From creepy cult weddings, to horrifying sea monsters and a night where the sky turned blue. Today, we’re going to delve back into the spooky side of social media, and break down some more TikTok mysteries that the Internet wasn’t prepared for!
Katie Santry Rug Mystery
When you move into a new house, it’s pretty common for the previous owners to leave behind some furniture or forwarded mail. But in 2024, Katie Santry from Ohio was horrified to discover that the people who used to live at her house might’ve left evidence of a violent crime, buried in the backyard.
Katie came down one morning and found her study in disarray, with her laptop smashed and knick-knacks moved around. The doors were locked, and there was no sign of breaking and entering. So she filmed the scene and uploaded it to TikTok, joking that her house could be haunted. The video soon racked up over 9-million views, but the viewers weren’t too concerned about Katie’s study, and everyone was more interested in something she said at the end of her video.
The commenters thought this buried carpet was very suspicious, so they begged Katie to keep investigating and give them updates. Over the next few days she got in contact with the daughter of the previous owners, who explained that they’d lived in the house since it was built in 1967, and as far as she knew they’d never buried anything in the yard.It was starting to look like a real whodunnit, so Katie called the cops, and the homicide and crime scene investigation departments showed up with two cadaver dogs. These pups are trained to sit down when they pick up the scent of human remains, and when they were shown the hole in Katie’s garden, this happened.
Suddenly, it looked like Katie had genuinely found a body, and the story was quickly picked up by the media. The next day, the world watched on as CSI returned to the scene and dug up the carpet. But when it was excavated and unrolled, all the cops found inside were some pieces of burnt rubber. The circus was over, and the media and cops soon packed up and went home, taking the carpet in as evidence.Katie was relieved there wasn’t a body in her yard, but Cadaver dogs are around 95% accurate at detecting some trace of decomposition fluids, so her viewers urged her to keep investigating. 5-months later Katie was able to pick up the carpet from the cops, so she brought it home and uncovered it on camera, revealing a large, red stain. She then used two blood testing kits on the stain and found that one read positive, and the other read negative. The positive test involves pouring hydrogen peroxide over the area and seeing if it bubbles due to the presence of a blood enzyme called Catalese.
The peroxide did bubble. However, it’s worth noting that Catalese is also found in some bacteria, fungi, and plants that could easily contaminate something buried underground. So this bubbling was inconclusive, and Katie’s viewers begged her to test the carpet in a proper lab to keep the story going. But there haven’t been any further updates, and today Katie’s living in peace, safe in the knowledge that there wasn’t a body buried in her yard. Still, some netizens believe that the cadaver dogs prove that a violent crime did occur on the property, and some of them even think the mess in Katie’s study is evidence that the victim’s spirit is haunting Katie’s house! It looks like carpet-gate will never be fully solved, but Katie’s story isn’t the only creepy TikTok to come out of the suburbs.
Unexplained Phenomenon of Identical Cars in Neighborhood
Back in April 2025, a TikToker called Lindsey Nicole was driving through a quiet neighbourhood when she realized something creepy about the cars parked outside every single house. Identical cars were parked in every single driveway, making the street look like a glitch in the matrix, or a giant Hyundai commercial!
Lindsey sped home and posted the TikTok, and netizens rushed to the comments with all kinds of wild theories explaining the area’s shared love of Hyundai. They proposed that it could be a fake town built by the CIA to hide some shady experiments, or evidence that we’re in a simulation! But thankfully, some other commenters took off their tinfoil hats and came forward with more grounded explanations. One was that a local Hyundai dealership needed extra space to store their cars, so they teamed up with the neighborhood's property developers to park them outside unsold houses. This is a win-win, as it gives the dealership a place to park their vehicles, and it makes the houses seem more homely to potential buyers.
