Lost Cat Leads To A Startling Find In The Floorboards

There's been so many of those stories across social media about crazy things found in homes and apartments, like the lady who lived in the apartment storage loft, the creepy hidden stairs and space behind the bookshelf, or the hidden padded room with a safe. While mine isn't quite as outrageous, it definitely caught me off guard.

As I mentioned previously, we recently added a kitten into the house, which has left our current cat acting a little strange lately.  The other day, we noticed food had been pulled off our pantry shelves, which is something she hadn't done in quite some time. So we covered the shelf with a sheet again, which seemed to do the trick last time.  However this time was a bit different.

We noticed part way through the day that we hadn't seem the cat in a while. After searching the house and her usual spots, she was still missing.  So we headed to check the pantry shelves again.  The sheet was down, but the cat wasn't there, or so I thought until I looked up.  She was sitting on top of the air duct. I went to get the step stool to grab her, but when I came back, she was gone.  Armed with a flashlight, I discovered there was a nice opening for her to hop up into the space between the downstairs ceiling and the upstairs floor board.  Sure enough, she was way in there, and the only thing I could do was wait.  Of course I armed myself with a fresh can of "wet food" and treats as bait/temptation.  But while I waited, I noticed a weird shape hidden just out of reach, as well as a jar on its side filled with something.  I had to use a broom to reach down between the floor supports and pull it closer.  My jaw dropped at my discovery.

Hidden up there was a jar full of shotgun shells.  I'm not a hunter by any means, nor is anyone else in our house.  I don't own a firearm, and never intend to.  To each their own, but it's just not for me.  I have no clue how long these had been up there, or how dangerous that situation was.  I'm just glad I found it and removed it.  Still creeps me out, as silly as it is.  Also makes me wonder what else might be up there.  It's not worth trying to find out however.  In fact, after a while, the cat came down, and we've since boarded the entire area up.  No more hiding spots for the cat, or anything else for that matter.