Woman’s sister reported seeing something in her apartment vent. So she grabbed a drill and opened it on camera: ‘Ngl it’s pretty creepy’

A TikTok video showing a woman opening an air vent in her sister’s apartment has drawn more than 5.2 million views. The clip, posted by a creator named Montanna (@montanna_banana_), shows a dusty vent with a blurry dark shape visible inside the wall.

The on-screen text explains the situation: “When your sister says she sees something in her apartment vent (She’s the apartment on the end).” The video then shows a close-up of the vent, covered in dust and lint, with something dark sitting behind the slats.

In the caption, Montanna wrote, “I’m wondering if I should stick my phone back behind it to see if there’s anything there. Ngl it’s pretty creepy.” The TikTok video has received 225,000 likes and more than 800 comments.

Sister uses a power drill to remove the vent cover

In the video, a woman identified as the sister kneels on the carpet next to the vent. She has blonde hair, sunglasses pushed up on her head, and is wearing a black and white floral top. Using a power drill, she removes two screws holding the vent cover in place. An electrical outlet is visible on the wall beside the vent.

Once the screws are out, she pulls the cover away from the wall. Behind it is a framed photograph. The photo shows three people: a woman with curly hair standing behind a young girl with blonde hair on one side and a young boy with light brown hair on the other. The space around the photo is covered in dust and cobwebs, and the wall shows peeling paint and debris.

The sister reaches into the opening and points first to the young girl in the photo, then to the woman. The on-screen text then changes to “Should I try and see what’s behind it,” as she appears to feel around behind the photo. Discoveries hidden in everyday spaces can be unsettling, such as when a woman visited her gym’s restroom and spotted something odd on the toilet rolls. 

In a follow-up video he posted on TikTok, Montanna said she had identified the family in the photograph. “Okay guys, major update. I’m using this comment because I can’t reply to the other comment, but we found the family who’s in that photo,” she said. She explained that a friend of someone in the photo had messaged her, and a commenter had also claimed the family was theirs. “He knew where the apartment was,” she said, before the video cut off.

A third TikTok video, captioned “finally what you all have been waiting for, here is what’s behind the picture,” showed a hand pointing at a photo of two young boys, described as possibly twins, embedded in the wall. On-screen text responded to an earlier comment, reading, “Finding an actual person would have been less creepy.” 

The camera then moved into the dark space behind the photo, showing dust, cobwebs, and debris around the frame. It panned into a narrow opening revealing a beige utility appliance, described as possibly a furnace or water heater, connected to pipes and wires. On-screen text stated, “there isn’t access to the other’s apartment.” The camera continued around the unit, showing a filter slot, before panning up and to the right to reveal a solid wall or door at the end of the space.

Viewers reacted with a mix of concern and skepticism in the comments. One person wrote, “Close that back up right now… there is danger afoot.” Another shared a personal story: “Before we sold my childhood home, I made sure to climb into odd places of that house and write creepy messages in pencil places. They won’t forget who used to live there….”

Some commenters questioned whether the discovery was staged. One wrote, “Since there’s paint behind the vent already, you definitely placed that there.” Another said, “yea ur definitely getting haunted.” Such online debates over hidden spaces are common, as seen when a woman found a creepy item in a Panda Express fortune cookie bag. 

Following the third video, more viewers weighed in. One commenter reacted to the door shown at the end of the space, writing, “A DOOR??? she has to move.” Others pushed back on the idea that anything unusual had been found. “Y’all, It’s just a boiler room, nothing creepy about it,” one comment read. 

Another wrote, “This has to be fake and is just her storage room bc there is a literal hot water heater.” A separate comment offered a similar explanation: “just the room of the hot water tank, very much accessible in their house. They just put that hole there and that picture to make it creepy, that’s all.”