Stella couldn't move as her mouth dropped wide open. Her eyes were glued to the secret footage of her husband and two children. Her heart was pounding as she watched her husband do the unthinkable.
She had been in love with him for so long now, he was her soulmate! How could he do this to her?
This had to be a prank, right? Her husband was her high school sweetheart. She never thought he could be capable of something like this. But she knew there was nothing she could do to change the situation.
There it was, right in front of her. She knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
Family was the most important thing to Stella Jackson. She was lucky enough to marry her high school sweetheart more than a decade ago, and they shared two beautiful children. She was the mother to 5-year-old Emma and 18-month-old Ben.
From the outside, the four of them looked like a picture-perfect family. However, things are not always what they seem.
Stella believed that nothing could go wrong. Her life was exactly how she dreamed it to be when she was a child. Or at least, that’s what she thought; but one day, everything changed.
When she set up a secret camera to record her husband and children, she discovered something that made her stomach turn.
Stella and Josh wanted nothing more than to start a family, but initially, things weren’t going well for them. After trying for five years, the couple was ready to give up. But eventually, the situation took a turn. They welcomed their lovely baby girl in 2015, and baby Ben was born in 2019.
Everything was falling into place. They had no idea what was about to happen.
Being a mother while working full-time was a challenging task. Oftentimes it felt like Stella was some sort of superhero, overcoming any barriers that were put in her way. Stella and Josh had an agreement that for the first few years, she would be working while he would be at home with the children.
But Stella quickly learned a traumatic truth about her "stay-at-home dad."
Stella began noticing a change in Josh’s behavior. He grew distant and seemed to be in his own world the majority of the time.
However, he did not open up to her at all. Her beloved spouse was captured by a concealed camera, and she had no idea what she would learn about him.
Josh was usually a committed father. But from a certain moment, his priorities seemed to change. He became distant and aloof.
Stella did her best to get him to open up, but he refused. It was like he had become a different person. Things reached breaking point one night when Stella woke up to discover her bed to be empty.
Where was Josh? She massaged her drowsy eyes and groaned, but the room was quiet. She looked around her, confused.
That had never happened before. Why would Josh leave all of a sudden without telling her about it? Stella looked through the door's crack, dazzled. What she discovered then in her hallway left her absolutely speechless.
Josh was exiting their daughter Emma’s room. What was he busy doing? Stella turned her head to the clock and saw that it was 3:45 am.
Perhaps Emma had a bad dream? Stella decided to brush it off, Josh was just doing his fatherly duties. However, she would soon learn how wrong she was.
Stella’s work was busy picking up. She had recently been promoted to a management position.
The promotion came with more money, which came in handy for spoiling her kids. However, it also came with more responsibilities and an increased workload. Stella soon saw that this might end up getting in the way of her family life.
Stella felt sad for missing out on her children’s milestones. The biggest fear in her life was not being there when Ben started reading or when he first rode a bike. At the end of a long workday, she could only see her kids for two or three hours before tucking them in bed.
She didn’t want to miss another moment, so she decided something drastic.
After giving it some thought, Stella decided to set up a nanny cam. It was the perfect solution.
She now had the opportunity to check on her children while she was busy at work. However, she was astounded by what she saw when she watched the video from the morning she had set it up.
The majority of parents find that using a nanny cam is the best way to monitor their children.
You simply have to push the record button, and the app on your phone will allow you to immediately see the video. Stella was in disbelief when she watched the sneakily filmed footage of her husband and children.
Before she left for work, Stella set up the nanny camera. For some weird reason, she didn't notify her spouse since she felt as though she didn't need to.
She started watching the footage from the morning's surveillance while at work over lunch. But nothing could have ever prepared her for what was going to happen.
As she ate her lunch at work while watching the nanny cam video, Stella thought she’d find some cute moments of her and her kids to send to their families. But this time, she caught something else all together.
She saw something she would have never expected to witness and which filled her with disquiet.
The video started with footage of her two kids in the living room. Stella smiles to herself as she watches her beloved children dance around to a song on the TV. Josh looked like he was doing laundry in the background, but then suddenly, he appeared in the shot.
What he did next changed everything. In just a few minutes, her husband's true colors were brought to light.
Stella watches as Josh, her husband of 15 years, picks up their daughter. He blows raspberries on her belly, which results in a giggle that would make anybody crack a smile. Then, suddenly Josh did something else.
