What started as an ordinary fence installation turned into a search for a body buried in a Columbus, Ohio, backyard.
Katie Santry went viral on TikTok after she found a rug buried in her backyard while digging to install a new fence. The discovery triggered a slew of TikTok theories and a police investigation.
In a now 29-video playlist on the social media platform, Santry takes viewers along from the moment she shares that she found a rug buried in her backyard through the police department’s search efforts.
What’s the deal with a rug found in someone’s backyard?
“I think my house is haunted!!!” Santry captioned the first video, which was originally publishedSept. 29. It has been viewed 5.4 million times as of Friday afternoon.
“I think my house is haunted and I am literally shaking,” she said in the first TikTok. She then goes on to describe how her computer screen cracked and her desk items moved around.
She asked her online audience if they thought the potential haunting might be related to a rug she found buried in the backyard.
This question seemingly fascinated a corner of TikTok with thousands commenting on the initial video. The excitement set off several days of Santry investigating and then, eventually, the local police.
Santry publicly debated what to do about the rug as the internet watched and encouraged her to take action. First, Santry says she called police and they determined there was nothing to be done about the buried rug. 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 get a case of High Noon, and we were just going to, like, make it fun,” she says. “And basically five minutes after I post 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 rug and both dogs alerted, Santry says. Officers then brought out a whole team to dig up the rug — even using an excavator at one point.
“I could not have done this myself,” she laughs to TODAY.com. “It would never would have gotten done. They were waist-deep in this hole, multiple men!”
However, despite their efforts, police didn’t find anything but the rug itself.
What did police say about the investigation?
In a statement obtained by TODAY.com, Columbus Division of Police confirmed they investigated Santry’s yard “in regards to pieces of a rug found beneath the surface of the homeowner’s backyard.”
CPD confirmed that investigators dug up several small rug pieces from Santry’s yard.
“The pieces all tested negative for human or animal remains and at this time, there are no plans for further testing,” the statement concludes, noting the case was closed as of 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 4.
In a TikTok livestream after the search was concluded, Santry said police took the rug 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 it’s now just flat land covered in dirt. “(But) I will take this over a dead body any day a week.”
In a video post announcing what the police had — well, hadn’t — found, Santry said the whole experience has been wild.
“This has been the most absurd, insane experiences of my life,” she posted in a conclusion video on Oct. 4. “They didn’t find a body — they found a mother effing rug with some rubber.”
Santry tells TODAY.com that while the rug mystery may have been solved, she’s still a little concerned the house may be haunted.
