Comments on: Rat kings

By: billd6

billd6 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sure hate to run across an alligator king

By: A New Challenger

A New Challenger — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

KATAMARI FROM HELL

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

at least giving us the Black Death was an accident

By: Tom_Paris

Tom_Paris — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rats are not all bad! They can be HEROES!!

By: mujadaddy

mujadaddy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“Rattus rattus brevicaudatus”

Man, that gives me an idea for a rap song…

By: cinemajay

cinemajay — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Unicorn chaser stat!

By: xopl

xopl — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Looks more like the mummified remains of the daily catch of a professional rat catcher.

Living rats getting their tails entangled? Come on.

By: mortis

mortis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I expect to see these in the new 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.

By: Antinous

Antinous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Live, single, non-desiccated unicorn chaser, to be specific.

By: savage_lucy

savage_lucy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They have one on display, in a jar I think, of a rat king consisting of a family of juvenile rattus rattus at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, NZ. Apparently horse hair used to build their nest started the knots. It’s in the “”Animal Attic” at the top of the museum, which is a very cool/creepy place indeed.
http://www.otagomuseum.govt.nz/rat_king.html

By: seyo

seyo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, I don’t buy it either.

By: russelljsmith

russelljsmith — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Going to have nightmares…

By: License Farm

License Farm — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well… that’s one of the more disturbing things I’ve ever seen.

However, I too have my doubts. Wouldn’t a rat that feels itself to be stuck attack, claw and gnaw its way out of that sort of predicament, even at the cost of its own tail or perhaps its entire hind quarters?

I expect there will be a movie called Rat King bearing mostly an accidental resemblance to this concept on the Sci-Fi Channel next month, latest. It will star Marc Dacoscos, Yancy Butler and Mickey Rooney.

By: Camille

Camille — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I remember reading a book when I was a kid about talking rats who imprisoned a group of friends and created a sort of “human king” because their arms blended together. Not as creepy as it sounds but it still scared the hell out of me.

By: StridentLobster

StridentLobster — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would’ve been an even cooler cartoon if the Rat King looked like this, instead of a muscleman in a ratty (pun or not, your call) leather outfit.

By: anthony

anthony — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I always post too late.
In the Nineties artist Katrina Fritsch made a huge rat king sculpture, with eight foot tall rats. I vaguely remember there were some storage issues with the piece. Art storage must be a daunting business these days.
link to “Rat King” pics:
http://www.diachelsea.org/exhibs/fritsch/ratking/

By: klaradox

klaradox — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

oohh..The poor little fellaz..I like taking pictures of dead animals, but only to pay my respect to them, ‘coz they are usually just abandoned and rotting somewhere totally forgotten..But to tangle them together to make a morbid flower and naming them a “king”? hhmmm…. Why didn’t I think of that? :)) Well I guess because ‘respect’ means letting them deteriorate with dignity and in peace… Man, I’ve just realized I sound like a sicko. I am not! I hope…

By: nate_freewheel

nate_freewheel — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

See: unicorn chaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJD1ura7G4

By: orsted

orsted — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe they were having a conference at the time:

http://www.conferencebike.com/

By: Overnight Lows

Overnight Lows — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I now look at the Nutcracker very differently…

By: Antinous

Antinous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Or it’s just a mass of slugs fished out of a bucket of salt.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

That’s the creepiest thing I’ve seen in a long time (true or not)

By: Dick Jokes

Dick Jokes — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Eerily enough, this reminds me of “Luther Blissett” as well…

By: Xeni Jardin

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

peeples: you can has unicorn chaser.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rat kings were hoaxes played upon the gullible uneducated class (peasants and royals both) who also believed things like cats steal your breath and bats want to tangle in your hair. It’s just cryptozoological embuggerance.

By: ROSSINDETROIT

ROSSINDETROIT — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I can see two rats possibly getting tangled together from time to time, but more than 2, and frequently enough for the phenomenon to enter the popular culture? Highly unlikely. Looks like a hoax on the order of Jackalopes, furred trout and Fiji Mermaids, except more difficult to debunk. There certainly would have been no lack of dead rats to carry that out with in the historical times/places noted. I recall reading about a Rat King in the last few years in a piece of fiction. Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, maybe?

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

holy #$@&!!! that is absolutely terrifying. mind-numbingly horrific. I can’t believe the phenomenon actually exists.

By: Michael Who

Michael Who — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terry Pratchett has a rat king as a malignant gestalt entity in “Maurice and his amazing educated rodents”, a “pied piper” parody.

By: Antinous

Antinous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Looks like a hoax on the order of Jackalopes…

Except that jackalopes turned out to be real – sort of.

By: harryhoody

harryhoody — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@Thorzdad: I agree. I am totally creeped out. In fact, I never want to see that picture again.