Photo: TikTok
It seemed like a normal tape at first until she got to the ending.
By Ethan Cotler — Written on Apr 01, 2023
Sometimes when moving into a new home, you can find memories that the last homeowner has left behind. Maybe it’s something simple like pencil lines on a wall that marked their children growing or an old dog toy half-buried in the backyard. But there are plenty of stories of people finding peculiar things left behind.
For one woman, she discovered something wholesome at first that turned nightmarish.
A woman found a VHS tape hidden behind her wall with a recording that makes her want to contact the family.
A radio host of "The Anna and Raven Show," Anna Zap, posted on the video-sharing app TikTok about her discovery of a VHS tape in her home.
She and her husband were cleaning their basement when they stumbled upon the tape hidden behind a wall. Their house was built in 1938 and has had numerous owners since then. So, tracking down that particular owner wasn’t as easy as just figuring out who lived in the house last.
Her first step was to figure out what was on the tape. Luckily, one of her radio show listeners contacted her, claiming that they own one of the last RadioShacks in the United States. They offered to convert the tape to a digital format for her, which she accepted.
“So we get the tape, and we find out the beginning of the tape is them bringing their baby home,” she said. “And it’s wild because you can see my front yard, and here’s a whole other family.”
The tape seemed wholesome at first. It mainly was footage of a smiling family. There was a scene of them “dancing in the kitchen,” along with other sweet memories. But the joyful tone of the tape soon changed, according to Zap.
“Then there’s the end, which is the reason why it was hidden behind a wall,” she said.
The ending of the tape had secret footage of the wife.
In the video, the wife was nude, getting out of the shower and getting dressed. It was all filmed by the husband, which may initially seem harmless. However, it was apparent in the video that he hid the camcorder, and she had no clue he was recording her.
Zap did some research and figured out that the owners sold the house in 1996, but there was no record of their names online. However, she said she could go to City Hall and find their names there.
Though, she claims she’s facing a moral dilemma. She's debating on whether to return the tape or destroy it. She doesn’t doubt that the family would want these long-lost memories, but giving the tape to them means the wife will discover the dark side of it—and her husband.
“Maybe they want their baby being brought home for the first time...but then she’s going to know that this film of her naked exists,” she said.
She called on viewers to help her decide what to do with it: “Do I just let it go and let it live in the walls of history and destroy it, or do I try to find her?” she asked.
People in the comments overwhelmingly support returning the tape.
“Are you kidding? She has the right to know who she married,” wrote one person. Some say that Zap should give the tape to just the wife.
“Don’t give it to them, give it to her, and tell that the end of it is of her filmed without her consent,” one person commented. “Find her! She deserves to know either way,” another added.
Zap posited in the comments that despite the wife not knowing her husband was recording her in the footage, she’s unsure whether she found out after the fact. People responded that she should return it regardless.
Non-consensual activity is not limited to outside of marriages. A study from VAWNet, a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, found that 10-14% of married women reported sexual abuse from their husbands. So, even though it could be hurtful for the wife to see this footage, never knowing the truth could be even more so.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.