‘I started packing my bags immediately’: Woman finds unusual Scrabble message after returning to Airbnb rental
After leaving her Airbnb rental early to stay at a Hilton hotel, a woman posted a viral TikTok telling viewers she discovered unusual signs at the rental.
Emily (@emilypfaithpresents) reached over 89,000 views on her "nightmare Airbnb storytime" video response to a previous comment made by Hilton.
While at her stay at the Hilton, Emily posted a video lying in bed with the caption, “I’m not just at a Hilton because I want to be… I’m at a Hilton because when we got back to our airbnb from dinner 'get out' was written in scrabble letters on our fridge.”
Hilton left a comment that said, “STOP! Ok we’re seated for storytime ASAP! glad y'all are safe though.”
What happened?
In her storytime video, Emily starts by giving a shout-out to the Hilton in Salt Lake for allowing her group to check into the hotel in the middle of the night.
Emily says upon arriving at the Airbnb, the first thing her group noticed was that it smelled like cat pee. She says they also noticed that the groundskeepers for the rental lived in a basement area around the corner.
“So it’s not just a house by ourselves like we thought,” she explains. “We’re kinda like, 'That’s weird. … The vibes are off.'”
Emily says, in general, the house was a little dirty, but they didn’t think too much of it because she had checked the reviews of the house before booking. However, she says the group decided to check the reviews once more to see if they missed anything.
What did the reviews say?
She says they found a few women who stayed alone in the house and left reviews saying they felt a little “weird” but decided not to worry about it.
Next, Emily says one of her friends began to whispering because she felt like someone was listening to them converse in the house, but she couldn’t explain why she felt that way.
“At dinner, we’re talking. … It feels creepy,” Emily explains, but insists that she trusts it’s “just in our imagination; it’s fine.”
Emily says that when they returned from dinner, before opening the door, the first problem they noticed was that none of the lights would turn on. “We’re doing this weird, like, gaslighting ourselves kind of thing,” she adds, mentioning that her group was discussing whether they turned off the lights before or had ever turned them on in the first place.
She says when she got the door open, she turned to her friends to say, “Do not shut that door. I have seen way too many horror movies. Do not shut that door.” Emily adds that the door's only way of locking was by using a keypad code, which the groundskeepers next door also had access to.
She says she decided to go further into the house and luckily found some lights to turn on. That's when one of her friends started whispering again about having the feeling that someone was listening.
“All of a sudden, we feel this like thump from the basement on the floorboards, so we’re freaking out again,” she continues. Despite the signs, Emily says the group decided to not worry about it and get ready for bed.
“I put on my pajamas … and then all of the sudden, I hear my friend go, 'Guys, who did this?'” she explains.
Who did what?
Emily says the group followed their friend to the kitchen and discovered the refrigerator had a surprising message written in Scrabble magnet pieces. She adds that each person had looked at the Scrabble pieces when they arrived but didn’t notice the message before.
“Who wrote 'Get out' on the Scrabble board?” Emily says her friend asked. “Like, really fess up. We’ve been freaking out. Tell us right now who did it.”
She says they began to panic for around two minutes, trying to figure out who wrote the message. They eventually came to the conclusion that none of them had.
“Since I have the flight in fight, flight or freeze,” Emily explains, “I start packing my bags immediately. … I need to be able to get out of here. That’s what the message says. I’m gonna listen to it.”
What happened after she heeded the warning?
She says she began to call hotels to find the closest and cheapest place that would accept them with no notice.
Luckily, the nearest Hilton had open bookings and was available to take Emily and her group in for the night. However, she tells viewers that driving to the hotel ended up being “the most terrifying part.”
“When we’re driving to the hotel, we stop at a red light,” she starts. “I look to my right, and there is a sign that says 'Get Out Gym.' … It was a workout place.”
Shocked by the gym sign, Emily says she thought to herself, “You didn’t need to tell me twice. You’ve now told me twice: I’m getting out of here.”
“Needless to say, I never wanna go to Salt Lake again. I think it’s haunted,” she adds. “Thank you, Airbnb. We filed a complaint … and they paid for our hotel room.” She also mentions that she did not speak to the homeowners and went directly to Airbnb to file her complaint.
Before ending her video, she asks viewers, “Do you think it was a prank? Do you think it was a ghost? Do you think it actually was there before? Do you think there was somebody being held captive in the basement?”
@emilypfaithpresents Replying to @hilton ♬ original sound - emilypfaithpresents
“I honestly would call the police and have them do some sort of wellness check on the people who live there,” a user told Emily in the comments section.
One viewer believes, “They have you book and then creep you out so you don’t stay there and maybe usually collect money if people don’t complain?”
What should you do if you feel threatened while staying in an Airbnb?
Airbnb states if you're in an emergency situation where your personal safety is threatened, “contact local police or emergency services immediately.” If you're unfamiliar with local emergency services phone numbers, Airbnb has made emergency services available to dial.
The Daily Dot reached out to Emily via email and TikTok comment and to Airbnb via email.
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