Woman finds hidden door during renovation then 'screams' at 80-year-old secret

Old houses can hold big secrets in their walls, but one woman on social media got more than she bargained for when she found a hidden door in a home she's been renovating.

If you've ever bought an old home or helped someone else with renovating their property, you'll likely have seen all sorts of weird and wonderful things. From gorgeous tile floors that past owners have covered with carpet to secret notes left by tenants past and stuffed into small holes in the walls or between floorboards, you never know what you're going to get with a house that has history.

But one woman on Instagram declared she had found the "weirdest thing" while renovating a house, as she stumbled across a door she never knew existed. The door was painted the same white shade as the walls and blended in perfectly, with only a small hinge to keep it closed acting as the giveaway which wasn't just part of the wall.

The video, posted by the SoPo Cottage account, showed the woman attempting to pry open the door. She said she was having difficulty because it obviously hadn't been opened in a while, so it was jammed shut.

With the help of a small crowbar-like tool to help pry open the sticky door, the woman finally managed to pop it open - and was left gobsmacked by what she found inside.

When the door popped open, it revealed a shallow cabinet with a series of shelves inside. Most of the shelves were empty, but two of them were lined with very old tins and bottles that likely hadn't been touched in decades.

Picking them up to inspect the strange containers, the woman made another shock discovery - they were mostly remedies to alleviate the symptoms of constipation.

She first examined a bottle of castor oil and then a mysterious "elixir" that claimed to be a laxative. However, when she examined one of the tins, she was even able to put a rough date on the haul, as she found a "clinical trial supply" of Senokot, which is now a popular brand of laxative for constipation.

Senokot was first launched in the early 1950s as a chocolate-flavoured granule, meaning that clinical trial supplies of the laxative could have been released in the 1940s, making the cupboard between 70 and 80 years old.

The woman exclaimed: "This must be from when the house was first built. This must be from the 40s or 50s for Senokot. It's the constipation closet! What a scream! I love it."

While Senokot was launched in the early 1950s, it is a UK brand, and it's unknown when exactly the product travelled to places like North America, where the woman in the Instagram video is from.

A clinical study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1963 investigated the use of Senokot among nursing mothers to assess its potential adverse effects on infant bowel habits. So, it is possible the previous owner of the house was involved in this trial and obtained the Senokot tin in this manner.

However, the woman on Instagram mainly renovates homes in Maine, US, rather than in Canada.

She has not updated her followers with any further information on the mysterious cupboard, so unfortunately, we may never know the truth behind the bizarre collection of constipation relief products.