Redeem now - A home listed for $297,000 in Marietta, Pennsylvania, has a door that leads to a rock cave.
- The three-bedroom house went viral on Zillow Gone Wild, a social-media account highlighting odd homes.
- The listing agent told Insider that the seller built the house with his late wife.
A wooden door in a Marietta home in Pennsylvania doesn't lead to a guest bedroom, wine cellar, or furnished basement. Instead, the door opens up into a rock-clad cave. And it's currently on the market for $297,000.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.Century 21 listing agent Natalia Latsios told Insider that she brushed off the cave when she first heard about the 2,178-square-foot home. Then, she said she saw it for herself.
"I was picturing something way smaller," she said, referring to the cave. "But this cave was almost 40 feet long."
According to Latsios, the seller rebuilt much of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with his late wife. Together, the couple raised four boys in the house.
Latsios said the cave already existed when the seller purchased the property. "It used to connect to tunnels that ran under the town," she said.
Lancaster Online, a local news outlet, reported speculation that it was once part of the Underground Railroad, or perhaps was a bomb shelter.
But any stories are hearsay, Karen Baker Sullivan, who is on the board of the Marietta Community House, told Lancaster Online.
Outside of the home's unusual cave, there are two additional floors to the home. Throughout the house, Latsios said you'll find a mix of eclectic and modern styles. Visitors enter the house through the kitchen. The living room, where the cave's entrance is located, is open-concept. Upstairs are three bedrooms, and the primary bedroom has a marble bathroom along with a Juliette balcony.
Latsios said that the home's unusual nature made it challenging to price. In Marietta, homes can range from new townhomes that start at $150,000 to larger, historical homes that sell for upward of $500,000, she said.
Latsios added they landed on a price in the middle and are expecting an offer after the home received interest over the weekend.
Zillow Gone Wild, a set of popular social-media accounts that highlight unusual properties listed on the real-estate site, shared images of the house on Monday.
On Instagram, where Zillow Gone Wild has 1.4 million followers, a post about the cave house had close to 39,000 likes as of Tuesday.
On Facebook, where the account has 845,000 followers, its post featuring the home had more than 7,000 likes and 3,100 shares.
In the comment sections on both Instagram and Facebook, users joked about the home's cave.
"I like how they put those pics in the middle, then continue with the rest of the home tour like they didn't just show an absolute dungeon hidden behind that door," one person wrote.
Another added, "I mean, if they want to sell it, they should advertise it as a time-out room, guaranteed to make your children listen."
"It's certainly not a space for everyone," Latsios said. "But there will be someone out there who will appreciate the historical value of the home."
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