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On Wednesday, the TikToker Samantha Hartsoe began the four-part saga of her investigation into the gaping hole hidden behind her bathroom mirror. It all started when she came back from a hiking trip and noticed that her bathroom was really cold. “It was weird, because I don’t have a vent that I know of in there that blows cold air.”

What followed after in her rented three-bedroom (plus the mystery extra space) apartment on Roosevelt Island that she shares with two roommates has been likened to a script from the films Candyman and Parasite. So when Samantha realized the air is coming from the mirror area, she decided to lift it and see what’s up.

Little did she suspect, it was an entire other apartment accessible through the generous hole. And so the video investigation into the weird and thrilling discovery began. She posted the clips on TikTok and they went viral, amassing millions of views, with part 1 alone being watched a whopping 8.7M times.

So let’s see what the whole buzz is all about, which will likely make you check your bathroom mirror immediately.

26-year-old Samantha’s videos blew up all over social media in the past day, as her 4-part investigative saga captured the imagination of many. People likened the apartment behind the mirror to horror movies like Parasite and Candyman, while others said they would have never had the guts to go into that hole.

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So she realized the cold wind was blowing from the direction of the mirror

Samantha would have never found the hole in the wall, if not for the cold weather in her apartment. “It was weird, because I don’t have a vent that I know of in there that blows cold air,” she explained to the press.

@samanthartsoeseriously never would I have expected to find this… and I documented all of it #mystery #fyp #nyc #secret #foryou #apartment #storytime♬ Mysterious – Andreas Scherren

It’s the mysterious hole!

That’s when her eyes fell on a draft from the mirror hanging over the bathroom sink. At that point, she noticed that the mirror was not quite connected to the wall and the cold air beneath it felt suspect. So she lifted the mirror only to discover there was no wall beneath it, but a dark hole gaping in the wall, and the air was coming straight from it.

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So Samantha decided it would be best to investigate the weird finding further

@samanthartsoeHOW IS THIS IN MY BATHROOM WALL ##mystery ##nyc ##apartment ##secret ##storytime ##fyp♬ Mysterious – Andreas Scherren

And while you’d expect it to be a niche with a wall somewhere further inside, there was no such a thing. Samantha soon realized there’s an entire empty space the size of a room that she felt an urge to investigate.

The suspicions turned out to be true, but it wasn’t just a sole room she had found; it was, in fact, an entire apartment with some “signs of life” just casually sitting there in the middle of New York.

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@samanthartsoeTRULY a new meaning to a “hole in the wall” #mystery #nyc #apartment #secret #storytime #fyp #foryou♬ Oh No – Kreepa

But it turns out, according to Samantha herself, even her building’s management doesn’t quite know what is going on with that odd vacant unit that could easily fit an entire family.

And once she was there on the other side, things got pretty serious. Talking to Curbed, she remembered thinking: “I have to find my way out of here,” and added: “I have to go back through that hole, which is pretty much impossible, or I have to find the exit of this place, which means I have to, at this point, explore it all.”

And… signs of life detected!

It turns out, there’s a whole other apartment there

As she looked around the place, it became clear: it’s not a niche, not even a room, it’s a three-bedroom apartment with its windows open, which, as it became obvious, was a source of a cold draft.

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It’s not entirely clear what’s the purpose of the apartment, but Samantha believes it’s probably uninhabitable.

“I’m not sure if it was being renovated or if it is empty. It’s really old, and nobody’s been in there a while. The shower-bathroom area is all piping—there’s no actual bathtub or toilet. The floor, and what I think would be the kitchen, was ripped up.”

So her landlord’s phone is about to get a fun call

@samanthartsoecrawled through a wall for this mystery so enjoy the finale 🕵🏻‍♀️ #mystery #nyc #apartment #secret #storytime #storytime #fyp #foryou♬ Mysterious – Andreas Scherren

After the investigation was over, she managed to find a different way back into her own place. According to Curbed, she exited that apartment through the main door, which led her to a hallway elsewhere within her apartment complex.

As Samantha had to make her way through her building to get back to her own apartment, it suggested the apartment was, in fact, not nextdoor, as some viewers assumed.

But many people found Samantha’s odd discovery spine-chilling

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Others pointed out that it has all the horror film features

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