You wait your whole life to live out the plot of an iconic 1990s movie, and someone else gets there first. Making anyone who grew up wishing that Jumanji was a real magical board game obscenely jealous, one unsuspecting TikToker has found himself in the first act of the latest Jumanji reboot, only this time he’s in the lead instead of Dwayne Johnson.
By the looks of it, TikTok user @trippiituck was taking his dog for a walk, just like any other night, when he came across something extremely strange: an eerie knocking sound coming from the ground underneath his feet — a bizarre match for the memorable jungle drumming that accompanies anyone who stumbles across the buried board game in the aforementioned 1995 family film.
“I don’t know if I’m being schizophrenic or something, but I’m feeling pounding beneath my feet,” says the TikToker, clearly deeply confused. “I can feel the vibrations in my feet. Like, what is that sound? It’s coming from under the grass.” Time to get digging, man. And maybe give The Rock and Kevin Hart a call. They’ll know what to do.
Naturally, the comments are full of Jumanji jokes, alongside some slightly more topical pop culture references. “It’s just tunnel girl,” one comment quipped, while another said, “Maybe your neighbor is the tunnel lady” — both referencing the TikTok-famous woman known for digging a hole underneath her house (yes, she’s still at it). Alternatively, blame some insects looking to spruce up the ol’ homestead: “The ants are making renovations.”
For those looking for an actual explanation for this underground phenomenon, however, there may be one — and, depending on where Trippii was when he recorded this, it might mean some serious work needs to be done on his own property’s plumbing or the town’s public water system. “Sounds like water hammer. Go run your water or ask you neighbor to and see if it comes back,” suggested another commenter, helpfully. Another offered, “Water or gas pipes. Call city.”
Water hammer is a problem that can occur in any piping system that makes uses of valves and, according to DFT Inc, is the result of “a pressure surge or high-pressure shockwave that propagates through a piping system when a fluid in motion is forced to change direction or stop abruptly.” Personally, I think it’s more likely to be a sentient board game, but to each their own.
Frustratingly, to date, Trippii has yet to update his account with an explanation on what was really going on. I think we all know what that means. He dug up Jumanji, made the wrong move and got sucked into the world of the game. Tough luck, pal, now you’ve got to wait 30 years for someone to roll a five or an eight.