‘That’s a dude’: Woman catches stomach dropping moment she realizes she’s being watched by Peeping Tom in bushes

Ever get the feeling you’re being watched? While most of the time it’s just that, a feeling, sometimes it’s much more. A video on TikTok appears to show a terrifying situation in which a woman notices a creep hiding in a bush outside her window and he’s looking right at her.

Eleeziaa Howard shared the short clip without a whole load of context at first. Apparently the video comes from her sister, who recently moved into a new apartment complex in Salem. In the clip we can see her pointing her phone camera at the bush and the apparent man inside it.

If you look closely there does appear to be a face hidden within the leaves. However, it’s difficult to say for sure whether or not there really is a face in there.

Can you see the man?

In the comments some said that they could see the face, one person wrote, “this actually scares me so bad,” another recommended placing bear traps “as long as you can make sure no kids or pets will end up in there by accident.” Of course the best solution to a problem like this would probably be to call the cops.

Others claimed that they couldn’t see the man, one asked, “WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AT.” Another gave an explanation that might make a little more sense, “our brains have this mechanism where if it sees something that looks like it has distinct facial features, it will create a face.” 

The phenomenon this person is talking about is known as pareidolia, which the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “a situation in which someone sees a pattern or image of something that does not exist, for example a face in a cloud.” So it’s sort of impossible to say whether or not there really is a man in the bush. Personally I think I can see the face Eleeziaa is talking about, it does really look like a man is staring right at her sister.

The Peeping Tom has been terrorizing the neighbourhood

In a follow up video Eleeziaa’s sister explains that her neighbor warned her of a homeless camp round the back of their apartment complex. Apparently a man, or perhaps multiple men had been spotted watching residents through their windows. It was after she was told this by her neighbor that she noticed what appeared to be a face watching her through the window.

Concerningly the sister claims that her windows have been open all day and Eleeziaa claims that she still leaves them open even after seeing the man outside. She should probably shut those, the last thing you want is a stranger getting into your house. Another video shows her displaying her katana to the man who’s apparently still outside. Whether that successfully scared him off or not is unclear.