Alternatively, others suggested that the neighborhood could be corporate housing, where a company rents out lots of properties for their employees to live in. These employees are often given company cars, and it’s common for everyone to receive the same vehicle. So, unless these comments were written by CIA agents trying to cover up the truth; Katie’s discovery might not be as sinister as it initially seemed.
Sky Phenomena
Some glitches in the matrix aren’t so easy to explain. Like this one, that impacted the entire sky.
This might look like a filter, but this TikTok from 2022 is completely unedited, and it shows the moment that the night sky momentarily turned blue before flickering back to darkness. The witnesses freaked out, believing they were in some kind of simulation, and somebody accidentally switched the sun on at night-time. However, while this sudden burst of daylight seems impossible, it isn’t the first time that it’s happened. Back in 2018, thousands of people in New York saw a similar blue-light in the sky, and the city announced that it was actually caused by a huge transformer explosion.
Transformers are a part of the electrical grid that can increase or decrease the voltage of electricity. If a sudden surge in electrical power causes one to blow, they can release strong electrical currents into the air with a burst of bright blue light! It isn’t clear whether this TikTok was actually filmed in New York back in 2018, or if it’s evidence of another transformer explosion in 2022. But either way it’s definitely a spooky sight, and if I saw it in person I would’ve thought my city was being invaded by aliens, or Godzilla!
Hooded Cult Attends A Wedding
Of course, sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you. Just look at this next image, that shows the moment a photographer thought they saw something horrifying at a wedding in New Orleans.
Typically, the only people you don’t want to attend your wedding are your drunk cousin Larry and your fiancé’s ex. But, this couple’s nuptials were attended by even more ghoulish guests, as it was observed by dozens of mysterious figures wearing black hoods. Images of this unholy matrimony racked up over 13-million views on TikTok, as people questioned whether the bride and groom were part of a cult like the Illuminati. The photo is pretty terrifying, but fortunately, the fact-checking website Snopes arrived to
set the story straight.
They found that this wedding was held at the Omni Royal Hotel, which is next door to the Historic New Orleans Collection building. This is a museum that’s dedicated to the history of New Orleans, and in 2011, they displayed an installation by the artist Dawn DeDeaux, that involved several masked statues wearing dunce hats. The piece was a reference to a novel called “A Confederacy of Dunces”, and the Roman goddess of luck; Fortuna. But the wedding happened to coincide with the instillation, so the happy couple had to profess their love in front of their loved ones, and a bunch of creepy statues. That’s better than a genuine cult, but if they find a set of robes and a strange humming pentagram amongst their wedding gifts, they’ll know who to blame! Curse you Fortuna!
Denver International Airport Conspiracies
Unless you have a fear of flying, you probably don’t find airports scary. However, there are a number of terrifying conspiracy theories surrounding Denver International Airport, stemming back to its construction in 1995.
TikToks about the airport have noted that it contains a ton of references to Freemasons, which is the largest secret society in the world. Furthermore, this plaque contains a tribute to the “New World Airport Commission”; which is an organization that doesn’t officially exist. It sounds very similar to the New World Order, which is a hypothetical deep-state government like the illuminati, that conspiracy theorists have believed in for decades.
But the creepiness doesn’t end there. Some of the baggage claims have murals depicting weeping children, and the entrance features a statue of a red-eyed horse named Blucifer, who’s sculptor died when a chunk of the statue fell on him. Finally, when the airport was constructed, it cost $2-billion more than expected, leading to theories that the money was used on secret underground tunnels that are used by the NWO for nefarious purposes.Seems far-fetched right? Well, in 2024 a TikToker called Jerrell Hollis was in the airport heading to his gate, when he got lost in a seemingly endless series of corridors. His footage showed creepy white hallways that went on forever, with suspiciously low ceilings and signs for gates that didn’t exist.
