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For many, it’s a haunting nightmare. However, for one woman, it turned into an unsettling reality.
A young mother has shared the spine-chilling experience of discovering a man who had been secretly living in her home for several months. She encountered him hiding beneath her bed one morning upon returning home.
The woman, who goes by K, shared her terrifying story in a video on TikTok that now has almost 200,000 likes.
At 26, she purchased her first house where she lived with her two young children. Due to her demanding work schedule of 80 to 90 hours a week, she and her children frequently spent nights at her parents’ residence, located about an hour’s drive away, often leaving their home unoccupied for extended periods.
One morning, after staying overnight with her parents, she returned to her house around 9 a.m. After getting changed and preparing to rest, she heard an unusual rustling sound.
“I assumed it was a mouse,” she recounted in a viral video. However, as she peered over the side of her bed, she was confronted with the horrifying sight of a pair of blue jeans and black socks protruding from underneath.
Realizing there was a man hiding beneath her bed, K bolted from the house, jumped into her car, and dialed 911.
While she was still on the phone with police, she watched in disbelief as the man she recognized as her lawn-care contractor calmly walked out the front door and down the street.
K shared her terrifying phrogging story in a video on TikTok that now has almost 200,000 likes
A man had been living in K’s house without her knowing – eating her food, using her shower, and playing her kid’s PlayStation (stock image)
When officers arrived, they discovered chilling signs that the intruder had been living inside the home for four months — including used dishes, missing items, and signs someone had been using the shower, playing her child’s PlayStation, and eating her food.
According to K, the man drank milk straight out of her carton. ‘I was disgusted,’ K said in the video.
In her video, K says says police confirmed the man was unhoused. However, she says that police also said that when they searched his lawnmower, they found pairs of underwear belonging to K and several other women.
K later learned the man wasn’t a total stranger — he was a former high school friend of her brother’s.
She said she spotted him again at a local bar weeks later. ‘We left immediately,’ she recalled. His current whereabouts are unknown.
The story, dubbed the #SquatterStory, quickly went viral on TikTok, sparking millions of views and a debate about home security, phrogging — when someone secretly lives in another person’s home — and the dangers of leaving properties unoccupied.
What scares people most about phrogging is that victims often discover the intruder by accident — sometimes after the person has been living in their home for weeks or even months.
‘This isn’t squatting — this is phrogging,’ one viewer commented. ‘Phrogging is my biggest fear,’ another commenter wrote.
The term ‘phrogging’ refers to when someone secretly lives in another person’s home (stock image)
What homeowners fear: a stranger lurking inside the house — illustrated by this stock image of hands emerging from a wardrobe
Phrogging differs from squatting because the intruder doesn’t intend to take ownership of the property, but rather seeks temporary, hidden shelter — usually in unused areas like attics, basements, or crawl spaces.
The concept was the subject of a 2022 documentary, which left viewers terrified that they too could be victims on the invasive and unnerving scheme.
People flocked to the comments of K’s video to share their own phrogging experiences: ‘My brother in law had someone living under the stairs in his house he doesn’t know how long or how he got in,’ one wrote. One day he just walks up the stairs and out of the house.’
K’s chilling experience has become a cautionary tale for homeowners everywhere: you never really know who might be in your house.