What might we have found in the basement which would've made it more interesting? details inside

My wife and I were looking at a duplex that her brother was thinking of buying with our help. He would be renting the downstairs to my wife and I. My wife was really excited, but I don't really want to leave my part of town, so when she came up from the basement and said, "Guess what we saw, I came up with some morbid possibilities. What are your ideas?