The video quickly garnered over 27-million-views, and one airport employee who’d worked at DIA for 3-years said they had no idea where he was. Commenters suggested that he’d managed to find the airport’s secret tunnel system, and he could be in great danger. But thankfully, Derrell clearly managed to escape, because he soon posted more TikToks about Denver from the safety of his home. It’s possible that Jerrell just got lost in a huge, empty airport late at night. But some locals take the theories about the airport very seriously. In 2019, DIA even addressed their reputation by installing these posters and some speaking gargoyles
Chatty Gargoyle at Denver International Airport by DenversAirport While it looks like Denver are making fun of the conspiracy nuts, some people think the New World Order might be hiding in plain sight by brushing off the theories with light-hearted jokes. Personally, I’m not convinced. But I still wouldn’t want to get lost in Denver Airport, and if the stories are to be believed, Derrell might’ve had a lucky escape from some underground cultists!
Haunted Doll
If you’ve ever watched a horror movie, you’ll know that buying a doll from a thrift store and bringing it home is a terrible idea. But in 2024, a Texan TikToker called Jamie Whelihan gave in when her 2-year old son begged her to buy this innocent looking toy.
In the following weeks, Jamie reported doors closing by themselves and items going missing, and eventually her son started to insist that the doll was alive. Jaime didn’t believe it, but out of curiosity she clipped a heartrate monitor to the doll, and found that it had a pulse.
While most commenters told Jamie to destroy the doll, some more level-headed people suggested that the monitor might be picking up her own heartbeat, or that it was broken and would read a pulse on anything. But unfortunately, Jamie posted an update that proved them wrong.
Now at this point, most of us would probably call in an exorcist. But it’s worth noting that these portable heartrate monitors are notorious for false high readings, especially in the presence of nail polish or artificial nails. So, the doll’s plastic material could be causing an error. But, this is still too creepy for me, and I’d definitely throw the toy out. Assuming it wouldn’t just keep reappearing in my house in the middle of the night!
Mandi Lumpur, The Mud Bath
The problem with most creepy TikToks, is that you can never be 100% sure whether they’re actually real. Camera tricks and editing could easily make a regular doll look haunted, and that’s why the scariest footage online often comes from livestreams, where you know that everything you’re watching is totally unaltered.
TikTok live is no exception, and back in 2023 users were horrified when they started stumbling upon mysterious streams of people sitting in mud, staring at the camera and begging for money. Hundreds of streamers were doing the exact same thing. So what was going on? Were they possessed? Or in some kind of muddy cult?
In reality, this is a trend called mandi lumpur, which translates to mud bath. It gained popularity in Indonesia at the beginning of 2023 as a form of online begging, as its creators hoped they’d look so pitiful that people would donate money to them. It seems to work, as one participant has reported earning $600 over 9 livestreams, which is far more than she used to make working in fields around Lombok for $2 a day! So these streams aren’t as creepy as they seem, and they really just show that on the internet the more shocking and mysterious the content is, the more attention it’ll get.
TikTok Urban Explorers
Other TikTokers follow this model too, like Urban Explorers, who venture into long abandoned buildings with cameras to see what they find. The more dangerous and creepy the location, the more views they get, and unsurprisingly they often turn up some pretty spooky stuff.
Back in 2022, a TikToker called thatdudefromomaha found a creepy note sprayed onto the wall of an abandoned house in Nebraska. It isn’t clear what horrors that arrow leads to, but I’m not sticking around to find out!
Similarly in 2021, an urban explorer called ‘emete’ visited an abandoned drive-thru cinema in Ontario, with this spooky message sketched on the wall.
Of course, when urban explorers find graffiti like this, it’s usually the result of angsty teenagers messing around with spray-cans. But back in 2022, a famous urban explorer called urbex_muse found something far creepier, when they entered an abandoned home that contained some Satanic decorations.
