When A New Yorker Removed Her Bathroom Mirror, She Uncovered Her Apartment’s Sinister Secret

At least the New Yorker wasn’t completely alone when she went behind the mirror. No, she shared the experience with an audience of millions on TikTok. And those followers joined the brave adventurer when she went through the hole in her wall – and discovered what lay behind.

Hartsoe’s quest to discover why a chilly draft was entering her bathroom had led her to dive into the dark. There was a freezing space concealed by that mirror, and she had to confront a haunting truth. Beyond the glass was not a bathroom wall at all.

Yes, when Hartsoe removed the mirror in her apartment, she quickly discovered that it was not backed by paint and plaster. Instead, there was a big square hatchway into the unknown! And when Hartsoe peered through the hole, she was stunned – and more than a little scared – by what stood before her.

Hartsoe captured her experience voyaging into the creepy space behind her mirror on video. And she uploaded a series of short films to TikTok, where they quickly went viral. The story begins with Hartsoe noticing that there’s something of a draft in the bathroom. It was even blowing the hair on her head.

There was no reason why Hartsoe’s bathroom should be chilly. So, what was going on? Talking to Curbed, the young woman said, “It was weird because I don’t have a vent that I know of in there that blows cold air.”

Hartsoe hunted around the bathroom to find where the cold air was coming from. And the intrepid New Yorker found the culprit: it was a mirror that hung above the sink. She said, “I realized that it’s not connected to the wall, which seems a little strange. Sometimes mirrors are only, like, hanging… but the cold air was a little bit suspect.”

At first, it seemed as though Hartsoe had stumbled over nothing more than a niche cut into the wall – the kind of thing that may once have housed a medicine cabinet. But there was no back to it, and she came across something truly eerie after poking her head through.

It’s no surprise that Hartsoe’s mind went to the movie Candyman. You may remember it: in the film, if you say Candyman several times when looking into a mirror, a boogeyman appears. So, had the New Yorker perhaps found the doorway to the lair of an evil spirit?

At first, it was too dark to see anything clearly through the hole. But it could be a secret room. Or it may be a cubbyhole that someone had used to spy on folks in the bathroom. What a chilling thought! Could Hartsoe have been showering with company all this time? Or was it something even more horrible?

Well, the young woman was not going to wait around. She said to NBC New York, “Curiosity killed the cat; curiosity is going to kill me.” It sounds like Hartsoe might have been tempting fate, but she continued, “I can’t not know what’s on the other side of my bathroom.”

Let’s step back from the hole and ask whether there was anything peculiar about the apartment. Well, it seemed to be a standard three-bed place – one that Hartsoe rented with two friends. And it’s in a peculiar setting on Roosevelt Island – a sliver of land that lies on the East River between Manhattan and Queens.

It’s a cozy little place and the kind of area where you can get to know your neighbors – a novelty for NYC. But it’s an up-and-coming spot, boosted by a fresh site for Cornell Tech and lots of new buildings. Towers are springing up across the island, and Amazon’s new HQ won’t be too far away.

Roosevelt Island is also part of the borough of Manhattan, though it has its own corporation running the amenities. And chief among those facilities is the waste system. It collects refuse using tubes that run underground. Apparently, the only other similar facility can be found in Disney World!

But the island hasn’t always been home to friendly residents. Once upon a time, it housed hospitals – including one specifically for smallpox patients – and a prison. There was also the questionably named New York City Lunatic Asylum, too.

Anyway, Hartsoe had built up enough courage to finally enter the hole in her bathroom. And this was despite the pleas of John, one of her roommates. Apparently, he begged her to reconsider what he thought could be a dangerous journey into the unknown...

Nothing would stop the intrepid young woman, though. In the video, Hartsoe is seen wearing a mask. Using a hairband, she’s also fashioned a headlamp with a flashlight. The TikToker then grabs a hammer. Well, Hartsoe was brave, but she wasn’t going into the Candyman’s hidey-hole without a weapon to hand!

John the roommate has some well-meant advice when he sees what she’s brandishing as personal protection. In the video clip, he says, “Mean it when you swing it.” Clearly, he believed that she was on a foolhardy mission that would end badly!

The video itself carries a disclaimer that leaping through dark holes into spaces that you can’t see “could result in serious injury.” But with the words of John echoing in her ears – “If you smell something dying…” – the courageous young lady flings herself through the hole and safely onto her feet on the other side.

