The Tale of the ‘Chicago Rat Hole’

Sometime in the early 2000s, a rodent fell (or was dropped by its flying predator) into wet concrete on a street in Roscoe Village, Chicago, creating what appeared to be a rat-imprinted hole that would become a viral sensation and a tourist site 20 years later.

On Jan. 6, 2024, local comedian Winslow Dumaine posted the rodent-shaped hole on social media site X. The piece of sidewalk then had a quick rise to fame and Chicagoans named it “Splatatouille” in a public contest. Residents and tourists alike turned the site into a shrine and brought offerings such as cheese, flowers, coins, Malört and more to the “Chicago rat hole” — its more general name.

“Somebody posed for their engagement picture there,” recalled Kevin Connelly, a retired pest management professional (PMP) who has lived in Chicago for 35 years and sold MASH Services of Illinois to Plunkett’s Pest Control in 2024. “Another couple got married at the ‘rat hole.’”

Thirteen 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.

At the end of April 2024, the Chicago Department of Transportation removed the chunk of sidewalk with the hole. The city 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.

The drama surrounding the famous hole wasn’t over yet, however. In October 2025, researchers published an article in the journal Biology Letters that uncovered a shocking fact: there’s a 98.67% the “Chicago rat hole” was actually made by a squirrel.

“[Researchers] said that this is probably an eastern gray squirrel that fell from a tree,” Connelly said. “I guess right by there, years before it had been taken down by the city, there was a large oak tree just beyond the sidewalk.”

Beyond the fact that the hole does look like it was made by a rat, it makes sense that Chicagoans would immediately call on the vermin as the source. The Windy City has a long, deep history of rat activity.

“The rat issue in Chicago isn’t new,” said Tom Dobrinska, training director, Anderson Pest Solutions, Elmhurst, Ill. “Since the 1800s, you have this population boom, you have railroads, you have people [and] all the goods coming in.”

One part of Chicago’s historic infrastructure also has unintentionally been made for rat-conducive living conditions: its alleyways. Originally built alongside the city, alleyways served, and in a lot of ways still do, as avenues for trash collection and keeping unsanitary items outside of people’s homes.

“You’ve created these alleys where the garbage is out of sight, out of mind, but you’ve also created these hidden areas where the rats can take advantage of whatever nooks and crannies,” Dobrinska said. “[Rats] like dark, discreet areas where their movement is not tracked.”

People who took notice assumed that the “Chicago rat hole” was made by a brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), which, according to the researchers who uncovered the truth of the imprint, is a common species found in urban areas. Connelly said Chicago essentially has one type of rat — the Norway rat. In his three-and-a-half decades in the city, he said there was only one time that he identified a roof rat, but he’s seen multiple species of squirrels.

Although the “rat hole” should probably be referred to as the “squirrel hole,” its impact is seen in the entertainment it brought to Chicagoans and beyond. It may also serve as a reminder that pest identification leads to important truths.

“[The ‘rat hole’] lives on in mythology,” Connelly said. “It’s gone from something very real and solid and tangible to social media and then to mythology.” — McKenna Christy