It was time to find out what was inside a sealed room at Leo Tire Service on U.S. 70. Jim Lee, a partner in the company that owns the building, and nearly 100 other people gathered around the secret room Friday.

Donna White, a member of the Johnston County Board of Education, had the honor of taking the first jab at the wall. She put on a yellow hardhat, safety goggles and took a deep breath. As she banged an 8-pound sledgehammer against the concrete wall, the crowd chanted "Move that wall!" A few minutes later, Lee let children and adults take their turns with the sledgehammer until a small hole was knocked out.

"My dad took the hammer, and it was like boom, boom, boom." said Savannah Jaquay, who came to the event with her parents, Tammy and Kevin, and 4-year-old sister Kaylee. "I think he hit it harder than anyone."

About an hour later, the hole was large enough to peek inside. Through a writing contest, people had guessed treasure, a body, space aliens and even Elvis Presley were inside the secret room. But Lee found nothing of the sorts. In fact, the only occupants of the room were a bunch of lonely spiders.

"I saw a spider sitting on light switch when I looked inside," Savannah said. "I wouldn't touch it because it was big and green. I think some of the spiders were dead."

Through research, Lee discovered that, during segregation, the room had been a restroom for blacks. When segregation ended, the room was sealed up. Sewer drains and a spot for a toilet paper dispenser are the only evidence still left inside the room, which will become a storage space for Leo's.

"I am really disappointed they took everything out," Lee said. "But I am amazed that the light bulb still works." In the story she submitted, Savannah, 10, guessed that the room had been the access point to an underground tunnel that slaves used to escape the South during the Civil War. Savannah wrote that she broke through the wall to get away from a pack of dogs that were chasing her. When she got through the tunnel, her mother was standing on the other side.

"I kind of probably knew it wouldn't be (a tunnel) because slavery was years and years ago," Savannah said. "This was (built) like, 50 years ago."

Another writer, 9-year-old Matthew Rous of the Cleveland community, thought teenagers working at the former gas station had hid a time capsule in the room. "I thought there would be a bunch of cool stuff in there, but it turns out it was nothing," Rous said, clutching a piece the loose brick from the room.

Even though the room was empty, something did catch Matthew's attention. "It had a very bad smell," he said.

"It smelled like a swamp in the zoo where the alligators live."