Hey Dan and Door People! I don’t get here often due to an ongoing Thursday friend date, but a recent vacation gave me fodder for one or two or three door posts. So, I am going to squeeze them in as time permits, starting with a doorway/hole that has an interesting story.
In March of 2021, roommate Natasha moved into her own space, a duplex with a basement. The basement was a little creepy and it included a crawl space that Natasha dubbed “the murder hole.” I don’t have a photo, but consider a small doorway that didn’t include a door and required a stepstool to enter. When the light is not on in this space, visions of spiders and mice and a place where Al Capone might have hid the bodies are easily captured. We laugh less about this space now, since Natasha uses it as storage, but still…it’s the murder hole.
Fast forward to vacation, June 2023, in Ohio. Biking buddy and I secured an Airbnb home back in late January when planning out trip. The pictures were very inviting and we were excited to have a home away from home that included a laundry space downstairs.
Looks nice, right? A kitchen with cabinet doors and a place to eat.
But then we chose to head downstairs and check out laundry facilities. Biking Buddy made it down a few steps, looked into the basement, turned around with a “we don’t want to go down there” look and allowed me to check it out myself. This is what we saw from a side view:
“Oh, it’s a murder hole!” I said, which did not do anything to assauge Biking Buddy’s unpleasant feeling of what might be through that doorway. Chuckling in my head, I’m sure she was not.
It took another day or two, but we finally went down to the doorway/hole with a flashlight and determined it was an empty room without a physical door. The basement definitely did not have the ambiance of the main floor.
Fast forward to Tuesday of that week (after we did our laundry downstairs) and a tour of a castle that a gentleman began building in 1932. This will be another door post as there is history and a few details to share. Before beginning the tour, know-it-all April talked about the castle and answered questions. As we headed upstairs, she told us to pay attention to the little round holes inside and outside the castle.
Yup, she called them “murder holes.”
“A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification (castle) through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, or boiling oil, down on attackers.” ~Wikipedia~
April didn’t understand at first why we were both laughing, so I clued her in about Natasha’s basement and our Airbnb basement and the murder holes that perhaps needed more light and a door.
Ohhhhh…
I promise the next door post will be a little less morbid, a lot more educational, and include actual doors.
If you’re interested in joining Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors, check out his blog, No Facilities, and the Thursday Door section.
From Dan’s June 8th door post:
“This is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post each (or any) week and then share a link to your post in the comments anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). If you like, you can add our badge to your post.
Mary J Melange 
I’ve seen ‘murder holes’ before at various old military sites. I’m surprised the home owner didn’t close out that hole or at least put a framed poster or something else over the hole. Oh well, made for a few good laughs.
We said the exact same thing about covering that dark doorway, Judy. The entire basement needed fixing and I hope the home owner eventually makes it more presentable for his guests.
That sounds like both an alarming and entertaining find! The background story makes it all the more interesting. Lovely castle photos, too!
I’ll be back with more of the castle photos, Damyanti. It was a charming castle and the story of it and its owner is indeed worth sharing.
so scary! I rented an airbnb in nyc once that was the creepiest thing ever!
The upstairs of this house was well done, but the basement was another story, Beth. I think he needs to pay attention to the bottom half of the house.
Wow. That basement door looks nothing like the rest of the house. Guess they got tired of renovating. I can imagine you guys laughing at ‘murder hole’ but what a great name, isn’t it?!
The owner really needs to do something with the basement. Perhaps it’s part of the plan, but finances may be keeping him from putting a door on the murder hole and fixing the concrete floor. I’m glad that my laundry area is far more pleasant looking. 🙂
The murder hole… There could be a short story in that. I’d love to see what you could do with it…
I will think about that, Pam. Short stories/fiction are not my forte, but, at times, it is good to accept a challenge.
Consider yourself challenged!
Oh boy…
I totally loved this Mary. My son has one od those just off his basement stairwell. So creepy. And castles… 🥰❤️
I’m anxious to share the castle doors, Cheryl, so stay tuned. I’m also not sure why home builders ever decided those dark crawl spaces were a good idea. An odd sense of creepy humor…
Will do!
Absolutely Mary!
We had a house with a murder hole in the basement near the washer and dryer. It was super creepy! I still did laundry down there, but was wary. 😳
I bet you had a taser, a baseball bat, and one of those tennis rackets that electrify bugs as a safety net. Or maybe you did the laundry super fast with one eye always on the hole? I used to live in an apartment building with the laundry area in the not-too-bright basement. No murder holes, but I had to walk to the other end of the basement, past everyone’s chicken wire storage areas. I did not like it down there!
My mother’s apartment building was like what you described. The chicken wire storage areas in the basement laundry bothered me, but she put an upholstered chair in hers, would pull out the chair when she did laundry. Didn’t phase her at all.
Your mom…brave soul!
I’ve seen those types of “doors” in basements. Always creepy, even after you shine the light in and verify that no one is in there. Murder holes were important in castles in Europe. Have to assume they were decorative in 1932, although…
Thanks for joining us, Mary. I look forward to the rest of your doors, and I’m glad you had a nice vacation.
I am fairly positive the murder holes in the castle were historic and decorative, Dan, not meant to pour a hot substance down it when the neighbors came for a visit….lol. Thankfully, the dark doorway in Ohio didn’t lead to anything more than a laugh and blog post.
I was worried about the Girl Scouts selling cookies 😉
I am glad the dark doorway posed no danger.
That’s quite a liability on the owner’s end to not close the hole.
Good point! All he would need is one overly litigious person.
Really interesting! Did you ever find the laundry facilities? The rest of it looks pretty nice and you got a great story out of it.
janet
The laundry was in the basement, away from the.murder hole…thank goodness!
OMG …. first-time visitor over from Dan’s …. and I see Pam, Janet, and Ally …. and I think that murder hole is the castle in my town!
Thanks for visiting, Frank! Are you in Loveland, Ohio? That’s where the murder hole is located. A castle door post will be here in the coming weeks, minus any creepy, dark holes. 🙂
Yes I am
Ha! We may have passed each other during our week there.
Maybe … old Town area is a happening place