Ashes Ashes- the inspiration

 A while after moving into the house my wife and I currently live in which, by the way, does have a beautiful fireplace, I realized that there was no clean-out for the ash pit.  Was the cast iron hatch removed and the hole blocked up?  Was there never one in the first place?  Who knows.  Curiosity got the best of me, so one day I removed the wood grate, lifted the lid & cleared the thick cobwebs and cautiously lowered my cell phone through the opening in the floor of the fireplace.  Sure, it was a little discomforting putting my arm down there, but I really wanted to see what it looked like.  We all find beauty in a wide range of shit, and the photos I took of the inside of our ash pit were, in my opinion, fascinating.  And no, I'm sorry to say, there were no bodies down there. 

Inside the actual ash pit.  The white spots are cobwebs

Unless, of course, they're buried beneath the mounds of powdery ash and soot at the bottom.