And as soon as Stella saw it, there was no going back. She had to show everyone she knew.
Stella is frozen in her tracks. This had to be a joke, right? She watches her husband from the secret hidden camera and can't believe her eyes.
Why would he do this? She knew she had to show people. He thought nobody was watching him, but he wasn’t going to get away with it that easily!
In the video, Stella's two children can be seen goofing around in the living room.
The baby jumps up and down in her bouncer to the beat. Meanwhile, a lyric video for Katy Perry’s number one smash hit “E.T.,” which Perry released as a single in 2011, is loudly blasting out of the TV.
With the music turned up to full volume, the older girl stands in front of the TV while waving a pair of brightly colored pom-poms around to the music while her infant sibling bounces up and down in her stroller. It's clear that the children are having fun.
But, unbeknown to them, dad is about to step in.
Stella's husband is seen walking in the background, he's carrying a box.
Noticing the children dancing in the living room, he puts the box on the table and walks into the living room. Instead of carrying on with his chores, Stella is shocked to see him walk right into the shot and do something completely unexpected.
First, he leans down to his daughter and moves his hands up and down with a jerking motion. Yes, he's doing the robot -- dancing his way into the room...
to the delight of both his kids. They can be heard giggling hysterically as their father approaches them. Then, he even begins to lip-sync along with the song, miming, “Boy, you’re an alien, your touch so foreign.”
After he's done the robot, he ends with a pirouette -- despite being quite a large guy, this amazing dad is still able to pull off some surprisingly graceful dance moves. Although most of the dad's moves are typical "dad" dance moves, it just makes the entire video all the more endearing to those who have seen it.
But that’s not all: the dad isn’t just dancing with his eldest daughter. He sidles up to the baby, leaning in and grooving in time with the baby's bouncing. It's obvious that the baby is enjoying the performance, too.
The baby grins with delight as her dad pulls funny faces while he dances along with the music.
At one point, the oldest daughter hands her dad her red pom-poms. He takes one and twirls it around, but the girl insists that he must dance with both of them. He shows off his silly dance moves, which makes his kids roar with laughter.
He takes the other pom-pom and goes through an impressive and sassy cheerleader routine!
Then the daughter takes back one of the pom-poms, with the pair continuing to twirl them around, holding one each. The song continues, and so does dad. Dad continues to shake and twirl the pom-pom, making hilarious faces as Katy Perry's song drops the beat and reaches a crescendo.
But still, the best is yet to come.
As the song gets close to an end, the dad drops a pom-pom - the epic mic drop becoming one of the best moves we’ve seen in the video, which has gone viral in a matter of days. Then, he stops and nonchalantly leaves the living room and goes back to his chores, not knowing that his dance routine was caught on camera…
The endearing viral video proves that, while hidden cameras are often used for spying on people or more nefarious purposes, they can also catch some wholesome moments, too. And unsurprisingly, most of those comments displayed an outpouring of love and affection for the caring and fun dad.
Indeed, the heartwarming video seems impossible not to like.
“Best dad of the year award goes to whoever he is,” commented Suzannah Danielle, a YouTube user. Gabriel Klopp, another user, agreed that this man is a “dad who loves his kids!” One thing is certain: these kids have an awesome dad that is down to earth and loves having fun and making them laugh.
When Stella originally set the hidden camera up in her living room, she had only expected to be able to keep an eye on things and perhaps capture a few cute videos of her kids. Instead, she got something even better: her husband showing what a devoted dad he was.
Indeed, this is a clip she’ll treasure forever!
However, thanks to Stella's hidden camera, the entire dance performance isn't just between him and his kids like he had thought. Not that the video is anything to be embarrassed about. When Stella saw the footage, she was alarmed at first.
Then, a smile spread across her face. She knew she had to share her husband's antics with the world.
The video that made the rounds on YouTube was called “Mom Finds out How Dad Watches the Kids.” Some viewers complained that this title was misleading because they were expecting something less... heartwarming. “Am I the only one who thought this was going to be bad?” Jace Bailiff asked.
Viddi Kaddi wrote, “From the title, I thought this guy was a child abuser. BOY, WAS I WRONG.”