This encircled pentagram is called a ’Pentacle’ and in folklore, witches can use them to summon spirits and talk to the dead. The newspaper beside the pentacle is referencing Jimmy Stewart, a famous American actor who passed away in 1997, meaning that this place has been abandoned for over 25-years. Of course, these markings could’ve been created by bored teenagers too. But it’s worth noting that there’s no other graffiti on the house and the old photos have been arranged very carefully, which is pretty unusual. Furthermore, whoever was there last even displayed some flowers on the table that are still alive.
This implies that the people who left the satanic markings were there very recently, and they weren’t just teenagers who wanted to vandalize an abandoned building. Of course, if this was a genuine attempt to summon the dead, it isn’t clear why they opted for an old actor. But maybe the witches are fans who wanted the long-dead celebrity’s autograph!
The Creepiest Airbnb Experience Ever
Urban Exploring videos can be pretty eerie, but a house doesn’t have to be abandoned to be scary. In fact, in 2024 a TikToker called Emily went viral after finding something, and someone horrifying hiding in her AirBnB in Salt Lake City.
She told her story on TikTok, and explained that when she arrived at the Airbnb with her friends, they found that it was dirty and smelt like cat pee. Then when they re-checked their booking, they discovered that at the very bottom of the listing it mentioned that the groundskeeper lived onsite in the basement.
They were pretty creeped out, so they left the property to go for dinner. But when they got back later that night they made a horrifying discovery. Somebody had disabled the lights in the house and written the words GET OUT on the fridge with scrabble magnets. The group started hearing movement from the basement, so they quickly packed their bags and fled to a nearby Hilton Hotel. Creepier yet, when Emily shared pictures of the house on TikTok, some viewers pointed out a muddy boot-print on the door to the basement, as though it had been kicked open!
It isn’t clear why the groundskeeper wanted Emily and her friends to leave, but I think they made a great call moving from that Hell-ton to a Hilton. Still, she isn’t the only TikToker to book a stay in a nightmare-bnb. In October 2022, a creator named spookytooth stayed in a gothic-themed AirBnb with her partner, and for the first night everything seemed fine. But, when they woke up the following morning they found messages from Airbnb instructing them to leave the property immediately and not to tell the host.
Naturally the couple booked it, and Airbnb relocated them to a fancy hotel. But the company refused to tell them why they had to evacuate, simply saying the host violated their terms of service. Later the TikToker checked the Airbnb app again, and found that the previous night the host had actually messaged them telling them to disregard any strange messages from Airbnb! Then, later on that day the host called spookytooth, explaining that the incident was due to a previous guest who’d reported him for some, quote: very dangerous and inaccurate things. Pretty creepy right? He refused to say what those things were, so the reason for the removal is still a mystery. But commenters who’ve worked for AirBnb say a total evacuation is incredibly rare, and they’ve speculated that the only offence serious enough to warrant it is if a previous guest found hidden cameras in the house!
Wonder Woman Reflection
If the spookytooth story makes you want to cancel your vacation plans and hide inside the safety of your house, you should know that you can find terrifying things in your own home too. In 2022, a TikToker called Wonder Woman found this out first-hand, when she was sitting alone on her couch, and spotted something strange in the reflection of her TV.
I have Netflix and chills. I didn’t know ghosts watch TV, but this one clearly wasn’t going to let eternal damnation get in the way of catching up with Wheel of Fortune! The footage of the couch potato ghost garnered over 15-million views, and lots of people noted that the figure looked a lot like Samantha from The Ring. The TikToker definitely earnt the name ‘Wonder Woman’ for staying so calm! However, some people weren’t totally convinced by the video. They noted that when the TikToker switched from her phone’s front camera to back camera she could’ve easily cut to a different clip with a friend sitting next to her on the couch. When Wonder Woman responded by posting an updated video without a cut, she explained that the figure had disappeared, which is pretty convenient. All this means that the video is likely a result of editing trickery, not a haunting. But if it isn’t, then at least Wonder Woman has someone to cozy up with while they watch TV! In contrast, something tells me this next mirror-image spirit isn’t so friendly.
