What started as a simple fence installation turned into a search for a body buried in a backyard in Columbus, Ohio.
Katie Santry went viral on TikTok after she found a rug buried in her backyard while she was digging to install a new fence. The discovery sparked a slew of TikTok theories and a police investigation.
In a playlist that now includes 29 videos on the social media platform, Santry takes viewers from the moment she shares that she found a rug in her backyard during police search efforts.
What about a rug found in someone’s backyard?
“I think my house is haunted!!!” Santry captioned the first video, which was originally published on September 29. The video has been viewed 5.4 million times as of Friday afternoon.
“I think my house is haunted and I’m literally shaking,” she said in the first TikTok. She then describes how her computer screen cracked and her desk items were thrown around.
She asked her online audience if they thought the possible creepy feelings were related to a rug she found buried in the backyard.
This question seemingly captivated a corner of TikTok, with thousands of comments on the first video. The excitement led Santry to investigate for several days and eventually the local police.
Santry publicly debated what to do with the carpet as the internet watched, encouraging her to take action. First, Santry says she called the police and they determined that nothing could be done about the buried carpet. She tells TODAY.com that she then decided to take matters into her own hands — enlisting the help of her friends and “a box of High Noon” to dig it up.
“I decided I was going to have a dig party with my friends. We were going to buy a case of High Noon, and we just wanted to make it fun,” she says. “And actually five minutes after I posted that we’re done with it and we’re just going to dig it up… Homicide called me and they said they wanted to send the dogs.”
Once on the scene, police used K-9s to sniff the carpet and both dogs alerted, Santry said. Officers then brought out an entire team to dig up the carpet – at one point even using a backhoe.
“I couldn’t have done this myself,” she laughed to TODAY.com. ‘It would never have worked. They were up to their waists in this hole, several men!’
However, despite their efforts, the police found nothing other than the rug itself.
What did the police say about the investigation?
In a statement obtained by TODAY.com, Columbus police confirmed they investigated Santry’s yard “in reference to pieces of a carpet found beneath the surface of the homeowner’s backyard.”
CPD confirmed that investigators dug up several small pieces of carpet from Santry’s yard.
“The pieces all tested negative for human or animal remains and there are no plans for further testing at this time,” the statement concluded, noting that the case was closed on October 4 at 12:30 p.m.
In a TikTok livestream after the search was completed, Santry said police took the carpet as evidence and filled the hole before leaving the scene.
“It ended up completely destroying my entire fire pit — I had a nice gravel fire pit that’s gone,” she said, noting that it’s now just flat land covered in dirt. “(But) I’ll take this over a dead body any day of the week.”
In a video post announcing what police had – well, not had – found, Santry said the whole experience was wild.
“These have been the most absurd, insane experiences of my life,” she posted in a closing video on October 4. “They didn’t find a body – they found a maternal rug with some rubber.”
Santry tells TODAY.com that while the carpet mystery may have been solved, she’s still a little concerned that the house is haunted.
“I think we might do something else to maybe find a solution to that,” she says, adding that she’s talking about talking to a psychic.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