Stella uploaded the video on Facebook, and it got a lot of attention. Then, Mike Jordan uploaded the footage to YouTube with the comment, “He has the dance moves of a goat having a seizure, but the kids like it.” Since the video was shared in September 2015, it has received 28,000 likes, more than two million views, and it has received over 5,000 comments.
But this isn't the first time this has happened…
Stella's husband unabashedly dancing with his kids isn't the only time something like this has been caught on camera. Lisa Roth uploaded a video titled “Hidden camera captures dad and daughter dancing to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” on YouTube in May 2016.
And again, it showed a devoted dad doing his best to entertain his daughter. But some decidedly disturbing moments have been caught on hidden cameras, too…
Joe is traumatized, frozen in his tracks. This had to be a joke, right?
He watches the footage he secretly recorded from last night, and his heart races and gallops like never before. It was like he was watching his favorite horror movie - but this was no Hollywood slasher, this was real life - his life.
He had been waiting days for this moment; to finally uncover the truth about his missing food, and finally, he had proof. But it was something that left him feeling sick to his stomach. He knew he had to make a run for it; he had to get far away from this apartment.
But time was running out.
Joe Cummings had lived in Manhattan for two years now.
An actor by day and waiter by night, he had soon found out that it’s not exactly easy to make ends meet in the city that never sleeps. But despite the overpopulation, cost of living, and less-than-friendly folk, there was nowhere else Joe would rather live.
He had dreamed all his life about living in the Big Apple, and now he finally was! Things may not have been perfect career-wise for Joe, but the budding actor had a great apartment, a fantastic girlfriend, and awesome friends! He was living the dream.
Or at least, that’s what he thought. But then, one day, Joe’s world turned upside down.
You see, Joe was well aware that New York was an expensive city to live in. From $5 coffees to $1000 rent for a small studio apartment, Joe tried his hardest to save money however he could. Every penny could make a difference.
Joe spent hours keeping track of his expenses and comparing prices between different stores.
So when Joe started having to shop more often because the food in his fridge and pantry was gone quickly, he became worried. His routine had not changed, so he had no reason to eat more than usual.
But there was someone else living with him who could know the answer to what was really going on.
Joe’s girlfriend Lucy had just recently moved into Joe’s apartment. The two lovebirds were on cloud nine; this was a new chapter in their lives, and they had been excited about starting it for a very long time. But this problem with the missing food had started to gnaw at Joe.
Why would his girlfriend take his food? Why didn’t she just ask?
Joe knew he had to ask Lucy about the missing food. He hoped she wouldn’t be offended, but he just needed some answers. After all, he was wasting his hard-earned wages on buying more food, not to mention he was saving up for Lucy’s engagement ring.
But Joe had no idea what was coming to him.
One night, as Joe and Lucy slept, Joe heard strange noises coming from the kitchen: a thump on the floor, a creaking door, and steps. His heart started to pound. Who was in the house?
In his sleep, Joe could not tell if it was real or if he was dreaming. But the next morning, when some of the food that was there the night before was gone, he realized he had to act fast. But when the truth came to light, Joe’s entire world turned upside down.
The following morning Joe poured himself a glass of orange juice and confronted his girlfriend about the missing food. To his surprise, she denied everything. Joe didn’t want to call his girlfriend a liar, but he knew that something strange was happening.
Maybe she was a sleepwalker without knowing it. But there was a further possibility.
A further possibility crosses Joe’s mind: maybe he was the sleepwalker! But could it be?
His girlfriend had never noticed anything weird. At least, she hadn’t told him about it. Nonetheless, the only way to know for sure was to get evidence, but what Joe would soon uncover would leave him feeling sick to his stomach.
Another thought soon came to Joe. Maybe an animal entered the apartment without him realizing and stole the food from his fridge and pantry?
Could that be possible? But that seemed very unlikely. He always made sure to lock all doors and windows at night because his neighborhood wasn't exactly the safest in New York.
Not to mention that the food in the refrigerator was gone, and he didn’t know of any non-human creature that could be able to open the refrigerator doors. It must have been something or someone else. Joe had had enough of speculating - it was time to act.
But Joe had no idea what he was heading for.
Joe was decided to get to the bottom of the issue.
He headed out of the city armed with determination and bought a security camera equipped with night vision. He then set it up at the kitchen corner, near the roof, making sure the corner had an unobstructed view of the refrigerator and the pantry.
