Oversized Hamster Cage?!

Today I was showing a few houses.  It's been a little while since I've seen anything that really made me stop and take a second look....until today!  We were in a vacant house.  We had viewed the entire first floor and it was "empty".  As we turned the corner to go up the stairs I opened the closet under the stairs.  As I opened it, I told my out of state clients that this would make the perfect tornado shelter (real estate is all about educating people).  To my surprise the closet was full of coats (poor people are going to be cold when they realized they have left every single coat in the old house)...as I pulled the coats to the side to show them how "deep" the closet was I was greeted by hay?!  What?!

Okay, so I know that this picture is terrible...there was no lighting and it was taken on my phone...but seriously, can you see it?!  There is a decent amount.

I am DYING to know exactly what was going on in there!!