The first thing Hartsoe realizes is that she will be stuck on this side of the hole. The woman has dropped some distance, and she will never be able to climb back up. So, as Hartsoe recalled to Curbed, she thought, “I have to find my way out of here.” And maybe that would be in a hurry, too!

Hartsoe was committed to exploration, though. As she put it to Curbed, “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 it seemed that there was quite a lot to see.

The TikTok clip shows Hartsoe climbing back through the hole, and she adds, “There’s a room back here.” Although the woman can only see by flashlight, it seems that there is indeed a large space – complete with an unused sofa, an abandoned lavatory, and a few bags of trash.

But as Hartsoe hunts around, she discovers that there isn’t just the one room. She has found an entire apartment – equally as big as her own – hidden behind the bathroom mirror! The housing unit had windows that were wide open, so the mystery of the draft was resolved. Another mystery loomed, though. Was there someone living here? After all, she had found a bottle that had once contained water…

Had someone had been in this mysterious place recently? In comments on Hartsoe’s TikTok, the folks watching seemed torn. Some suggested she keep looking, while others wanted her to take care. Many users were also worried about the gap between the videos. Would there even be another one?

And Hartsoe herself shared their concern, saying on TikTok, “I was kind of expecting there to be somebody – especially with the water bottle being there. And that definitely put me on edge.” A viewer agreed, posting, “That’s suspicious, especially the trash bags and water.” Then there’s a sound.

Viewers can hear John’s voice coming through the hole. He says, “What if there is someone living there right now?” He also mentions the film Parasite. In that movie, a man hides in a secluded room that none of the house’s owners know about.

But not even the fear of stumbling across a scary hideaway can stop Hartsoe, who continues to look around the apartment. And as she does, she becomes aware that no one could be living in it. The place is bare apart from the furniture that she’s already seen, and there are no further signs that anyone was or ever had been there.

Hartsoe told Curbed, “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.”

Luckily for Hartsoe, she is able to discover a way out. But it’s clear that this wasn’t just the apartment next to her place. When she leaves, she finds herself in a corridor somewhere else in the apartment block. That gives her quite a journey to get back home.

Safe back in her apartment, Hartsoe completes her TikToks by noting, “Made it out alive. My landlord will be getting a fun phone call tomorrow.” And the explorer is clear that there would be no repeat journey. She’ll be fixing the mirror into place using cement! Well, it wouldn’t hurt just in case there was someone or something lurking in there.

So all’s well that ends well, and Hartsoe wasn’t too badly affected by the experience. She noted to Curbed, “I felt better sleeping there that night than I should have any other night.” Mind you, she wasn’t spending a great deal of time fixing her makeup in front of the bathroom mirror!

And viewers loved her videos, flocking to watch and share them. At the time of writing, more than a million viewers have liked the TikToks, and Hartsoe has plenty of fans. One of them even shared some high praise for the New Yorker, writing about her, “This is the bravest woman I’ve ever seen.” Others had less flattering things to say, though.

Some folks suggested that they wouldn’t want to live in a place where they didn’t know about a hidden way in. Who knows who could have sneaked through? Others suggested that Hartsoe could put that extra space to some use. After all, it was a whole other apartment that nobody seemingly knew about!

One commenter put it to Hartsoe, “As a New Yorker, my first thought was, ‘Wow, extra storage space.’” Another was blunt about keeping the discovery to herself, noting, “Girl, don’t say anything, you just got a second apartment.” Though others had a much more cautious approach to the spooky space.

One commenter said, “The fact that the door was unlocked and there was a very recent brand water bottle instantly makes me think of a spying situation. That’s just my anxiety talking!” And they weren’t the only person who felt anxious. Another thought Hartsoe could sprinkle some flour on the floor to capture any footprints and reveal a potential peeper.

But Hartsoe’s not the only American to discover more about their home. Redditor Mr. Griff also found more than he had bargained for after he went into his attic. There was a whole extra home up there! Wallpaper was still hanging on the walls, too, although it was a little worse for wear.

And in another case, a bunch of students from Ohio State University had the eerie feeling that they were being haunted. According to The Sun, they kept discovering that cupboards had been opened. There were strange noises in the house as well. Then, when the group searched behind a door that was believed to leave nowhere but a cupboard, they found something unexpected.

