One day, TikToker Jess (@scaredwithjess) found an old disposable camera in her apartment, and the last picture on it was her asleep in bed.
So, she first found the camera when she was moving a dresser out of her bedroom. She had been living in the apartment for about six months at that point, and the dresser had come with the apartment.
“One afternoon, my sister came over to help me rearrange the room, and when we pulled the dresser forward, there was a disposable camera wedged between the back of it and the wall, and it was covered in dust,” said Jess.
“I assumed it belonged to whoever lived there before me. There was no label on it, but the little counter on top said all the pictures had been used.”
Her sister told her to get the pictures developed. A few days later, she dropped it off at the pharmacy near her apartment and went back to pick up the pictures later.
The first few photos were of a family she didn’t recognize. It was a family of a man, a woman, and a little girl. The pictures were taken inside the apartment, but the apartment looked completely different from what it did now.
The walls were painted a darker color, the furniture was old, and the kitchen cabinets hadn’t been updated yet. Most of the other photos were of Christmas, the family eating dinner, and normal events like that.
But then, Jess came across a picture of the hallway outside her bedroom. No one was in the picture. The next picture was taken farther down the hall and a few steps closer to her bedroom. The next one was closer still.
“I remember thinking it looked like whoever had the camera was slowly walking toward the room, and then the pictures changed,” said Jess. “The apartment looked the way it did now. My furniture was there, and my shoes were beside the front door.”
The old family photos were followed by photos of her apartment as it looked after she moved in. There was one of her living room, bathroom, and the inside of the refrigerator.
There was even a photo of her bedroom, taken from the doorway. The room was empty, but the blankets were crumpled as if she had just gotten up. The next photos were taken from inside my bedroom and beside the bed.
The last picture was of her asleep, lying on her side with her back facing the camera. The picture was taken from inside the closet. Jess lived alone and had changed the locks before moving in. No one had a key to her place except for her sister. Her sister definitely hadn’t taken the pictures.
Jess called her landlord to ask about who had lived in the apartment previously. Apparently, it had been empty for a few months before she moved in.
Before that, an older man had lived there alone. None of that explained the family in the pictures. She went home and checked the apartment for spaces that might be big enough for a person to hide in, but there weren’t any.
Her sister said that maybe someone found the disposable camera and took the remaining pictures as a prank. That night, she went to bed.
Sometime after midnight, she heard a small mechanical sound coming from the closet. Suddenly, a bright flash lit up the room. She ran out of the apartment and never opened the closet again.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
