r/whatisit • u/PieMuted6430 • 6h ago

New, what is it? Found a button in a closet.

Post image

I recently bought an old (1915) house, and found this inside a closet. We are pretty sure this used to be where the stairs to the basement started, so I'm wondering if it's a light switch? The odd part is that it's at about 2.5ft off the floor.

Something was attached to the wall below it at some point, based on the paint square, it looks like it was about 5" square.

13 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

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10

u/andmewithoutmytowel 5h ago

It looks like 22awg wire. My hunch it’s that it’s tied to a buzzer or bell. My uncle was a photographer and had a doorbell set up at the top of the basement stairs so people could signal him to come upstairs without ruining his photos.

8

u/dyseowo7 5h ago

It fed the monster in the basement.

3

u/SellAmzSell 5h ago

A bell to summon the servant to come up?

3

u/ExcessThoughts 5h ago

Listen to me: You need to press that button.

3

u/PootMcGroot 5h ago

Likely a summoning bell for when the house was laid out differently and had staff.

Possibly a demon summoning button.

1

u/PieMuted6430 2h ago

It's not quite big enough for it to have had staff, 3 bedrooms upstairs, back in the day the 4th bedroom was a sun porch.

3

u/Greedy-Pirate7749 5h ago

It obviously opens the hidden door to the bat cave! Or the gimp...

2

u/stevzon 5h ago

Press the closet button, you know you want to.

Is it a rocker switch or just a straight button? Maybe previously the basement was a secondary unit, possibly a doorbell?

4

u/PieMuted6430 5h ago

It's a button, not a rocket, definitely like a doorbell. The basement has never been finished, but a buzzer to get a husband to come to dinner sounds plausible!

5

u/[deleted] 5h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/whatisit-ModTeam 4h ago

Alright, settle down people, move along now, nothing to see here.

r/whatisitcirclejerk wants a word.

I hear it's nice there.

1

u/Mindes13 5h ago

Until it's out of the closet we don't truly know but we know

2

u/Upbeat_Piglet_9788 5h ago

No Wammie..no Wammie STOP

2

u/Temporary_Ad_7135 5h ago

You get a million dollars but a random person dies somewhere.

2

u/Used-Armadillo2863 5h ago

Is there a possibility this basement was at once a speakeasy?

1

u/PieMuted6430 2h ago

That would have been cool, but it definitely isn't a space people want to congregate in. 🤣

1

u/AverageInfamous7050 5h ago

The doorbell of death. You know what must be done.

1

u/Icy_Quiet_4336 5h ago

PUSHIT PUSHIT!!!

1

u/Adept-Mulberry-8720 2h ago

1930's space travel button!