An Ohio woman has been haunted by ghosts. Or maybe there isn’t. There is a body buried under his house, wrapped in a rug. Or in fact there is no body at all, despite the signs from the cadaver dogs.
This week’s biggest drama on TikTok is about an Ohio woman who built a fence in her backyard, only to discover a mysterious carpet buried in her yard. Viewers speculated that her home might be the scene of a murder, and suddenly, local content creator Katie Santry was at the center of her own true crime story, revealing video by video on TikTok.
Before getting the tag, Santry had nearly 6,000 followers on TikTok, where she mostly shared content about her life as a mother, discussing challenging topics such as pregnancy, miscarriage and divorce. However, in just four days, Santry’s TikTok content changed drastically after finding a suspicious mat. His followers, now up to 2 million, saw everything that happened, from the first discovery to the arrival of the police and dogs at his house and the subsequent excavation.
The idea that there could be a body in someone’s backyard isn’t disturbing enough, and having millions of people watching it is even crazier. Still, Santry seemed comforted by the knowledge that others could see. Commenters even encouraged him to keep digging (which we don’t recommend).
Stories like Santry’s have become surprisingly familiar — not the dead body part that might be, but the experience of turning into an internet protagonist at the drop of a hat. The same thing happened to Reesa Teesa, a TikToker who posted an hour-long thread titled “Who did I marry TF?” and ended up adapting for TV in works based on his life. Hailey Welch (Hawk Tuah’s girlfriend) went viral because of a dirty comment she made on another creator’s video during a random interview on the street in Tennessee. He now has a podcast on the Jake Paul Network that ranks fifth among all shows on Spotify.
Unlike other TikTok stars, Santry is not new to social media. Fourteen years ago, she and her sister were YouTube’s original vloggers, posting “Glee” recaps, thoughts on the Twilight series, and even interviews with the Jonas Brothers. Although Santry left that chapter of his life behind, he clearly learned how to tell a compelling story online.
On Thursday, homicide detectives brought two cadaver dogs to investigate the excavated area. Santry live-streamed their visit on TikTok, as viewers watched anxiously. Both of these dogs were sitting near the dust pit, indicating that these dogs sensed that something was wrong. Soon, Santry’s house was cordoned off with yellow police tape.
The next day, police and crime scene investigators arrived with equipment to dig up the area. Thankfully, no human remains have been found, but this makes the terrace even more confusing for viewers.
“Maybe the crime happened in the closet, and it was buried to hide the evidence,” suggested another fan.
Some fans were disappointed that there was no body after all, highlighting the internet’s sad fascination with true crime stories.
The true crime genre has boomed in the past decade, in part due to the popularity of the podcast “Serial,” which spawned hundreds of other shows in the same genre. As the Internet makes unfathomable amounts of public information easily accessible, some true crime fans have become hobbyist detectives, an immoral pursuit.
Netflix wrote one such thing in the docuseries “Don’t F**k Cats: The Hunt for the Internet Killer,” which was one of the streamer’s most popular releases when it premiered in 2019. A Facebook group in 2010 is looking for a man who posted a video of himself killing cats. As the online community investigated, the story somehow turned darker when the perpetrator struck again, brutally killing a university student. While the genius of the internet can solve some mysteries from time to time, it often reminds us why we should leave such bad news to the real professionals.
Although the searchers did not find the body, Santry’s journey is not over. According to TikTok, the police took the marijuana for testing. That’s good news for Santry’s watchers who are salivating for his next update – but like previous internets, Santry may be digging up more than he intended.
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