Sometime in the early 2000s, a rodent fell — or was dropped by a flying predator — into wet concrete on a street in Roscoe Village in Chicago, creating what appeared to be a rat-imprinted hole that would become a viral sensation. On January 6, 2024, local comedian Winslow Dumaine posted the rodent-shaped hole on social media, and it wasn’t long before Chicagoans nicknamed it “Splatatouille.” Residents and tourists alike turned the site into a sensation, and one offbeat couple even posed for their engagement picture there. Finally, 13 days after going viral on social media, the hole was filled by an unidentified source, However, community members were able to restore the “rat hole” to its original shape. By the end of April, the Chicago Department of Transportation determined that the sidewalk was damaged and needed to be replaced. Today, the rodent-shaped hole is encased and on display at Chicago City Hall. However, the drama surrounding the famous hole wasn’t over yet. In October 2025, researchers published an article in the journal Biology Letters that uncovered a shocking fact: there’s a 98.67% chance the “Chicago rat hole” was actually made by a squirrel. Researchers speculate that it was probably an eastern gray squirrel that fell from a tree. Since the Windy City has a long history of rat activity, no one could blame Chicagoans for thinking the hole looked like a rat.
