After saving diligently for years, Alaina Scheildel was ecstatic to finally get a foot on the property ladder this year.

Just several months after she and her boyfriend, Ben, settled into her $250,000 three-bedroom home in Michigan, she stumbled upon a chilling surprise while renovating the basement.

Scheildel, a speech therapist in her 20s, was taking apart the ceiling when six yellowed and dusty letters hidden in the paneling fell to the floor. 

Intrigued, she immediately began opening the sealed envelopes. 

She found handwritten notes that were all in a cursive style using different colored ink and addressed to different people – some men, some women. 

One note, seemingly directed to someone named Jonathon, ominously stated: ‘You have despised me for a long while, and now it’s time for you to pay because your time has run out. All I can say is don’t stray too far from home. This isn’t a joke. Avoid involving the police, or your family will face severe consequences.’

A second said: ‘Dear Mary Gallagher, Don’t come out too late in the day or after dark or you still may have a serious accident.’ 

Another note warned: ‘You better be cautious because if you’re not, you’ll find yourself in deep trouble. You’re my first target. And since I detest you, don’t stray too far from home—or else… Your life belongs to me, and I will claim it. All I can say is to watch over your house around the clock because something might befall you and your family.’

Alaina Scheidel was renovating her new $250,000 three bedroom home in Michigan when she made the startling discovery

The handwritten notes were all in a cursive style using different colored ink and addressed to different people 

Rather creepily, most of the letters were signed by someone who referred to themselves as ‘Shadow’. At first, Scheildel wasn’t too concerned. 

‘To us, they read as a bizarre prank from back in the day due to some of the juvenile terminology included in the letters such as ‘Thank you for your cooperation’ and because they are signed ‘XXX, Shadow,” Scheildel exclusively told the Daily Mail.

‘It’s also interesting that most of them have similar phrasing about not wandering too far from home.’

It wasn’t until Scheildel shared photographs of the letters on TikTok that she began worry. 

Her videos quickly garnered more than 350,000 views, with scores of users urging her to take the notes to the police. 

In the end, however, she decided not to, pointing out that the letters were still in sealed envelopes. 

‘Even if the threats were real in intent they were never sent and never opened,’ she said.

Scheildel was taking apart the ceiling when the yellowed and dusty letters hidden in the paneling fell to the floor

Most of the letters were signed by someone who referred to themselves as ‘Shadow’ 

One letter said: ‘Dear Mary Gallagher, Don’t come out too late in the day or after dark or you still may have a serious accident. XXX, Shadow’

But Scheildel did want to solve the mystery of who the letters might have been intended for – and crucially, who sent them. 

She began by searching the names written on the envelopes on Google and found multiple obituaries listed.

‘The names I looked up had all lived to an old age and passed away peacefully,’ she said.

As for the mystery sender, Scheildel believed she could safely assume that since the letters were in the house, they were likely written by someone who lived or visited the property. 

But when she asked the realtor who sold her the house for information on the previous owners, nothing exciting was forthcoming. 

‘The home has not been owned by many people. The previous owner of the home sadly passed away several years ago, and the house sat empty for several years,’ she said. ‘I’m assuming the letters were written by the previous owner’s children or grandchildren, as she has many. 

‘I think they were either a joke, or letters that were written in anger to past classmates that were never sent.’ 

But Scheildel’s realtor Jeff, who is also a former police officer, has a more disturbing theory: that the notes were written by a ‘mentally unstable person a long time ago.’

‘I asked my parents if they thought we should be concerned about the letters because they have been helping with the renovations we have been doing.

‘They also agreed and thought it was likely a prank, or even if the threats were real, they were not credible as the letters were sealed and never sent,’ Scheildel said.

One letter said: ‘You have hated me for a long time and now you will pay because your time is up,’ another read. ‘This is not a prank. Do not come in contact with police, your family will suffer severely’

Another said: ‘You better watch yourself because if you don’t you’ll find yourself in awful trouble,’ the mysterious person wrote in a third, in part

Scheildel said she believes the notes were either a joke or written in anger to past classmates but never sent 

Scheildel said she now plans to frame the letters and hang them around the basement where they were found

She added that she now plans to turn the letters into an art piece for her home. 

‘I think about them more as an odd piece of history.

‘We plan to frame the letters and put them in the basement, because they are so interesting,’ she said. 

‘We are first time home buyers, so it has been fun and interesting discovering more things about the house,’ she added.

‘The reaction was much larger than I anticipated.

‘I did not expect that so many people would have had such strong feelings about taking the letters to the police.

‘It seemed to strike a lot of interest, and it has been fun reading all the comments and making a few update videos.’