What’s in the buried rug? That’s what the world wanted to know over the weekend, as we tuned in on TikTok to see if a random woman in Ohio had unwittingly uncovered a murder scene in her backyard…
A week ago Katie Santry had around 6,000 followers on TikTok. She talked about her experiences being a mum, her difficult pregnancy, miscarriages and divorce.
But then one morning she went to sit down in her home office and immediately noted that something was off. Things on her desk had mysteriously moved from where she’d left them the night before. And when she opened her laptop, she found a smashed screen. No one had been in the room, the windows and doors were firmly shut – Katie just couldn’t make sense of it.
She had a weird feeling. They hadn’t been living in the house for long, and the day they moved in their neighbour, an elderly woman with no relatives, had been found dead. On the very same day her laptop was broken, the deceased woman’s house was boarded up. To Katie, it felt creepy. Was something supernatural happening?
But then, things took an even stranger turn – and, by the end of the week Katie had more than 2.2 million people following her, glued to her story. A fan of true crime stories herself, Katie – who lives in Columbus, Ohio – soon found herself in the centre of one, as the world followed along, eager to find out what happened next and… gulp… if her home had been the scene of a murder.
Because at the same time as the strange event happened in her office, Katie and her husband had made an equally strange discovery in their lawn. When digging a fence post hole they soon noticed something strange – carpet. At a depth of two metres she struck what seemed to be a rolled-up rug. She let her TikTok followers know, and next thing, she was inundated with people telling her to let the cops know.
So she did. They turned up, had a look and she reported back to her followers, saying they’d told her it was a big job to dig it up – they’d likely need an excavator. It’d be costly and without any other information, they wouldn’t be doing anything further.
But Katie’s followers couldn’t give it up there. They offered their excavators, they offered to turn up with shovels – psychics got in touch, offering their services. Several people with specialised equipment wanted to help. PEOPLE NEEDED ANSWERS.
So Katie gave in – she said she’d accept the help and start digging. But before she got the chance, the police called back – specifically the homicide department who’d been given the notes, and wanted to do an inspection.
Around 120,000 people tuned in as Katie live streamed their visit, anxiously watching on as the homicide team brought two cadaver dogs to check the area in which the rug was buried. The first dog sniffed the area and sat down – exactly what it was trained to do if it detected human remains. Katie – and likely all watching at home – gasped. When the second cadaver dog also detected human remains, Katie began to cry. She asked if she should contact a lawyer. Was there a body in her yard?
Katie’s lawn was now taped off, with multiple police officers on site at all hours. The next day they brought in an excavator and began work.
Literally millions of people from around the world were waiting for Katie’s next update.
Finally, a relieved – but confused – Katie came back on to let everyone know that the rug had been dug up and there wasn’t a dead body wrapped up inside, like a lot of people had feared.
“What was in the rug? Nothing,” she reacted on camera. “There were no bones, there was no body, it was just a rug … This should be a sigh of relief. This is a good ending. The question remains of why the dogs sat. I don’t know. Both dogs, not just one two. I don’t know. The other question remains is WHO BROKE MY LAPTOP?”
Internet sleuths lost their mind alongside her and she Googled, ‘do cadaver dogs ever get it wrong?’ (which became a popular google search over the weekend).
“I simply cannot accept this answer,” one person commented.
“Maybe the crime occurred on the rug, and it was buried to conceal evidence,” suggested another follower.
Around 7,000 people chimed in with their thoughts.
Katie told her viewers that the investigators had taken away pieces of the rug to test it further – surely more answers would be on the way.
But, today, the story seems to have hit a brick wall, with the Columbus Police Department releasing a statement saying:
“Investigators began digging at the site at approximately 9:00 AM and removed several small rug pieces from the ground. The pieces all tested negative for human or animal remains and, at this time, there are no plans for further testing.”
Katie’s experience has shown that the appetite for true crime is at an all-time high.
Whether it’s something like Katie’s story – where viewers have the opportunity to follow a potential case in real time (something that Katie at one point realised was risky “what if we discover a body and their family is watching?” she said at one time, turning off her live feed) – or an old true crime story that has been brought back to viewers attention.
Besides #whatsintherug, TikTok and social media is also currently bursting with content about the Mendendez brothers as a new generation discovers their story for the first time, thanks to the Ryan Murphy Netflix drama: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menedez Story.
The gruesome and confronting show details the story of the murder of Josè (played by Javier Bardem) and Kitty Menendez (Chloë Sevigny) who were brutally murdered by their two sons, Lyle and Erik (who were 18 and 20 at the time) in 1989. The pair were originally tried separately, and said they committed the murders because their father had been sexually abusing them and they feared for their lives. In both trials, a hung jury caused a mistrial.
The pair were later tried together, and their defense was largely inadmissible (due to the fact that it was deemed impossible for a male to be raped – the terminology did not exist for such a case). Lyle and Erik were convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and spared the death penalty, but sentenced to a life in prison.
If the number of people posting content on social media, Googling the pair, and watching the Netflix show (worldwide, it is one of the biggest shows of 2024) is anything to go by – the world is still fascinated by the true crime genre.
Katie meanwhile, says she is still thrilled that the rug amounted to nothing and while she suspects many of her followers will stop watching her, she also hopes that many might stick around.
“My goal when I came to this platform was to bring light to things that people – specifically women – experience that are taboo,” she says. “Like miscarriages – I’ve had two, I wanted to talk about that and I wanted to let people they’re not alone because it’s a horrible experience. I wanted to talk about pregnancy symptoms and the things no one talks about. I was talking about my divorce, about co-parenting my toddler. I was talking about vulnerable things.” Katie says she hopes those conversations might continue – and, well, one day maybe there will be some answers to the strange goings on in her home.