Imagine a group of rats bound in an inescapable complex knot, trying to free themselves until they starve to death, entangled together for experts to find. This phenomenon is known as the rat king. Throughout natural history, this rare event has fascinated experts and storytellers worldwide, prompting various theories, depictions, and omens.
Read below for the intriguing history of rat kings. We’re exploring everything, from remarkable sightings to legends surrounding them. Discover what it truly means to have one found in your home.
Understanding Rat Kings
As mentioned above, a rat king is a rare phenomenon where a group of rats becomes entangled in their tails. This results in a massive wheel of furry critters unable to free themselves.
In a typical rat king scenario, the tails become entangled in different ways. The common one is when rats accidentally knot their tails by crowding in a tight space. Their tails may also intertwine through dirt, sap, sebum, ice, and horse hair.
There have been only 60 documented sightings of rat kings worldwide throughout history. Many are preserved and displayed in natural museums, most prominently in Germany.
Etymology
The origin of the name ‘rat king’ is still debatable. Many believe that people initially derived the name from the German term ‘Rattenkönig.’ This term was an insult used by people who thought their rulers were exploiting their sovereignty. Martin Luther, a famous German priest, popularized this term by calling the pope in Rome “the king of rats” in front of many. Eventually, people used the title to refer to the conjoined rats.
Others suggest that it came from the French term ‘roi de rats,’ which translates to ‘wheel of rats.’ However, it’s widely believed this term came after ‘rat king’ had already been established.
Historic sightings
As mentioned earlier, there have been only 60 registered cases of rat kings throughout history, spanning a period of 500 years. Most of them have occurred in Germany and other European countries.
The first documented rat king sighting was in the 1500s in a 16th-century picture book published by Johannes Sambucus, a Hungarian historian. In the book, Sambucus described how servants in Antwerp, Belgium discovered seven rats entangled together in their tails.
Another notable sighting took place in 1828. A miller named Steinbrück found 32 scorched dead rats entwined when he tore down his chimney. This particular sighting is now known as the iconic “rat king of Altenburg,” or the largest rat king ever collected.
The last recorded rat king sighting was in Estonia in 2021, where 13 rats were found intertwined and still alive. Unfortunately, experts couldn’t find a way to untangle them, forcing them to euthanize the rats.
Museum displays
Today, various museums offer public displays of rat king formations worldwide. You can find the world’s largest rat king at the Mauritianum Altenburg in Germany. The Mauritianum is a natural history museum that houses around 40,000 specimens, including the iconic “rat king of Altenburg.”
The recent rat king sighting in Estonia now sits at the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden. This museum offers various geological, zoological, botanical, and mycological collections, with over 1.2 million specimens.
Moreover, people can find alcohol-preserved rat kings in natural museums in Hamburg, Germany, and Nantes and Strasbourg, France. Meanwhile, the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand, showcases a rat king consisting of immature black rats whose tails were knotted by horse hair.
Squirrel kings
Besides rat kings, other animals have also been found in the same entanglements. Among them are the famous spring pests squirrels.
Much like their rat counterparts, this phenomenon occurs when a collection of squirrels becomes entangled by their tails. However, many squirrel kings happen with a litter of young in the same nest, entwined by their nesting materials, tree sap, or both.
Without human intervention, there’s no way of entangling these young squirrels. A lot of them fall from their nests and die. However, there are cases where people have successfully untangled squirrel kings. They’re more noticeable because squirrels are generally bigger than rats and have bushy tails. Plus, they spend more time outdoors than rats, making it easier for people to intervene immediately.
Most recorded squirrel king sightings occur in North America. The recent one was in late 2022 in Canada, where four adolescent squirrels were found tied together. Unfortunately, they managed to run up a tree before someone could untangle them.
Squirrel king sightings are also still up for debate if they were man-made or not. One incident in Connecticut, where people found four squirrels knotted together, was confirmed to be a hoax and an act of animal cruelty.
Legends, myths, and hoaxes
When the Black Death came in the Middle Ages, people believed that rats were the cause of the disease. Stories began during that period about groups of rats with tails knotted together, symbolizing the imminent spread of the plague.
Interestingly, their theory was actually close to reality. Rats didn’t spread the plague, but the fleas they carried did. Since rat kings are said to form in areas with too many rats clustering in a cramped space, it means there would be enough fleas that could start spreading the plague quickly to people nearby. Basically, a rat king is a sign of infestation, an unusual one at that.
Despite numerous sightings worldwide, many are still skeptical about the naturality of rat kings. Some argue that rats are instinctive to gnaw themselves out of such a situation. Plus, there are no recorded observations of the process occurring, only the final result of rats entangled with each other, leading them to believe that rat kings are man-made. Whether natural or not, the truth about rat kings is still yet to be discovered.
