out of the woodwork

Idioms  

1. Emerging from obscurity or a place of seclusion. It often is put as come (or crawl) out of the woodwork, as in The candidates for this job were coming out of the woodwork. The expression alludes to insects crawling out of the interior wooden fittings of a house, such as baseboards and moldings. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

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Example Sentences

“I heard from everybody I’ve ever met. Everybody came out of the woodwork,” McCurdy said.

From Los Angeles Times

It would be absolutely amazing if somebody from that time would come out of the woodwork.

From Los Angeles Times

“People were coming out of the woodwork,” says Stark.

From Literature

“They should have known people were going to come out of the woodwork and do stuff like this,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

"Their pasts are dissected. Exes come out of the woodwork to sell their stories, and everything they do or say is open to criticism."

From BBC