A young woman who lives alone has sparked alarm after revealing a chilling mystery inside her apartment.
The unsettling discovery was shared in a recent post on Reddit, where the woman explained she returned home from work to find a paper towel deliberately placed over the webcam in her upstairs bedroom.
'Twice now I've come home from work to a paper towel over my webcam in my bedroom upstairs,' she wrote.
'First time was about two weeks ago, it was just laid over the top. Tonight was the second time, all crinkled up over the camera.'
What makes the situation even more disturbing is that she insists she lives alone and no one else should have access to the property.
'Nobody else that I'm aware of has the keys to my apartment,' she said, adding that nothing else appeared disturbed.
The woman admitted one window on the second floor had been left unlocked, calling it 'my fault', but said her two cats were unharmed and behaving completely normally.
'It’s like someone’s trying to pull a "harmless" prank [that’s] something super small but super obvious that I’d notice,' she wrote.
A woman who lives alone has sparked alarm after revealing a chilling mystery inside her apartment - returning home to find a paper towel deliberately placed over the webcam in her upstairs bedroom.
Within hours, the comment section exploded with multiple theories pointing to something far darker than a prank gone wrong.
'Time for a hidden camera...' one user replied.
Another zeroed in on what could be seen in the posted photos, pointing out that the poster was clearly a female and at more risk.
'There’s lots of videos online of landlords just letting themselves into women’s homes.'
That suggestion struck a nerve and was quickly backed up by others who had heard of, or experienced first-hand, the same thing.
'This seems likely. Landlord covering the camera so OP can’t see what they are doing in the room,' one wrote.
'Yup, I had a landlord that did this all the time,' another added.
'He would say he was changing the smoke detector batteries two to three times a month. Didn’t realise until I moved out that you can put cameras in those. It was right above my bed too.'
She insisted no one else should have access to the property and reported that it's happened twice now, despite everything else in her apartment being untouched.
Within hours, the comment section exploded with multiple theories pointing to something far darker than a prank gone wrong.
'Check your browser history,' was another tip urged by multiple commenters for the woman to check her digital footprint.
'Get a motion-activated webcam app. I caught a roommate doing meth in our living room with ours,' one shared.
'Not to scare you, but I recommend a hidden camera. I noticed odd things in a duplex I rented when I lived alone once [like] fewer sodas in the fridge or other minor things I brushed off as bad memory,' someone shared.
'This all ended when I came home and found my bathroom door locked with an intruder inside. Apparently, they had been watching me and sneaking in through an unsecured window when I was out.'
The original poster hadn't confirmed what she plans to do next, but commenters overwhelmingly urged her to change locks immediately and contact authorities or building management.
For many readers, the most chilling part wasn't the paper towel itself, but the idea that someone might be entering a home, touching personal belongings, and deliberately disabling a camera.
'If someone wanted to stay hidden, they wouldn't leave a sign behind,' one person pointed out.