Maryland resident and TikToker Dylan Peroutka’s journey to Big Sur in California, to visit his best friend became, as he put it, his ‘Cabin in the Woods’ experience.
In a two-part TikTok storytime, he said his trip was “Sinister 4, Chapter Big Sur.” The first part of his account has already racked up over 2.4 million views. Peroutka explained that he didn’t do much research before heading west. “I thought it was a hot new menu item,” he said regarding the name Big Sur, mistakenly assuming it was a beach destination similar to Los Angeles. After flying into San Francisco and driving three hours to the location, he realized he was staying in a cabin deep in the woods and not a hotel-like space as he had assumed. To make matters more isolating, he was the only guest in his block of cabins.
After his friend left him at the cottage, which had no internet or television, he attempted to get some sleep, but was abruptly woken up a few hours later. “I look up and there’s a figure in my room. What are you doing here? This Quarter Pounder with cheese. Who the f— are you staring?” Peroutka recalled. Then the figure walked towards him. So he scrambled for his phone, but when the flashlight came on, the room was empty. Things only escalated after that.
Peroutka kept thinking ‘it would be like a movie,’ he just didn’t seem to expect a horror
Around 11:00 PM on his second night, while alone in the cabin, Peroutka began hearing scratching on the walls. “It sounded like somebody was in my bathroom. Like s— was being knocked down in my bathroom,” he said. Terrified, he kept every light in the cabin and bathroom on for the rest of the night, checking his phone constantly despite having no service to reach his friend. Per his story, he even got her to stay with him on his last night.
In his second post, he states that he headed for a shower before he checked out. That’s when he heard his cabin door open and close, followed by the sound of someone rummaging through his belongings. “I’m in the shower and I’m naked, and my body has not been the tea lately.” Peroutka shared. In his words, he was stuck and worried about his things.
He frantically texted his friend, who was working at the front desk, insisting that there was someone inside his room. She assured him that housekeeping was not scheduled to arrive yet, which only heightened his panic, “And I was like, right, so it’s an intruder.” He eventually heard what sounded like a radio and a walkie-talkie, leading him to believe staff were entering to investigate.
Petroutka got out of the bathroom only to find the cabin empty. Embarrassed, he texted her to apologize and to call the staff back. All he could think was, “Thank god I’m checking out today.’ When he reached the lobby after, he admitted to feeling like “I look like a paranoid, like, monster.” However, as he talked to his friend about everything, other staff joined them with stories that he felt validated his experience.
One employee mentioned that a man had “perished in Room 78” years ago, and another shared a story about a family who had previously stayed in Room 22 and claimed their child saw a man in an orange vest sitting next to his mother. Peroutka expressed relief, saying, “You’re not sending me to the asylum anymore.”
The TikTok community was sympathetic to his fear. One user stated, “Lost me at no internet and alone,” while another added, “I would [have] slept in the car 😂😭.” Others were critical of his friend’s lack of support. User divinityxx commented, “Idk I don’t like that your friend was dismissing you when you were scared for your life… plus she didn’t actually KNOW if you were in danger or not.”
Despite the experience, Peroutka maintained that he enjoyed the trip overall and valued seeing his friend. However, he had one parting thought, “I hope whatever it is did not follow me, because I already have enough going on in my life,” he said. “And I swear, if my lamp starts twitching at my house in Maryland, um, you’re gonna see a whole new side of me.”
TikTok seems to have a lot of stories of paranormal activity in houses. Recently, make-up artist Ellie shared weird incidents in her house, that started with noises and shadow figures in mirrors till one day, something yanked her hair. Not too long before that, Kyle shared a recording of what looked like a demonic apparition in the crawl space under his house.
Published: Jun 7, 2026 06:30 am