Anish Vij
Millions of viewers have been drawn into a bizarre multipart 'menu' saga, which sees a horrified resident claiming to be the only tenant in an empty apartment complex.
So, #menugate has been trending on TikTok after a lawyer named Cody - from Atlanta, Georgia - noticed that takeaway menus which were left on residents' doorframes had been untouched for days.
"They say the building's full but I never see anyone here," he said in a viral video posted in October 2021.
"Are you really telling me people live here, but no one on my floor has come in or out of their building in three days?"
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“I don’t get it,” he said in a follow-up video.
“I live in a nice part of town, in a [demanding] market, and my building is a good building — especially for the price. So, how are they vacant?”
After taking advice from someone in the comments section, Cody went to check out the car park.
“I live on the first floor, so the only people who are supposed to park here are people who live on my floor,” he said.
“There are more cars here than there are apartments. Some of these cars don’t look like they’ve moved for a while.”
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The TikToker then shows us a dusty black car that doesn't look like it's been used in years.
He has since posted over 25 videos of his allegedly empty apartment complex, which he claims only contains staff, and viewers are torn between it being a 'glitch in the Matrix,' or there being a genuine reason for it.
“Plot twist: it’s an abandoned apartment complex, and he’s a ghost but doesn’t know it,” one person suggested.
While another person thought: “You’ve unwittingly become someone’s test subject in some kind of experiment.”
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“Percentage leased and percentage occupied are two very different things,” a third said.
“They’re investor-owned units that are held but empty in order to artificially inflate demand and reduce supply,” a fourth chimed in.
“I’m living with my parents at 38,” someone else said.
“The idea of rentals just sitting there completely empty, makes me want to absolutely break down sobbing and screamin.”
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Cody added: "Does everybody just go on vacation for weeks? I need answers."
The idea of Will Smith's I Am Legend happening in a random apartment complex in Atlanta is pretty creepy.