That thing in the chimey

Maybe not so strange that the chimney was blocked up... this is how it looks after it was bludgeoned to the bottom of the chimney by a 2by6 on a chain.

On the bright side, the chimney sweep was able to inspect the now very clean chimney with his camera on a stick, and while he thinks our chimney should be good for casual use it'll probably still need a new liner. But then, so might all the chimneys in the neighbourhood - he was somewhat surprised by the sloppy workmanship. Back when they built the houses in '75, they built them cheap - but at least we got a working fireplace again.