Demon In Mirror
In 2022, several horror-themed TikTok accounts started posting screenshots of a reddit post, where a user uploaded a seemingly innocent photo from her sister’s wedding.
The photo’s pretty sweet, and apart from the terrifying lifelong commitment of marriage, it isn’t immediately clear why it’s scary. But, if you zoom in and increase the brightness, you’ll see that a demonic face is peering at the sisters from the corner of their mirror!
If it belongs to a person, they’re not visible in the rest of the photo, and the glowing eyes and long hair look straight out of a horror movie! Having a demon attend your wedding is probably a bad omen, and the Redditor only noticed the face when they were going back through their photos 8-years later, so they were pretty freaked out.
But fortunately, some netizens have come up with some logical theories to explain the creepy picture. The face appears to be behind the woman’s shoulder, however, it could also be in front of her. With the angle of the mirror, this person could very plausibly just be a bridesmaid hiding out of frame.
Alternatively, others say this “face” looks like it could be a clump of hair extensions strewn over the side of the mirror that just happened to fall in the shape of a head. I don’t know what to think, but I do know that face is going to haunt me every time I look in the mirror from now on. We need to get rid of this demon, and I know a TikToker who might be able to banish it for good!
The Un-Openable Book
What’s the first rule of book club? You don’t talk about book club! Nah just kidding. The first rule is that if you discover a creepy old book that’s been nailed shut, don’t open it under any circumstances! Unfortunately, that law was broken in 2020, when a librarian called Libby found an old book sealed with metal latches and nails at the West Coast Baptist College in California.
Some commenters clearly didn’t want the book to be opened, and some of Libby’s 3.4-million viewers noted that it closely resembled a grimoire, which is a spellbook containing instructions for magical rituals including banishing and conjuring spirits. If you need a ghostly reflection expelled, these books might help you out. But modern practitioners of witchcraft claim that grimoires are often protected with spells, and anyone who opens one without permission could be cursed.
Libby’s viewers begged her to be careful, and warned her against opening the book. But unfortunately they were too late, and Libby soon posted an update showing that she’d already ripped out the nails and pried open the hatches.
Viewers were terrified of what she might find, but thankfully opening the book didn’t summon any evil spirits, and all it contained was intricate artwork, dried flowers and text that appeared to be written in Hebrew. By this point 5.5-million people were following along with the mystery, and some of them were still pretty spooked. But when Libby showed the book to a Hebrew-speaking teacher at the college, they explained that the book wasn’t a grimoire at all, but an old Jewish text called a Talmud. Instead of spells and witchcraft, the book was full of religious law and theology, and when the text was examined by experts at the college, they dated it back to around 1500AD. Nobody knows how the ancient artefact wound up in the library, or why it was sealed shut. But the text was an incredible historical find, an it’s now on display at the library in a sealed case!
Unicosobreviviente, The TikTok Time Traveler
Libby’s story had a pretty satisfying resolution, but some internet mysteries may never be solved, and one of the most mystifying accounts on TikTok is “unicosobreviviente”, which translates to “sole survivor”.
The account is run by Javier, who claims that he woke up one day transported to the year 2027, where he found that he was the last person left on earth. His first videos were posted in 2021, and they showed him roaming around empty streets and shops in Valencia, Spain.
His story is obviously fake, but ever since that first upload Javier has regularly posted videos of himself walking through abandoned cities, shops, and stadiums to show that they’re completely empty. These spots include some of the busiest locations in the world, including the Vatican, the British Museum and Valencia CF’s soccer Stadium. He also frequently accepts challenges by visiting any difficult-to-access places that his viewers suggest, like police stations.
Of course, most people don’t buy that these TikTok’s are actually coming from the future, but nobody knows how Javier pulls them off, and he’s amassed 9.7 million followers on TikTok over the years. Many commenters theorize that Javier likely films extremely early in the morning to capture footage of empty streets and cities, and strikes up deals with businesses to let him film in their stores. It’s also possible that he’s utilizing some incredible video editing techniques where any passers-by are simply painted out.