He knew he wasn’t going to tell his girlfriend so that if it was her, he could catch her in the act. He pressed the record button and carried on with his day. But the next morning, he removed the memory card and prepared himself to finally know the truth.
But it turned out he was not ready at all.
The movie starts pretty normally. It's late at night, and Joe and his girlfriend are getting ready to go to bed. They’re laughing and play fighting before they turn off all lights and leave the kitchen. The following two hours, there’s no movement at all, except for lights coming in from the street.
Then something starts to stir. And nothing could have prepared Joe for what he was about to see.
Joe is lost for words. This had to be a joke, right? It had to be a prank pulled by his friends. He watches the footage again.
And with every glance, he feels sick. This was not what he expected to see. How could it be possible? There was no coming back from this. No way at all.
Joe’s heartbeat quickens as he watches a woman slowly pull herself out of the storage area above the kitchen entrance. This woman had to be his girlfriend, Lucy, right? She must have found the camera and done this as a joke.
But was that really the case or there was more to it? Joe was about to find out.
But then the hairs on the back of Joe’s neck stand up straight. He knew this was wrong yet he continued to watch the footage, hypnotized. But what he saw next made his stomach drop to his knees.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. What he saw made him want to run far away from his apartment.
The woman, who Joe thought was his girlfriend, can be seen leaving her hiding place, crawling on a table, and trying to stabilize. Then she reaches out and grabs a nearby step, which she uses to jump to the ground.
As Joe watched this woman, he had a feeling she had done this before.
Joe felt a mixture of terror and relief - after all, the footage proved he was not crazy. Someone had stolen his food. But it was not his girlfriend, as he had thought from the beginning.
It was something much worse. There was a strange woman in their apartment, hidden in a storage room in the kitchen - just a few short steps from the bedroom. He had to get out of there quickly.
The woman in the video is none other than a complete stranger! Joe felt sick to his stomach, but he knew he had to watch more. Joe watches the woman go around his kitchen, as comfortable as if it were her own. She opens the fridge door, snatches a bottle of orange juice, and drinks it straight out of the box.
Then she climbs on the sink and urinates. Joe watches the nightmare unfold, but more horror was to be uncovered.
At one point in the video, the woman is seen nestled on Joe's couch, nibbling, when she hears a noise from the bedroom. Surprised, she enters Joe’s kitchen and hides. Then Joe appears and goes to the fridge for a glass of water. A few minutes after her departure, the woman returns and resumes her snacking.
What was going on? It takes hours, but Joe can not keep his eyes off the footage. Who was this woman?
Joe watches as the morning light begins to creep into his apartment through the window.
Right then, the woman unnervingly crawls back into the storage area. Shortly after, Joe can see himself entering the kitchen, dressed in his everyday clothes, unaware of what had just happened in that same room just a few minutes earlier.
He opens the fridge and drinks the juice straight out of the box, just as the woman did a few hours ago!
Joe finishes watching the footage until the end, and he’s left frozen in his tracks, trying to comprehend what he just witnessed. All the while, an unknown intruder could potentially be hiding a mere few feet away from him.
His mind was full of questions as he tried to understand why his girlfriend would go through all this trouble. And for what? What was she exactly doing?
What kind of behavior was that? Then the woman looks up directly into the camera, and Joe can see her face as clear as day. It’s not his girlfriend.
Joe grabbed his computer and rushed out of his apartment. He ran to the police station, where he explained what had happened and showed them the footage. "I do not know how she got there," he proclaimed.
"The only way to get in is through the window because I'm on the top floor, and there's an escape route." The cops, thankfully, understood Joe’s concerns and then escorted him home, where they were able to arrest the woman. But what they discovered only made him even more petrified.The cops, thankfully, understood Joe’s concerns and then escorted him home, where they were able to arrest the woman. But what they discovered only made him even more petrified.
After questioning the woman, the police discovered that she had been hiding in Joe's apartment for at least two weeks! Once the ordeal ended, he posted the terrifying video on YouTube, where he quickly became viral.
And while many doubt the validity of Joe's story, it's not a bad idea to regularly check your storage space: you never know what might be hiding there, as Tracy from South Carolina was about to find out…
It was like a horror movie coming to life. Part of her even wondered if she had a very lucid nightmare. There was no other way for her to explain what was happening. But it was not fiction.
