What’s in the rug? How TikTok got swept up in a real-time true crime story

A woman in Ohio is haunted by ghosts. Or maybe she isn’t. There is a corpse buried under her house, curled up in a rug. Or there is actually no body at all, despite signals from cadaver dogs.

This week’s biggest drama on TikTok tells the story of an Ohio woman who was building a fence in her yard, but uncovered a mysterious rug buried on her property. Viewers speculated that her home could be a potential murder scene, and suddenly local content creator Katie Santry was at the center of her own true crime story, unfolding video by video on TikTok.

Before finding the carpet, Santry had around 6,000 followers on TikTok, where she mainly shared content about her life as a mother and discussed challenging topics such as pregnancy, miscarriages and divorce. However, within just four days, Santry’s TikTok content took a dramatic turn after she found the suspicious carpet. Her followers, who now number 2 million, have witnessed everything that unfolded, from the initial discovery to the arrival of police and cadaver dogs at her home and a subsequent excavation.

The idea of ​​a possible body in someone’s garden is disturbing enough, and it’s even crazier when there are millions of people watching. Still, Santry seemed to take comfort in knowing that others witnessed it. Commenters even encouraged her to continue digging (which we don’t recommend).

Stories like Santry’s are becoming surprisingly common – not the possible dead body part, but the experience of instantly becoming the internet’s protagonist. The same thing happened to Reesa Teesa, a TikToker who posted an hour-long series titled “Who Did I Marry?” and ended with a TV adaptation in the works based on her life. Hailey Welch (or Hawk Tuah girl) went viral for a lewd comment she made in another creator’s video when she was randomly interviewed on the street in Tennessee. Now she has a podcast on Jake Paul’s network that ranks fifth among all shows on Spotify.

Unlike other sudden TikTok stars, Santry is not new to social media. Fourteen years ago, she and her sister were early YouTube vloggers, posting recaps of “Glee,” thoughts on the Twilight series and even interviews with the Jonas Brothers. Although Santry has left that chapter of her life behind her, she has clearly learned how to tell a compelling story on the Internet.

On Thursday, homicide detectives showed up with two cadaver dogs to investigate the excavated area. Santry streamed their visit live on TikTok as viewers watched anxiously. The cadaver dogs both sat near the hole in the ground, indicating that the dogs sensed something was wrong. Soon, Santry’s house was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

The next day, police officers and crime scene investigators arrived with equipment to excavate the area. Fortunately, no human remains were discovered, but this only makes the tapestry even more confusing for viewers.

“Maybe the crime took place on the carpet and it was buried to hide evidence,” one follower suggested.