Who is the 'Serbian dancing lady' creeping out TikTok?

TikTok may be home to countless dancing trends, but the latest craze is a far cry from your usual viral hip-hop routine.

Instead of gawking at Charli D’amelio grooving to Chris Brown, users are now staring open-mouthed in horror at a “Serbian lady” dancing in the street at night.

A clip of the eerie figure has taken the social media platform by storm, engendering countless parodies and setting off the inevitable keyboard sleuths.

But whilst some viewers seem determined to solve the mystery of who, or what, this nocturnal apparition is, others are simply revelling in its creepiness.

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The video was posted in February by an account with no bio, named only as @aatc13.

They captioned the footage, shot from a window onto a residential street, “be careful guys,” adding the hashtags “#dancingladyserbia” and “#horror”.

Their clip has been viewed more than 77.4 million times and racked up more than 6.4 million likes and 150,000 comments.

Some TikTokers have latched onto the fear factor, with one writing: “Imagine she turns around and sees you at the window,” while others have filmed nightmarish recreations in which the dancer turns around and begins running towards the camera.

Meanwhile, others have made light of the whole thing, turning it into a caption competition – i.e. “when you want to go to the bathroom but your teacher won’t let you” – or pointing out that the ominous backing track is what really makes it scary.

And if you watch some of the pop spin-offs, they have a point:

And yet, although the video is currently doing the rounds thanks to @aatc13’s post, the footage isn’t new. In fact, the urban legend was first created thanks to local media reports back in 2019.

At the time, eyewitnesses in the Belgrade municipality of Zvezdare, said that the woman, wearing national dress, had been spotted jumping out in front of cars and people, brandishing a knife and making threats.

The unidentified assailant, who witnesses said seemed to be mentally unwell, was apparently roaming a busy street near a hospital and was caught on camera chasing passers-by.

According to one medical student who had seen her reaction, residents' biggest fear was that she would attack a child or pregnant woman who wouldn’t be able to quickly flee.

The question now is: was she ever caught? Or has she returned to her dangerous mission, and her dancing…?

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