Rat King in Pop Culture
Despite its rarity, the rat king phenomenon has gained global recognition, inspiring many depictions across various media. Here are some notable examples:
The Last of Us 2
The Last of Us is a highly cinematic video game series by Naughty Dog, published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It follows the story of Joel and Elle in a post-apocalyptic America surrounded by zombies.
In The Last of Us Part 2, gamers were introduced to the rat king, an amalgamation of different infected or zombie types (stalkers, clickers, and a bloater) fused together to form one enormous super organism. The result was a remarkable massive walking lump of pale flesh with arms and mouths sticking out in various directions in an overall hideous form.
The game didn’t precisely refer to the creature as the “rat king.” However, several team members at Naughty Dog stated that the real-life phenomenon of rat kings inspired them to create the beast.
With excellent storytelling, visuals, and world-building, it’s no surprise that The Last of Us was recently adapted to a drama series by HBO, starring The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal and Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey. Like the game, the TV series became a hit with an equally fantastic narrative and visuals.
Sadly, the rat king did not appear in season one. However, with season two confirmed, we might see the horrifying creature in the series soon.
Hilda
Hilda, or Hildafolk, is a popular and critically acclaimed graphic novel series for kids written and illustrated by Luke Pearson. It’s been published by Nobrow Press since 2010. The story follows a fearless blue-haired girl named Hilda, her mother Johanna, and her deer fox Twig, in a world filled with trolls, elves, giants, and spirits.
In 2018, the streaming platform Netflix adapted the graphic novel into an award-winning original series with two seasons and one film. It stars Bella Ramsey as the titular character.
Hilda’s rat king only appeared on the TV series in the show’s sixth episode titled “Chapter Six: The Nightmare Spirit.” In the episode, a large cluster of rats tied together in their tails, capable of human speech and intelligence, appears.
The rats were portrayed with a hive mind, mostly speaking in unison and referring to themselves as “we.” They were also considered the keeper of secrets by the people of Trolberg, collecting and trading them with others from the sewers.
Stephen King’s It
“It” is an iconic 1986 horror novel published by renowned author Stephen King. It follows a group of children on a quest to battle an evil entity that terrorizes their town. It features Pennywise the Dancing Clown, one of pop culture’s most recognizable and terrifying horror villains. His character is depicted across different mediums, from books to small and big screens.
With sewers playing a vital role in the story, it was no surprise that the book features a brief appearance of rat kings. Rats have been mentioned numerous times throughout the novel. Most of them are essential parts of the book’s scary moments.
Besides Stephen King’s It, various novels also feature brief appearances of rat kings. These include Accordion Times by Annie Proulx, Cold Storage by David Koepp, and The Rats by James Herbert.
What Rat Kings Indicate
Rat king sightings are rare and fascinating. If you find them in your home, you could contribute to this phenomenon’s unique long history. However, if you have them in your basement, cupboard, or any dark space, it usually indicates something more disturbing lurking around.
Rat kings come from a cluster of rats in a cramped or tight space. Having one in your home is a tell-tale sign that you have an infestation. Unfortunately, rats tend to hide in hard-to-reach areas. If you have an infestation and it forms a rat king, it could be days before you notice them when they start to decay and create a foul odor.
Always watch out for infestation signs and exterminate early. Some of these indicators include scurrying or squeaking sounds from the walls, piles of droppings on surfaces, and gnawed food packages and other items at home. When you find these disturbances, contact your local exterminator to address the issue immediately.
How Rats Affect Your Home
Rats are known carriers of various diseases. Their bites, scratches, urine, and feces can spread fatal illnesses that have taken many lives.
The most popular rat-contracted disease is leptospirosis, which people get when making contact with water, soil, or other objects contaminated with infected rat urine. Without treatment, leptospirosis can lead to severe issues like kidney damage, liver failure, respiratory distress, meningitis, and death.
Another disease associated with rats is Hantavirus. It’s a viral disease transmitted by inhaling dust contaminated with rat urine or feces. In worse cases, this virus is known to cause organ failures, leading instantly to death. People can also contract this virus by making direct contact with contaminated material.
Rats can also transmit diseases like rat-bite fever and salmonellosis. They can also transfer disease indirectly to a person. The best example is the plague, where the rats carry the fleas that spread it. Other examples include Colorado Tick Fever and Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.
Finally, aside from the many diseases you and your family may contract, you must also worry about the damage. Rats tend to chew on wires. They also chew on plastic, rubber, wood, and even cement.
Did you know?
Besides rats and squirrels, this phenomenon can also be seen in snakes, known as a ‘snake ball.’ It’s a mating behavior where tens to hundreds of snakes intertwine together to form a ball. Typically, a snake ball consists of one female and many males. Compared to rat kings, snake balls are more common. However, it’s still harder to spot them.
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