By Jack Beresford
A Georgia couple turned to social media for help after making a baffling discovery in the backyard of their new home.Moving house is a stressful experience. In 2022, a study published in the journal Urban Science put the average stress level of homeowners as significantly higher than that of renters, with those who move more frequently more stressed than those who don’t.Few are likely to have faced the predicament one couple encountered after moving from Atlanta to a house in a small town in north Georgia.While everything with the house itself was fine, they found themselves troubled by something unusual in the garden, so turned to Reddit for help.The husband, who asked not to be named, posted to the platform under the handle u/Thiggy-Stardust, asking for help in identifying a series of pipes protruding from his new back lawn.”We saw it when we first viewed the property, even before buying. It’s a sparse backyard and pretty hard to miss,” he told Newsweek.The Reddit post, titled “Found in backyard of house just bought,” included a selection of pictures of the pipe. “This is in the backyard of a property we just bought,” the husband wrote alongside the images.”There is a septic tank; however, this is not part of that. Their septic tank was dug up and repaired during the negotiation process and on the other side of the yard. Doesn’t appear to have any function鈥攚ant to remove it, but afraid to until I know what it is.”The post went viral, amassing over 15,000 upvotes as fellow Reddit users weighed in with a mix of helpful and amusing comments.”Ventilation pipe for hidden bunker,” one wrote. “Before buying a place, you should run a survey, do an inspection, check property history, plat map, or something.”Another posted: “As a realtor, I facepalmed at you asking what this is AFTER buying it. The survey of the land should tell you if that’s connected to a tank or anything.”A third added: “I hear if you stand on top and press down you’ll go through into the underground!”In among the quips and criticism, however, some consensus did emerge as to what the pipes were likely there for.”It is indeed a mounting pipe for an antenna related to ham radio,” the homeowner said. “The part that is left鈥攖he pipes in the ground鈥攊s just for supporting the actual equipment, so nothing special there.”There was something a little special about the discovery though, which brought back fond memories for the new homeowner. “My grandfather was big into ham radio. I would hang out with him in his ham shack when we used to visit their place as kids,” he said.Now a little more digging is required to try and ascertain what else is down there and how difficult it will be to remove it all. “If possible, I want to remove them, but I’m not sure yet how embedded they are,” the homeowner said.”Could possibly have a cement base underground to hold the weight. If it proves too hard to remove, I think the next option would be to dig down 6 to 8 inches and cut them off, then cover with dirt and grass so I can mow that area safely.”