A TikTok posted by @stinknjeepn has received more than 4.2 million views and 5,000 comments since Saturday, many from viewers trying to guess what the room’s intended use was.
A survey conducted of 1,839 American adults by Finder found that nearly 45 percent of those surveyed bought survival supplies in the past year. The results also found that 27 percent of those surveyed said they did not need to go to the store because their homes were stocked with survival items.
In the video, the woman filming explained that her parents recently bought a house and realized there was a fake wall in part of the home.
“We don’t know what’s behind it, but it’s about 5 feet back there,” the woman said. “We’re gonna cut a hole in the wall. Trying to find out why it got closed off.”
The TikTok then cut to a man drilling a small hole in the wall so they could peek inside. The woman stuck the camera inside the hole in the wall and discovered large shelving units along the wall.
“There’s an empty shelf here and then on this side there’s a shelf with some big box, a couple of boxes!” she said.
The woman showed footage of large plastic bins, each labeled with a yellow sticky note. However, the woman said she was unable to read the labels through the small hole and decided to open up the rest of the room to go inside.
In a follow-up video posted Sunday, the woman showed a large hole in the wall that would allow them to enter the room.
“Alright, here we are,” the woman said as she shined her flashlight around the room.
The man in the video then began reading out the labels on the various boxes. One label read “Band-Aids, vitamins, hydrogen peroxide.” Another label read “emergency candles, duct tape.”
“An emergency shelter, doomsday room with all kinds of stuff,” the woman said, opening one of the boxes.
Inside were bags of sugar and flour. Inside other boxes, the man and woman discovered first-aid supplies and several 12-packs of various flavored ramen noodles.
In addition to various food items, they also discovered a swamp cooler and boxes of toiletries.
“I mean, this is crazy,” the woman said. “It is a straight-up hidden panic room.”
According to the woman, the house was built in 2004, and her parents purchased it in 2019 from the second owners who had no idea about the room.
“All that food that’s in there is from the original owners between 2004 to 2011,” the woman explained.
She also explained that all of the food expiration dates were between 2004 and 2011.
More than 2,800 users commented on the original video, many questioning why certain items weren’t stocked.
“Well now your [sic] prepared for doomsday,” one user commented. “Probably the most interesting thing found in a secret room on TikTok I have seen.”
“No toilet paper,” another user pointed out. “This was obviously some pre-covid lol.”
“Why is there no water? It’s stressing me out,” another user wrote.
“Whoever put that there was probably coming back for it when the apocalypse hit,” one comment read.
Hidden rooms have caught the attention of many individuals who decided to post their discoveries online.
One man on TikTok shared a clip inside his Texas home after he discovered a hidden room behind a wooden panel behind a door. Inside the room, he discovered flooring and working electricity.
Another woman in Virginia discovered a hidden room behind some shelving in her daughter’s bedroom. Inside, she discovered wooden flooring and a working light switch.
Newsweek reached out to @stinknjeepn for comment.