October 26th 2024.
Recently, a guest staying at an Airbnb in Chicago had an unexpected and terrifying experience that went viral on TikTok. Xena Habashi had booked a basement apartment through the popular vacation rental company, but what she discovered was far from what she had expected.
Upon arriving at the rental, Xena was immediately struck by the presence of a mysterious door that seemed to lead to a hidden chamber. With a sense of unease, she opened the door and was met with a dark, cellar-like room filled with exposed brick and chains on the ground. In a video she posted on TikTok, Xena can be heard saying, "Found a room that wasn't part of the Airbnb listing." The eerie footage, accompanied by ominous music, quickly went viral.
Xena later explained to Newsweek that she had checked in at 4am on December 30th and had intended on going to sleep. However, her plans were derailed when she discovered the hidden room. "I noticed that there were so many random doors inside the house that were never shown in the listing," she said. "While getting ready to go to sleep, me and my cousin noticed a light on in one of the rooms that was locked. We decided to try and open it...that's when I saw it." Xena's discovery was made even more unsettling by the fact that the room was not part of the Airbnb listing.
Xena and her cousin immediately informed her mother, who was also staying at the rental. They attempted to block the door with a table, but they were unable to shake off the feeling of unease. "We stayed up until the morning, kept hearing noises, and before we left I decided to take that video and it went viral unexpectedly!" Xena said.
In the video, Xena can be heard referring to the rental as "literally barbarian", a reference to the 2022 horror movie of the same name. The film follows a woman who unknowingly reserves a rental home that is double-booked and has a dark secret. This comparison was not lost on Xena, who also captioned her video with the same name.
Surprisingly, there had been no prior complaints about the rental, which had a high rating of 4.84. An Airbnb spokesperson later clarified that the listing was advertised as a basement apartment and the separate space that Xena had discovered was also part of the basement. The company's customer service team assisted Xena with her concerns and provided her with a refund and another place to stay.
This is not the first time such a discovery has been made at an Airbnb. In 2021, a homeowner in Sussex found a secret door behind a bookshelf, leading to a network of concealed tunnels and rooms beneath their 500-year-old home. While Xena's experience may have been unsettling, it serves as a reminder to always be aware of your surroundings, even when staying at a seemingly harmless rental.
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