A TikTok user has grown rapidly in followers after discovering a rolled up rug buried in her backyard.
The social media user named Katie Santryhas captivated the internet with her backyard mystery series aptly titled, “What’s In The Rug,” giving her new 1.8 million followers frequent updates. When she posted the first TikTok of the series on September 29, she had only 6,000 followers — which have since increased rapidly and continue to grow.
Her series consisted of over 25 videos documenting the initial discovery of the rug, her and her boyfriend digging, the pair recalling phone calls with police and the listing agent of the house, before police finally showed up on scene to dig it up themselves.
While her 1.8 million followers waited — not so patiently — for the unveiling of the rug over the past week, it was officially determined Friday that nothing was inside of the rug.
“They have determined that nothing has been found, no bones, no human remains no anything of that sort,” ABC6 reported. “They brought in an excavator about half an hour ago. Since then, they have been digging parts of the back yard.”
The outlet added police say there wasn’t “anything observable” inside the dug, which may be taken for further examination by authorities.
The saga started when the Columbus, Ohio, local and her boyfriend, Brandon, began digging up their lawn to build a fence. They then uncovered the rug buried under ground by a tree. While they did find it peculiar at the time, they did not think anything of it.
However, after a few days, Katie dropped the TikTok, “I Think My House Is Haunted,” where she revealed to followers that she found her home office rearranged and her laptop screen broken over night.
Which is when people really started to tune in and Katie began documenting the excavation process.
“We’re just average people with normal shovels, and we couldn’t get much further than we did,” the 34-year-old told PEOPLE. “We were just kind of messing with it and realizing this is just the tip of the iceberg. The rug looks like old-school shag carpet, and we didn’t even know which direction to dig. Plus, we had trees and bushes in the way.”
“If I dig in one direction, I hit a rock fire pit area, which would ruin everything. If I dig in the other direction, just two feet over, there’s a bush taller than me — like a 10-foot bush,” she continued.
Once she told TikTok she had decided to stop digging, her series went viral, including one TikTok showing a tag for the tree the rug is buried under which was called, “Bloodgood”.
“So a tree was planted above the rug and it is called a ‘Bloodgood’ because this was in the hole [she said as she held up the tag covered in dirt to the camera],” she said. “They planted a Bloodgood tree on top of a f–king rug! WHY?!”
Katie eventually called the police to have them come and investigate. Two police officers arrived within 15 minutes — however, they let her know it would take too long to dig anything up.
However, Katie was determined. She called the listing agent for her home who reached out to the daughter of the original home owners. The daughter was unaware of the rug and said she would go to the nursing home where her elderly parents live to see if they knew anything about it.
“I truly don’t think there’s a dead body down there,” Katie told PEOPLE. “The curiosity about why that rug is there definitely haunts me. But my biggest concern is my computer because, at the end of the day, it shattered for no apparent reason. That leaves me with the most question marks. I actually have a psychic who reached out to me and wants to do a reading.”
Homicide detectives eventually called Katie, which is when things really took a turn. They announced they would be arriving at her house with dogs on Thursday, October 3.
They taped off Katie’s entire house with caution tape, as news stations arrived to watch the unveiling of the rolled up rug.
ABC6 reported Columbus police officers went to the home on Cummington Road around 6:23 p.m., where they conducted a “preliminary investigation.” Police used K-9 resources during their search, claiming the dogs did hone in on the hole, and said they would return Friday, October 4 to investigate more.
Due to the popularity of the mystery, ABC6 even set up a live stream to watch the police and investigators continue to dig up a rug. An excavator was brought in to help with the heavy lifting at Katie’s house, as the rug was buried so deep in the ground.
Katie’s most recent updates came after the search concluded, saying authorities re-covered the hole and calling it the “most absurd, insane experience of my life.”
“No, they didn’t find a body. They found a mother f-ing rug with some rubber. Why did the dogs hit? I don’t know,” she said, as she continued to wonder who broke her laptop. “I’m so confused. There’s no body. Let’s praise the Lord there’s no body. I can stay in my house! At least it’s not haunted by that.”
“The mystery of the effing rug is solved and there is no body,” she exclaimed.
To see the full investigation of the rug unfold from the beginning head to Katie’s TikTok.
