A TikTok user claims they woke up on a 'ghost ship' in an empty world, having shared footage of what appears to be a completely deserted cruise liner.
TikToker @kilianandmaruta has been sharing a series of 'empty world' videos on the platform over the past few months, showing everything from supermarkets, cinemas and restaurants to central Rome - all without a single person in sight.
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"I feel I'm the only player in a videogame," they wrote in one.
While their TikTok bio lists their name as Kilian Maruta, according to Snopes, the user is actually believed to be two people - a man and a woman called Kilian and Maruta, possibly from Tokyo in Japan.
And for their latest series of videos, they've claimed: "I woke up on a Ghost Ship," adding in the caption: "Not again..."
Several videos take viewers on a tour around the empty cruise liner, including an empty swimming pool, games arcade, deserted hallways and more.
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In another, @kilianandmaruta visited the empty 'pool deck', saying: "I have no food. No water."
A previous video from 11 April revealed a bit more background @kilianandmaruta's, who wrote: "This is my story."
In the video, they said: "What I have done is illegal."
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"I am not proud of it, but I am paying for my sins.
"I was a classified AI programmer working for a huge tech company. I hacked my way into the company's Quantum Computer. Unlimited access. I uploaded my own code to the computer, and it started learning. Fast. Really fast. It evolved into something else. And suddenly, it happened!
"I respawned in an empty world. And now I am ALONE. Completely alone. And I need help. If you are there, please..."
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Later that month, a new video showed what Snopes says was 'computer-generated imagery', which the outlet speculates could mean the creator(s) perhaps possesses video editing skills.
Snopes wrote: "We saw comments that mentioned the videos showed video editing, virtual reality, a video game, or a simulation.
"Others believed the ship to be an old Disney Dream cruise ship or a ferry in Ireland. Several commenters expressed the belief that YouTuber MrBeast could secretly be behind the whole thing.
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"Several others also posited that there may have been fewer people to remove in a video editing process, including on the cruise ship, due to the Covid-19 pandemic."
The outlet added: "We aren't sure who Kilian and Maruta are, nor are we certain about how the videos were created.
"It's likely that the videos were recorded and people were later removed in the post-production process. Some of the videos shot in cities appeared to be recorded early in the morning, which would mean fewer people on the street to later erase when editing."
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@kilianandmaruta
Topics: World News, News, Technology, TikTok