Hidden Inside The Wall
The plumber began chipping away at the wall, but when the crumbling brick and plaster began to reveal something other than the expected old pipes, he knew immediately that this was no ordinary callout.
The more he chipped away, the more was revealed. A pair of handlebars and a glint of chrome emerged. Perplexed, he continued to unearth the mysterious object in the wall. When he realized just what he was looking at, he yelled for the homeowners.
Oblivious
One Chicago couple never imagined that there was something entombed within the wall of their suburban home. They had absolutely no inkling that the incriminating item was even there.
They’d gone about their lives in that home for years, while the secret lay just a few feet away. They never stopped to wonder about the home’s previous owners. Until now.
Problems
The house was quite old and still had all the original fixtures intact. The unwitting couple was willing to overlook the house’s age because it was going for a bargain price -- but they would come to regret the decision later.
Right from the beginning, they were plagued with all the problems an old house brings. A dark patch of damp began to appear on the kitchen wall and only got worse with time.
Piece By Piece
Having already spent their nest-egg on the house, the couple couldn’t afford any renovations. They slowly addressed all the issues as and when they could; patching up the faulty wiring, the peeling plaster, and the rotting floorboards... piece by piece.
They called a plumber in to fix what they assumed was a leak, but he couldn’t find the problem without chiseling into the brickwork -- something the couple didn’t want to do if they could help it.
An Incessant Sound
The damp patch grew over the years. They could hear the incessant ‘drip,’ ‘drip’ inside the wall in the quiet of the night. Until finally, the couple had saved enough money to fix the problem once and for all.
They called the plumber out again and gave him the go-ahead. But when he began to drill into the wall, his drill struck something that definitely wasn’t a rusty pipe.
Chiseling Away
The plumber tapped the wall around the damp patch and was surprised to discover that it was hollow. He began to carefully chisel away at the plaster until he could see the brickwork underneath.
He found the leaking pipe and began to repair it, but while he was working he spotted something sticking out the wall.
Uncovering A Mystery
As the plumber examined the item, he realized that it definitely wasn’t a piece of detritus or rubble — and it definitely didn’t belong here.
Little did he know, the bizarre find was about to make headlines across the country. And upon further investigation, the clue would begin to reveal a remarkable mystery.
Glints Of Chrome
The plumber carefully brushed the dust away with his fingers. He’d found a small, square mirror embedded in the plaster. He gently followed the chrome curve, unearthing more of the familiar shape as he went. A headlight… and a handlebar.
“Come here quick, would you,” he yelled, unable to keep the alarm from his voice. What had he found?
Incredulous
The couple rushed in, and they were just as perplexed as he was. Amid gasps of “how did that get there?!” and “what the...?!” he slowly uncovered the rest of the shiny metal. Spokes appeared, then a saddle.
“Why, on God’s green earth,” he exclaimed, “do you have a motorcycle hidden in your wall?!”
Extracting It
Once the motorcycle was carefully extracted, they all quickly realized that it was unlike any motorcycle any of them had ever seen before.
The plumber, who had a casual interest in motorcycles, could immediately see that the frame was meticulously crafted -- probably handmade. He’d never seen this kind of workmanship before. There was a name embedded in several parts of the bike.
The Name
At the time, the name “TRAUB” didn’t ring any bells for the homeowners. They reached out to the previous owner of the house to try and find out more, to no avail.
The previous owners had no knowledge of the bike that had been in the house’s wall, but they’d be in contact if they thought of anything that could help unravel the mystery.
The Experts Weigh In
Meanwhile, the bike was handed over to the experts.
Enthusiasts at Motorcycle Classics went into detail about the incredible design. "The lever gate for the shifter is also unique, operating what could have been the first three-speed gearbox on an American motorcycle," Motorcycle Classics wrote. The bike was truly one-of-a-kind! But how had it gotten into the wall?
One-Of-A-Kind
"Even more, the tranny also features two separate neutral positions, which are marked on the shift mechanism with a zero. These are found between first and second gear, and between second and third gear."
A motorcycle dealer named Torello Tacchi quickly snatched up the 1916 Traub shortly after it was discovered in the Chicago home, but that was just the beginning of its journey.
Movie Debut
10 years later, Bud Ekins, Steve McQueen's stuntman on The Great Escape, purchased the bike for the movie.
And eventually, it would find its way into the hands of Dale Walksler, the owner of the Wheels Through Time museum. Dale fell in love with the motorcycle and endeavored to restore it to its original condition.
Pristine Condition
Spending so much time stowed away in a damp and dark wall actually had little effect on the incredible bike -- It was in near-pristine working condition. All it needed was air in the tires and a fresh coat of Armor-All to make it look brand-new.
Meanwhile, the father who owned the home before the couple had a revelation that could crack the case.
Revelation
According to the previous owner of the house, the man’s son had stolen a motorcycle back in 1916. The father was furious and sent his son away to the military as punishment. The father had thought that his son would turn his life around. But, unfortunately, he never returned home.
Jo Kelley, a motorcycle enthusiast, had a theory.
Something Doesn't Add Up
“He hid the stolen motorcycle so that he may return to it. The hiding place must have been secret, and when the son was killed in action, the secret died with him," Jo speculated on his site, Rumble On.
But there was a detail about this theory that didn’t quite make sense…
An Unsolved Mystery
The strange thing about this story was that, even though the bike was confirmed to be stolen by a young man in Chicago, no police report was ever filed for the theft.
It seemed that the creator of the bike, Gottlieb Richard Traub, had never seriously tried to retrieve his stolen property. The mystery of the Traub motorcycle found in the wall remains to this day.