I noticed disgusting smell in my hotel so checked under bed – I saw two eyes staring back & thought I was going to die

The Irish Sun

01-05-2025

A HOLIDAYMAKER has told how she spotted two eyes staring at her from under her hotel bed - after smelling what she thought was a dead body.
Ukrainian model Natali Khomenko told The Sun about her "horror movie" encounter which turned her dream trip to Japan into a "nightmare".
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Natali Khomenko's dream holiday turned into a nightmare when she found a stranger lurking under her hotel bed
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi
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Natali was backpacking in Japan when the horror unfolded
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi
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The Ukrainian influencer said she 'thought her life was over'
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi
Her birthday week holiday morphed into a living hell - as she "couldn't sleep" and was "constantly on edge, checking every corner of my room".
She said: "I thought my life was over."
Natali explained that after a day of sightseeing on March 30, she returned to her hotel room at about 7:30pm and got undressed before laying down in bed.
After 15 minutes of relaxing, she started to notice a "weird smell".
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Thinking it might be her hair or the bed sheets, the 32-year-old then made the realisation that the stench was coming from under the bed.
She said: "Jokingly, I thought 'what if there's a dead person laying under the bed?'
"But when I leaned over to check, I saw a pair of eyes staring at me."
Shaken to the core, Natali froze up in fear, thinking that she must have been hallucinating.
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She jumped up and got ready to defend herself, hurrying to the corner of the room in desperation.
"And then I just started screaming... A lot of people [next door] heard me screaming," she told The Sun.
The two locked eyes for three seconds - with Natali trapped on the bed in the corner of her room and him blocking the door.
At that point, she thought "my life was over".
"I was screaming and crying. It was like a horror movie. And then he just started to scream."
She claims the ominous figure then fled the scene, leaving Natali still crying out in shock.
I was screaming and crying. It was like a horror movie. And then he just started to scream
Natali Khomenko
Ukrainian influencer
She added that neighbouring guests in other rooms could hear her screams and shouted back asking which room she was in.
"People were afraid to go out from their rooms," Natali explained, due to her ominous wailing.
"I was just in my underwear, so I needed to put on some pants before I opened the door and I screamed my room number."
She then met two men in the corridor and begged them for help.
Police were called to the hotel and started to investigate.
They even managed to find a portable charger and USB cable that the perpetrator had left behind.
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Natali said the horror encounter left her 'constantly on edge' for the rest of her trip in Japan
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Police retrieved a cable and charger that Natali claims the man left behind
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Natali says she is not being taken seriously - and there has been a lack of investigation into the incident
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi
But Natali's hopes ended there - as she was quickly informed that cops "probably wouldn't find him".
Feeling completely unsafe, she immediately left and took a cab to a different hotel - but was still restless.
She described the rest of her holiday as "five days of horror".
"I'm afraid he just wanted to wait until I switched off the lights, fall asleep and then climb from under the bed and choke me or do whatever," she feared.
"It's like my nightmare."
Devastated, she sent multiple emails to the hotel demanding compensation money for her trauma as well as expenses - including the new hotel she had to book in the middle of the night after her chilling experience.
The investigation proved fruitless after the hotel told her there was no CCTV footage and that cops told them that they were unable to identify the culprit even after taking fingerprints.
"I was like no way - it ruined my birthday trip to Japan... I had severe emotional damage," the tourist said.
I'm afraid he just wanted to wait until I switched off the lights, fall asleep and then climb from under the bed and choke me
Natali Khomenko
Ukrainian influencer
Despite defending
Japan
and claiming that it had nothing to do with the situation, she said that she will never return to the country alone.
"I don't want to scare all girls travelling to Japan - but be cautious.
"Check everything. Under bed, in the bathroom, everything," she warned.
After taking to social media to warn followers about her frightening ordeal, she was met with support and backlash.
She claims dozens of women, Japanese locals and tourists alike, were "telling me their stories, saying that no one takes women seriously".
Natali was accused by many of fabricating her story for attention - but called these comments "disgusting".
"The women who are writing to me, who are supporting me, they are giving me so much
power
," she said.
Natali has since written to the Ukrainian embassy in Japan in hopes that they will help her obtain a police report - but she has had no response so far.
The influencer explained that she didn't post her story for a month because she was so scared that she "could not speak".
"I'm just starting to speak out now and I'm crying," she said.
Natali sent The Sun video footage of her hands trembling in the days after the horror encounter.
I didn't post my story for a month because I could not speak. I'm just starting to speak out now and I'm crying
Natali Khomenko
Ukrainian influencer
She said that she still has "severe panics" whenever she enters a hotel room, and that the ordeal "absolutely changed my life".
"I need some small light
next
to me like always, or I'm afraid to fall asleep," she explained.
The nightmare has also put an end to eight years of solo travelling the world.
"Right now I can't [travel] - I have severe panics in hotels," she said.
Traumatised Natali wants the hotel to take full responsibility and receive compensation for the "breach of safety" so that "travellers are more aware".
She admitted: "I am not sure I will see justice."
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Natali said her hands couldn't stop shaking after the horror encounter
Credit: NATALI KHOMENKO
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Natali says she has been put off travelling alone
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi
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She says she has 'severe panic' in hotels
Credit: Instagram/@natalisi_taksisi