seems like a heavy handed approach to a simple problem , the way the wood is torn out makes me wonder if he/she used a hatchet ?
Haha, they drilled up from the basement, so the wood must have splintered off as they broke through.
Judging by the size and shape of that hole, iŽd assume that there "once upon a time" has been a couple of plumbing pipes passing through there
Nope, no plumbing, the only plumbing in the house through the walls is the kitchen and a bathroom upstairs on the other side of the house. The house was only built with one bathroom and the previous owner added a toilet to this closet under the steps, no sink. The kitchen has been rewired from the basement and this wire leads up to the light switch, so I'm assuming they fed wire down from the light switch and needed a bigger hole to try and get the wire through without tearing out the wall.
The other wiring in the wall is quite a bit older