The internet loves a hidden room, and one woman's video of a find described as "terrifying" has captivated thousands.
Noelle Pierce, 31, took to TikTok on May 15 (@recklessrevivalco), where she began her video by telling the camera: "My cousin just bought a new house and I'm scared."
She showed off a regular, empty bedroom, walked into the closet, and opened a small door that looked as if it could lead to an airing cupboard or extra storage. But it instead revealed a tiny new room that you'd have to climb into to access.
The room's wood floor was covered in white paint splatters, while the walls were painted with flowers and butterflies. There were no visible windows, but two other doors were on the other side.
Pierce told Newsweek that she had urged her cousin to "padlock" the other doors and said in the video that "I think someone is living in their walls."
"Tell me this isn't the most terrifying thing you've ever seen," Pierce said. And she added in the caption: "Sleepovers will be at my house."
Already boasting over 921,000 likes, Pierce's video was filled with commenters debating what the room was used for, with one suggesting it was simply a crawl space parents "turned into a playroom for their kids."
Crawl spaces in homes can vary from narrow spaces between walls to larger rooms. While there is very rarely enough space for an adult to stand, an "ideal height" for a crawl space is at least 3 or 4 feet, according to This Old House, making it perfect for a child's playroom if the structure is safe.
"Crawl spaces typically have solid foundation walls and either a concrete floor or an unfinished dirt floor. Every closed crawl space has an access door, which you may find outside at the back of the house or indoors on the floor of a closet," the outlet said, which almost perfectly describes the room Pierce discovered.
However, some TikTok viewers immediately took to darker suggestions, with one writing: "My true crime mind immediately went to someone was kidnapped and lived there and the two little doors was how they got food and water."
Another user wrote, "As a kid I would have loved this, as an adult my mind immediately goes to a situation you'd see on Criminal Minds."
Many referenced Virginia Andrews's devastating novel Flowers in the Attic, in which children are kept in an attic and hidden from the outside world.
But photographer Pierce, speaking to Newsweek, said that while she and her family "definitely all thought it was creepy, I don't actually think someone is living in their walls."
She said her cousin and boyfriend saw the room during a walk-through when they were buying the home and now "plan to renovate it, but they haven't made definitive plans."
"I joked that someone should padlock it in the meantime," Pierce added.
Asked how her cousin feels about all the jokes and references to Flowers in the Attic, Pierce said that, luckily, "my family has a great sense of humor, and she also thinks it's creepy but funny.
"She doesn't even have social media, so she can't believe it has so many views," Pierce added, but insisted "we're not taking it too seriously."
Asked about the massive online response to the hidden room video, which has 13 million views and close to 12,000 comments, Pierce admitted she "never thought it would go even somewhat viral."
"Before a few days ago I had roughly 250 followers and knew the majority of them personally, so I just used this account to post silly videos and make jokes. I still plan to use it for that."
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