It's almost "Candyman" come to life.
A New York City woman discovered an entire empty apartment located through a hole behind her bathroom mirror — and videos of her solving the mystery and making the unsettling discovery have gone viral on TikTok.
Samantha Hartsoe was trying to find the source of cold air that was blowing into her Roosevelt Island apartment, and soon found that the air was coming from behind the bathroom mirror. She removed the mirror to find a fairly large square hole in the wall.
She continued to film as she peered through, finding a dark room on the other side — and a hallway leading to possibly more. She quickly decided she had to go in and see what was in there.
"Curiosity killed the cat, curiosity is going to kill me," Hartsoe told NBC New York. "I can't not know what's on the other side of my bathroom."
After gearing up — complete with a facemask and armed with a hammer — she finds a way to get through the hole, despite some concern from her roommates.
"Every corner I would walk normal and then be like [moving her head] to check," Hartsoe said."
U.S. & World
As she kept on with her investigation, she found more and more of the unfinished apartment on the other side of the hole. She explored both floors, and made sure to lock the front door to the empty apartment. After finding plenty of filled trash bags, and thankfully no spirits, Hartsoe returned back to go back through the hole, back to her apartment.
"My roommates definitely thought I was going to be dead. When I came back they were excited," she said.
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Nearly eight million viewers on TikTok were captivated by Hartsoe's journey, captured in a series of four videos. She isn't sure why so many people were drawn to her videos, chalking it up to possible boredom or maybe a bit of wistful hope shared by all apartment dwellers.
"I think everybody in New York has such small apartments, you don't know what you're going to find and everyone's hoping for more space," Hartsoe said.
She has contacted the maintenance department, which is scheduled to address the hole behind her mirror tomorrow. Hartsoe said she has not yet contacted the landlord.
