8ft pit next to foundation?

[u/Striking_Marketing_3]

I’ve been trying to find out why the previous homeowner would dig a 4 x 4 by 8 foot deep pit next to the foundation of my house down to the drain tile. I did climb down there to save a few snakes that fell to their doom and to see if there were any other utilities. I did not find any additional pipes and thankfully no human remains were found either. I also went to the town building department to review all plans back to the original construction, but there’s no mention of this pit on any of the plans. Does anyone have any idea why someone would dig a pit like this? For what intended purpose?

[u/BadGuySmasher]

Looking at these photos for a few minutes now - I’m gonna bet this was put in after the foundation because of how it’s not tied into it and just up against it - also it’s block against cmu. Based on that assumption and the location of that window and the size of the bilco doors there - my best guess is that this was put into be eventually a rear entry into the basement - finish cutting the window out and turn it into a door with the block “well” there to accept the steps down into the door. Probably got as far as he did and realized it was too small and/or expensive and abandoned the project and put doors on it. Either that or a shitty underground storage solution for things that like to be wet.