It’s not every day your typical plumbing job becomes terrifying. But what do you expect when the cottage you’re remodeling is more than 200 years old and in a small town in England. Recently Jonathan Betts, a 36-year-old plumber with more than two decades of experience. Betts, found himself at the center of a bizarre discovery that left him and his TikTok followers stunned.
As he excavated beneath the cottage’s foundation, Betts uncovered more than he had anticipated. In a series of TikTok videos, he shared the unfolding mystery with his 600 followers, detailing the eerie findings that initially raised concerns about unearthing something nefarious.
Betts, in an interview, shed light on the unexpected turn of events during what seemed like a routine construction project. “After I removed the toilet and floor covering, I found that the sub-flooring below was massively rotten and discovered the joists had just been fitted onto soil,” he explained, emphasizing the structural issues that led to the unusual discovery.
So I’m digging up here, and I’m finding bits and thinking, um, we were digging up a dead cat, child or human in my little trench I’m doing,” Betts said in one of the videos, adding to the suspense of the unexpected excavation.
In another video, Betts, with a mix of trepidation and curiosity, held up a piece of jawbone adorned with teeth, questioning, “Tell me, is this an animal or … I’m hoping it’s a dog.” The atmosphere was thick with suspense as more than a dozen bone fragments were laid out on a concrete slab in another video, accompanied by ominous music.
One of the bones found in a 200 year-old cottage. Photo courtesy of SWNS
“In the back of my mind, I knew it was an animal as the teeth didn’t look like ours, but I was still sketching out as I really did not want this job to be shut down, Betts said. Betts said in his search to discover more about the history of the cottage, he discovered a surprising connection to the town’s past.
“After speaking with the owners of the home, they informed me that the house opposite used to be a pig farm and they think the barn attached to their property was, in fact, a slaughterhouse,” Betts said. The tension peaked when Betts matched a bone fragment through a Google search. A sigh of relief echoed through his next TikTok post as he declared, “It’s not a human, yes!” The mysterious bones turned out to be remnants of a pig, according to SWNS.
Betts said that the homeowners requested the bones to be reburied to ward off bad spirits. The bemused plumber said he can’t help but laugh at the situation now that it’s over. “Let’s just say it’s not every day you’re at work and find a pile of bones under a bathroom floor,” he laughed. Watch below for a look at this stunning discovery!
