A viral Reddit post showing something dangling from a ceiling sent the internet into a frenzy, leaving thousands of viewers laughing, cringing, and wildly speculating over the mysterious object that terrified netizens when it started to “wiggle and move.”
On April 15, an online user shared a photo on the popular subreddit, “What is it?” hoping to get some help in identifying a dark, stringy, hairless object that was poking through a narrow gap in the ceiling panel of his home.
Along with the image, the original poster (OP), who goes by the handle Takuraiii_, offered fellow Redditors the chillingly casual caption: “Noticed this sticking out from my ceiling – what is it?”
Within hours, the post racked up over 35,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments. Redditors from all walks of life, pest experts, and armchair comedians united for a round of shocked identification, wacky theories, and plenty of jokes.
Ceiling invader
As Reddit is known to do, the thread quickly took on a life of its own.
After the original poster (OP) explained that “It moves so it’s probably not dead,” people examined the details – color, texture, the slight taper – and offered their thoughts on the unsettling image of the cheeky ceiling invader.
“Rat expert here (no official degree, but I’ve seen An American Tail at least six times),” starts one wisecracking user, referring to the 1986 animated film that features a family of mice. “This could be a tail, yes…but it could also be a decoy. Call in backup. Infrared. Night vision. I want eyes on every crumb. We’re not just dealing with any rodent. We’re dealing with a professional.”