding, on the rear side of drywall and other places. This was only a couple years after his passing and finding my dad's writing was, in my mind, a way that he was communicating with me in the house where we had had so many wonderful times.

I bought a home in Los Angeles that was built in 1928. It was in an affluent area which had seen better days.
The home was full of things when we bought it, and demanded to received the property empty.
We didn't know there as an attic in the garage! The perfect 1950's and 60's toys were still in the boxes. I sold these on eBay. We also found a passport, and a walking stick which was part of our home.

Running cable wires through my basement ceiling joists during renovation last year, I found a mason jar hidden in between the exterior cinderblock - I opened it later to find bank deposit envelopes with $1200 in cash. Very cool find! The original owner must have used the jar as her ATM

During a bathroom renovation project I found a kid's math homework from 1958 stuffed behind the cast iron shower/bathtub. He got an "F". I always wondered how the boy turned out :-)

judyg...If you did not wish to keep the guns, you could have gotten waaay more money for them than through the police department.

Jeannie Nguyen: when a crumbling foundation necessitated a rebuilt sturdy kitchen, my kids and I signed the plywood subfloor and wrote Scripture verses on it before the hickory floor went in. Same with the tops of the cabinets before the counters were put on...Maybe no one else will ever see them, but it is a statement to my children that this home is not really mine. It, along with all else I have, really belongs to God, and He allows me to enjoy it...what a blessing!

we always leave something when we put in a wall or new floor etc - a photo with us all waving was one I can remember ! saying who we were and when we moved in !! hope it proves interesting to whoever finds it someday !! :-)

Have been doing a total gut/rehab. Most interesting things found were a copy of White Fang and a crackpipe!

When converting a small attic to a bedroom in our 1825 farmhouse, we found the signature of LW Pratt and the year 1875 written in pencil on the roof boards. Under the floor boards we found a very old Lone Ranger card and a small lead car , along with a couple of catseye marbles. Nothing was of real monetary value but our children were thrilled with the finds.

We found an antique wooden advent calendar in the loft. We use it every year.