When moving into a new house, you're usually overjoyed with the excitement of starting a new chapter in your life. But one man got more than he bargained for when he got the keys to his new home - and he has now been left questioning the mindset of the people who lived in it before him.

He explained how he was unboxing his belongings into a bookshelf in the living room when he noticed something unusual about it - it had a lever. Intrigued, he pulled on it and was stunned to discover it revealed a secret room.He said on Reddit: "I was putting things in the shelf when I noticed a lever, only to realise the wall opens up to a hidden room."

When venturing inside the small, cupboard-sized room, he noticed it had different patterns of wallpaper across its walls and floors, as well as an officer chair and an empty corner shelf.

Most social media users assumed a previous homeowner built it as a "cute reading nook" - but many argued it's closer to something you'd find in a haunted house than in a relaxing space to settle down with a story.

He added: "It's completely hidden, I found it by accident. Honestly, it smells pretty musty, not terrible, but musty.

"You can open it from inside, and you can't see out. But you're able to lock it and unlock it from the inside if you squeeze your fingers into this little gap.

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"I found that out the hard way after I locked myself inside without realising.

"It's weird, it's all floorboard but one part is covered in wallpaper, something definitely used to cover it.

"There's even some leftover trim sitting by the front of the entrance, but from what I looked at there's not much else in there.

"There's no outlets or lights in there at all, and it locks and unlocks from the outside.

"You can still do it from the inside but you can tell you're not meant to and its difficult to do so."

Commenting on his post, one user said: "Be careful, there might be a spooky ghost in there."

Another user added: "I’m not sure I’d want to live in that house. Something dark happened in that room."

A third user said: "My guess is this was a closet that someone turned into a secret closet or panic room?

"Others can speculate on its purpose but likely everyone that lived there knew about it."

One more user added: "You can go in there when you want to be alone and sit by your shelf."

Another user said: "That's Charlie's place! Maybe he'll invite you in to play night crawlers."