It was a room, and it had a bed, photographs, and textbooks. Yes, the students had a roommate they hadn’t known about! His name, it turned out, was Jeremy. In the end, the group “evicted” him. After a quick change of locks, Jeremy’s squatting days were over.

Another spooky sight awaited a couple of buyers who were checking out a house in the U.S. They discovered something they were not expecting at all in the basement, according to The Sun. It was a room that had previously belonged to someone called “Joshua.” That was weird enough, but there were strange messages inscribed on the walls, too...

The messages included “No watching Isaiah through the hole” and, strangely, “No writing or drawing on the walls.” Another apparently demanded, “Stop watching me.” All of this would have been bad enough, but there were also holes drilled into the stairway that would allow anyone in “Joshua’s room” to spy on people walking up and down. Ugh.

It was a spooky sight the couple will probably never forget. And, hopefully, one day, we’ll find out who Joshua was and why he wrote those messages. Perhaps Florian Michaud will get on the case. He’s certainly had lots of experience when it comes to eerie buildings.

Florian mostly describes himself as an urban explorer from Paris, France. He loves finding and photographing abandoned and run-down old buildings from France's long and interesting past.

One of his most recent finds was a derelict old mansion that was still filled with remnants of the previous owner, who appears to have been a military fanatic and collector of old war artifacts and memorabilia!

Florian has not divulged the exact location of the mansion for two reasons. The first is that he puts a great deal of time into finding places other explorers haven't found. The second is that he wants to make sure the mansion stays preserved in its current state.

This memorabilia-filled mansion is the ultimate find for urban explorers like Florian because it looks as if the previous owners simply vanished. It freezes their possessions and living area in time, whereas most abandoned buildings simply lay empty.

Florian just happened to stumble upon the old chateau when he was investigating another property, and luckily he had his Nikon-D750 on hand to get some marvelous snapshots of the old place!

Inside, Florian found shelves upon shelves of books containing works of classical literature as well as many volumes of military histories, war memoirs, and other similarly-themed tomes.

On the walls of the once stately living room hung flags from all over the world, especially from colonies and protectorates of the British Empire, and on the table sat a dusty old globe surrounded by history books.

While most of the flags were British, including one from the Royal Navy, on one wall there was a United States flag containing far fewer than fifty stars, meaning it probably dated to sometime around the turn of the 20th century!

The living room had plenty of impressive antique furniture, portraits, and other artworks, but the find that blew Florian's mind the most was the giant 19th-century cannon sitting in the corner!

The cannon almost looks quaint today, in an era marked by high-tech warfare like machine guns and unmanned drones, but in its time, it was undoubtedly both a well-crafted piece of machinery and a highly deadly weapon.

Florian also photographed the mansion's giant bedrooms, where curtains still hung over the windows and ornate quilts still laid on the bed. In one of them an empty violin case sat on the bed as if someone had just taken out the instrument to play.

In another room, a display cabinet held a very old crown, as well as other ornately decorated items. Florian wondered whether these pieces might give some hint about the lineage of the mansion's original occupants...

The mansion also contained a billiards room, complete with a roulette wheel and a pool table! Additionally, there was a very old map laying on the pool table, a torn map on the wall, and even more maps scattered on the ground...

One of the more eerie items that Florian found in the chateau was an antique clock enclosed in a glass case. Its hands had stopped moving just past 12, as if at that exact moment, time had frozen in the old house.

One of the more remarkable aspects of the chateau was a mural painted on the wall that was extraordinarily well-preserved. Strangely enough, the mural features people in Renaissance-era dress, though what precisely it depicts is still a mystery.

Even more mysterious might be the hollowed-out book Florian found in one room. Inside a compartment carved into the pages, there was a contraption made of wood and wires. He didn't dare touch it for fear of some unintended consequence...

Florian's photographs certainly give the impression that the property has been abandoned for a number of years, but that hasn't stopped many on the internet, even other urban explorers, from accusing him of staging the photos.

To many, the lack of debris or evidence of animals living in the abandoned place are a red flag, and others argue that the placement of many items in his pictures is just a little too perfect to be real.

Florian hasn't responded directly to any of these criticisms, but he insists that it's his extensive research and persistence that allows him to find the remarkable abandoned buildings that other urban explorers miss.

Describing the thrill he gets from finding a perfectly preserved building like this old chateau, he says: "It vibrates with something powerful and out of the ordinary that triggers in me an overwhelming flow of creative ideas and awakens an urge to simply catch the moment."