He was there, at home, since who knows how long without it having any clue. And when all the implications of this fact began to emerge for her, she could not help but panic.
Even before this incident, life had not been easy for Tracy. She was a single mother of five and lived in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Throughout her life, she struggled to make ends meet and provide for her family. Some of her children were now grown up, but they all lived together in the family home to reduce costs.
Despite their circumstances, they lived a happy family life. But then, something began to happen that threatened all that.
One day in September, Tracy started hearing strange noises coming from the attic. The first thing she thought was that there might be an intruder, but she was always very careful to lock all doors and windows. She did it as a precaution because they lived in a poor part of the city, and burglaries were quite common.
She saw no sign of forced entry and thought it was all her imagination. But she soon began to wonder if anything else was happening.
Over the next few days, Tracy still heard random sounds coming from above. She asked her children if they were playing in the attic, but they all said no. She believed them - the attic was dark and moldy and was not a fun place for kids.
She rarely went up there herself, except when she had something to store. But as the noises continued, she proposed a different theory.
One day, as she cleaned the house, Tracy realized that the sounds in the attic were also moving from room to room. Then, it came to mind that the strange noises could very well come from a possum or raccoon that had somehow found his way into the house. She thought she would need to call animal control. However, it was a Saturday and they did not work on weekends.
So she decided to wait until Monday. But the presence in the attic seemed to have other projects.
That night, around half past two in the morning, Tracy was awakened by creaks coming from the ceiling. But this time, she also heard gentle beating noises on the floor of her own room. She looked down and in the twilight of the night, she saw a number of nails scattered on the carpet.
She realized that the nails were coming out of the planks of the ceiling. Her heart stopped - it was not a possum or a raccoon.
Tracy remembers thinking, "there must be poltergeist problems." She was too terrified to go to the attic to investigate. So she threw the blanket over her head and did her best to go back to sleep. But she knew she had to do something about the entity occupying her attic.
She could not continue living like this. The next morning she acted.
In the morning, Tracy was relieved to hear that her nephew was visiting her two grown-up sons at her home. The presence of the three young men comforted her. She told them about the noise in the ceiling and asked them to check the attic.
The men climbed as Tracy waited just outside the attic door in the hallway. None of them were prepared for what they would find.
Once in the attic, the young men realized that something was wrong. A strong nauseating odor struck them immediately, and they saw garbage scattered on the ground. The old coats and jackets that Tracy kept for storage were all in a corner of the room near the heating unit.
And then they saw it - it was a body.
As soon as the men began to move into the attic, the body in the corner stirred. Apparently, he was sleeping there before they went up. He looked at them and they looked at him, and they all stopped in surprise for a few seconds.
Then the man got up and rushed past them and towards the stairs. Tracy saw him as he escaped and she realized that she knew this man.
The family called the police, but the man had already left before they arrived. But it was not the worst. Tracy recognized the intruder. More than 12 years ago, he did some housework for the family.
He and Tracy had been together for a short time. But since he had a history of criminal behavior, Tracy broke up with him. The man did not take the break well and therefore fought back.
The man wanted to find Tracy, but she refused. Then one day, he stole a truck. He was then caught and sent to prison.
But while he was locked up, he continued to harass Tracy. He sent her letters informing her that he had changed and begging her to pick him up. After his release, Tracy heard the rumor that he had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. But she discovered the truth in the worst possible way.
The police responded to the call and searched the attic where the man had been found. It seemed like he had been living there for a few weeks. "He had packed all the old coats and jackets in the heating unit and was sleeping in the heating unit," says Tracy.
They also found a number of plastic cups where he had relieved himself, which explains the bad smell. But an even more frightening discovery was soon made.
The investigators discovered that the intruder had installed the vents on the ceiling so he could look into Tracy's room. Tracy could not contain her horror at the thought. "I am stunned," she said in an interview.
"How can you look at someone through a vent?" What was worse, they still did not know how he had entered the attic because the only door leading to it was in the hallway between his children's bedrooms. And the threat remained.
Although the police know his identity, the man was able to escape the authorities and is still on the run. A few days later, Tracy thought she had seen him near her house, but the police were not able to find him. She wants justice. "I want him to be charged," she said.
"It could be someone else to whom he is doing the same thing, but she might not be so lucky." In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.