A woman living in the country with her family embarked on a project of pulling up carpet on a set of stairs leading to their basement. They then made, if not a life-changing discovery, at least one to keep them occupied for a few hours.
Featured Video
The findings were chronicled on TikTok by California-based creator Taryn34 (@tarynmamaof3), who describes herself in her bio as a “lover of Jesus, married to the love of my life and mama to 3 beautiful kids.” Since putting up the initial video on Sunday, it’s received more than 1.8 million views as of Tuesday morning, with a Part 2 video put up on Monday generating an additional 865,000 views in that same time frame.
The video starts with Taryn explaining, “So, a few days ago, my parents decided to pull up all the carpet that was on their stairs coming up from their bedroom up to the house, and they pull up all the carpet on the stairs, and then they get to the landing, and the carpet comes up all around, and this is still sitting here.”
She shows a piece of carpet sitting on a tile-covered landing area. As it turns out, the carpet is attached to a flat board, and upon pulling it up, it’s clear there’s a small hidden room, with a built-in wooden ladder extending down to the basement level, with a few abandoned boxes strewn about.
What’s in the hidden room?
“I am really wondering what is in here and what we will find in this hidden little bunker.” The only clue she can immediately spot is a box with “Vicky” written on it in marker.
The Part 2 video appears that it might be an unboxing, but over the course of five minutes, in which she enlists her husband to retrieve a few of the boxes from the secret room. Taryn brings a few of the boxes out on the back porch, potentially preparing for a Part 3 video with an actual reveal.
Part 2 viewers did inadvertently learn of one item in a box via the husband: A Rolling Stone magazine with erstwhile celebrity couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee on it, perhaps the May 2001 issue selling for $55 in “very good” condition on eBay. (Let’s assume their newfound copy, having sat in a box with stains on the outside, is in less than “very good” condition.)
Is a hidden room unusual?
Despite at least one allusion to The Silence of the Lambs in the comments, in which the movie’s antagonist had his creepy factor upped significantly through his network of secret basement-level (and lower) rooms, hidden rooms are common enough to have their own subreddit.
For those who were taken in by these videos, the r/hiddenrooms forum might be for you. It includes posts from people who have happened upon hidden rooms in their homes and office buildings, as well as people who are looking to create secret rooms of their own, with more than one cleverly concealed behind a bookcase.
In one post, where a Redditor just discovered a hidden room in a house, that Redditor was initially excited, and then was left underwhelmed. “Turns out it’s just a closet, nothing special unfortunately hidden,” that person reported. “Found a dead mouse, that’s all.”
“Well there’s nothing special there NOW,” one offered in response, “but it’s still a cool hidden space that you can MAKE special.”
Several suggested hiding something scary in the secret room, like a Halloween skeleton, in order to scare some future dweller. One even had a ready nickname for the action: “Future jerk.”
‘I would never leave you hanging’
The original video, and the Part 2 video especially, left some who came upon the video in their algorithm left wanting more—and expecting the creator to drag out the reveal over multiple posts.
“To my tt family. I don’t post,” one shared. “But if I ever found a little room/cubby with stuff in it. I would never leave you hanging.”
Another said, “I have to call this out. People in the comments, how many of you would have all those boxes open immediately after finding the hidden room? All of you, right?”
“Ma’am, it’s been 3 hrs,” said someone else impatiently waiting for the Part 2 video to drop. “I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight till I know.”
The initial video was only a minute and a half and held the promise of a Part 2 reveal. The Part 2 video, going over five minutes and being more drawn out and less revelatory, tested the collective patience of an audience used to more immediate payoff.
“I liked the part where they opened up the boxes to see what was inside,” quipped one.
“I can see this will get dragged out,” predicted another. “My ADHD wont let me care anymore.”
One wondered, “Can we skip parts 3 thru 92 and just show us what you found??????”
@tarynmamaof3 What’s in this hidden room in our house? #HiddenRoom #HouseMystery #SecretRoom #ForYou #Homestead #Boxes #FamilySecrets #Reveal #Mystery ♬ original sound – Taryn34
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
