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The Horror That is Rat King

By Alex in Animal, Paranormal, Pictures on Jun 13, 2008 at 3:15 pm



Photo: Naturkundliches Museum Mauritianum Altenburg [wikipedia]

Rat King doesn’t mean the King of Rats, rather it is a medieval legend of what happened when a lot of rats get entangled at their tails, became stuck together and thus had to live as a giant rat ball entity. The cryptozoological curiosity became famous in Germany, with sightings as early as the 1500s. Not surprisingly, a large ball of gnawing rats was interpreted as a bad omen.

The Mauritianum museum in Altenburg, German, even has the mummified specimen of 32 rats shown above. Though scientists are skeptical of the authenticity of the specimens (rats don’t normally become entangled, even when living in cramped quarters and no living rat kings have ever been sighted), the phenomenon lives on in pop culture, and after seeing this image, in my nightmares.

Link [wikipedia] – Thanks elzo!

If that’s not gross enough for you, check out this video clip previously posted on Neatorama: World’s Worst Mouse Plague: Millions of Mice Attack Australia


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COMMENT
  1. seekshelter
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    i cant think of the movie... but what is the one with the kids hearing something... and saying it was the rat king..??

  2. joaquin
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    yuck!, sounds strange, but how else that would happen?

  3. DOJ
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    they found one on 30 Rock

  4. Ali S.
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

    I'm sorry but if I saw a ball of rats I'd scream like a little girl and run the other way. :x The thought of one rat makes me feel ill...but a ball of rats?!

  5. CheeseDuck
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Woah. A giant ball of rats? Thats just freaky.

  6. stacyj
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Wow, one of those suckers could make for the most - um - remarkable performances of The Nutcracker ever ...

  7. JC
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    I think it's fake.

  8. jimmyhoffascorpse
    Jun 13th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Hah! just like in the amazing maurice and his educated rodents by terry pratchett! spooky.

  9. kew
    Jun 14th, 2008 at 2:02 am

    Double rats, I wanted to mention Maurice first!
    And btw, old mr. Pratchett does his homework before writing, so it's not "just like" in there. :)

  10. Thomas
    Jun 14th, 2008 at 10:28 am

    Didn't I see this already on Neatorama? Perhaps it was some other blog...

  11. Kitty
    Jun 15th, 2008 at 1:42 am

    I recommend to everyone to read The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents by Terry Prachett. It's totally related to rat kings.

  12. Vako
    Jun 15th, 2008 at 3:12 am

    How long before some band names its self "Rat King" ?

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