However, it’s unlikely that a place like a police station would let a TikToker film unattended. So maybe he actually is in an alternate reality, and something is going to cause all of humankind to disappear by 2027!
Creepy Figure Spotted In The Background Of Woman's Video
If Javier really is stranded in the future then I might have to message him and see if we ever got an explanation for this next mind-blowing mystery. Back in 2020, a TikToker called maryyylizzz9 got a total fright while looking through her video drafts, when she found that a dance she’d recorded had a surprise guest-star.
Halfway through the dance, a man appeared behind Mary, despite the fact that the parking lot was previously completely empty. After posting the video it racked up over 11-million views, as commenters questioned how the man appeared out of thin air, and whether it was staged. However in a follow-up video Mary claimed that the video was totally real and she was equally confused as to who the man was. The timing of this seems incredibly coincidental, and it isn’t clear how Mary didn’t see the man approach from in front of her, so some people think she’s lying and the whole thing was planned. After all, TikToker’s aren’t exactly known for being honest. But to be fair, Mary might be being genuine – because her TikTok was filmed in 2020 and a lot of crazy stuff happened that year.
Strange Sea Monster Caught In Coney Island
A mysterious man in a parking lot is nothing compared to a global pandemic, or this next horrifying sea monster that was caught in Coney Island, New York.
Footage of this creepy catch was uploaded by Nataliia Vorobok, and it quickly amassed 34-million-viewers who were all asking the same question: what the hell is that?! With a long tail, two legs and a visible face, this creature was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, as some joked it was a Demogorgon from
Stranger Things, a mermaid; or their ex. But fortunately as the story went viral the experts weighed in, and a group of marine biologists explained that this sea-demon was nothing more than a Clearnose Skate!
While the creature doesn’t look like a skate to the untrained eye, these creatures are a type of cartilaginous fish, which means their skeletons are made out of soft, flexible cartilage instead of bone. This allowed the creature to fold up its entire body into one big blob, concealing its characteristic wings. They also believe the creature was very young and underdeveloped, contributing to its alien appearance!
Fisherman Captures Mermaid Screams
For those of you who’ve been living under a rock, mermaids are fictional human-fish hybrids in various folklores, that are known for seducing sailors and luring them to their deaths. Of course, they’re just a myth, like unicorns or little brothers who shower. But back in 2024, a fisherman called Ryun Coleman might’ve captured the most convincing proof of their existence yet.
Hearing those calls out in the dark and stormy Atlantic Ocean is definitely creepy, but you’re probably thinking: Couldn’t that just be a whale or a dolphin? Well Ryun spends around 200-days a year working as a deck boss on a fishing boat, and has encountered all kinds of marine life, but he says he’s never heard any animal make sounds like that before. Furthermore, if you listen real close, you can even make out an eerie voice coming from the waves, saying, “jump for me”.
Naturally, this video made waves across the internet, as many people noted that the video was very similar to old myths about mermaids attempting to draw unsuspecting sailors into the ocean. But these similarities weren’t enough to turn the tide amongst skeptics. Some claimed that the creature was probably a beluga whale, which swim in the Atlantic and are known to make some pretty eerie noises.
That doesn’t explain the voice heard in the video, but skeptics believe that this might actually be the result of an illusion called
auditory pareidolia. This is where the human brain tries to find patterns in foreign sounds, causing us to hear voices when listening to background noise. It’s the same reason why rustling wind can sound like whispering, or the sound of crashing waves and the call of a beluga whale could combine to sound like a human voice. So it’s likely that Ryun didn’t hear a voice after all, but in his defense, if you hadn’t been on dry land for 200 days, you’d probably start hallucinating too!
If you were terrified at these TikTok mysteries, you might want to read
part 1 and
part 2. Thanks for reading!
