Entertainment
TikTok is convinced a buried rug in a woman's yard contains a body
TikTok loves a good true crime mystery. It’s not uncommon for folks to go viral over somewhat creepy stories where viewers can try to guess what happened.
The latest viral series involves a buried rug, cadaver dogs, and lots of theories from TikTok. In short, folks online were enthralled by the story of a woman who found a rug buried in her backyard. They wondered if she perhaps had found a body or if there was some much more innocent explanation.
Friday afternoon, we finally got an answer: there was no body. But there remains a lot to explain about how this situation went so viral.
We’ve got the full breakdown.
What happened with the buried rug?
It all started with then-relatively obscure TikTokker Katie Santry, a woman in Columbus, Ohio, posting a TikTok four days ago. In the video, Santry wondered if her house was haunted, citing her laptop getting shattered and her workspace disturbed overnight, seemingly without explanation.
Toward the end of the video, Santry mentioned that she and her boyfriend also recently discovered a rug buried in their backyard while digging to install a fence. That TikTok got more than 4 million views, which led to a series of followups. The next video, for instance, racked up 10 million views as it showed the actual rug in the ground.
As these things are wont to do, each forthcoming installment added bits of info and racked up tons of views. For instance, a Bloodgood tree was planted over where they found the rug, which, of course, people found creepy. After the comment section insisted, Santry tried to dig some more, but the rug was too big and too long for her to dig out. She was going to leave it as it was, but after a while the comment section then convinced her to call the police.
What happened with the cops and cadaver dogs?
The police came out and apparently told Santry it did seem weird, but there wasn’t much to do. Santry kept digging, both literally and figuratively. She enlisted friends to help dig in the backyard and got in touch with family members of the previous owners of the home.
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But eventually the professionals got involved again. Santry said that the local homicide department got in touch and sent more officers to the property, including cadaver dogs. Santry said both dogs sat by the hole in the ground, indicating they had found something.
That would seemingly indicated something strange was going on in the backyard, which, of course, all of TikTok found disconcerting. Meanwhile, Santry’s account ballooned to 1.6 million followers as tons of people anxiously followed along.
What has Santry said about it all?
The newly famous Ohio woman did an interview with People about the situation that published on Thursday.
“The Internet is about 50/50 on whether it’s a dead body or an animal, and maybe 10% think this was just a junkyard,” she said. “However, we’ve dug a lot of posts and fenced in most of our yard at this point, and I can say we haven’t come across any other rugs. So, the Internet thinks it’s either a junkyard, a dead body, or a dead dog.”
Though Santry said she didn’t think it was a body.
“I truly don’t think there’s a dead body down there,” Santry told People. “The curiosity about why that rug is there definitely haunts me. But my biggest concern is my computer because, at the end of the day, it shattered for no apparent reason. That leaves me with the most question marks. I actually have a psychic who reached out to me and wants to do a reading.”
So, what’s in the rug?
Developments in the strange situation continued to roll in through Santry’s TikTok account. Friday morning she posted videos saying that a bunch of officers had come over to her house and were prepared to dig.
Around 11 a.m. ET she posted a video saying the digging had begun. Clearly a bit shaken, Santry seemed to be ready for the whole ordeal to conclude.
“We don’t know anything yet,” she said. “My goal is that we can all laugh about it tomorrow. We’re all going to say, ‘Huh, this was a funny, silly-goose waste of time.”
And by about 2 p.m. ET, Santry revealed on TikTok that the cops had found only the rug, some rubber, and nothing else of consequence. It’s not clear why the dogs got a hit in the yard, but it doesn’t seem to be for any nefarious reason. She still wondered what happened to her laptop, but there was definitely a sense of relief.
“There’s no body. There’s no body,” she said. “Honestly, let’s praise the lord there’s no body. I can stay in my house.”
Entertainment
Xiaomis new hyper car concept has the strangest cockpit weve ever seen
Xiaomi likes to bring cars to Barcelona; the company gave us the first glimpse of its SU7 Ultra supercar during last year’s MWC in March.
This year, however, Xiaomi has unveiled something that’s pretty far out there, even by its own standards. Called the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, it’s a hypercar that was designed to go really fast while slicing through the air in a way not many cars (or race cars, for that matter) can (Xiaomi says it’s been “sculpted by the wind”).
It feels kinda empty in there.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The company will bring the concept car to its MWC show floor in Barcelona on March 2, presumably when we’ll learn more about its powertrain, acceleration, battery, and other trivialities. Today, however, Xiaomi was mostly focused on how the air flows through the car, using a variety of wind tunnels and channels (and even a moving part on the car’s bottom) to make it more efficient.
The wheels and wheel covers are special, too.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Even the car’s wheels have special covers that are (somehow) magnetically set in place so they don’t rotate while the car moves, as that would also increase drag.
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I bet your car doesn’t have a cocoon-shaped sofa.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Inside, it gets even nuttier. The seats are out; instead, you sit in a “cocoon-shaped sofa” with an x-wing steering wheel with five tiny displays, some of which apparently double as (contextual?) buttons. Most of the things you associate with a traditional car are gone; instead, it’s you in that sofa-shaped cockpit, that steering wheel, and the road. The car’s a two-seater, so don’t expect to bring your family on a trip in this one.
Fortunately, you might be able to get a cocoon-shaped sofa/cockpit for your home.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
In fact, most people probably won’t be able to afford a car like this, but Xiaomi’s got you covered, as it plans to release a gaming console/cockpit shaped just like the car’s cockpit, so you can race around in your own little cocoon in the relative safety of your home.
We don’t know how fast it goes. We don’t know where the batteries are, given that the car appears to be mostly wind tunnels under that cockpit. We don’t know if it’s ever going to make it to market. But boy, does it all look cool.
We’ll hopefully find out more on March 2 when that show floor opens, so stay tuned for pics and videos.
Topics
Mobile World Congress
Xiaomi
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 1, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you’re a frequent flyer.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #994 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Little bite: CANAPÉ, FINGER FOOD, HORS D’OEUVRE, TAPA
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Construction equipment: HARD HAT, LADDER, NAIL GUN, TOOL BELT
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Vacation emoji: AIRPLANE, LUGGAGE, PALM TREE, SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES
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Things you don’t eat that end in foods: COPYPASTA, JOHANNESBURGER, KNUCKLE SANDWICH, LICORICE PIZZA
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for March 1, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re not on. your best behavior.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Dressing down
The words are related to discipline.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe ways to chastise.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is The Riot Act.
NYT Strands word list for March 1
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Braidup
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The Riot Act
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Scold
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Castigate
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Reprimand
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Admonish
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
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