A tail under the ceiling
Credit / Reddit
A viral Reddit post showing an object hanging from the ceiling has sent the internet into a frenzy, leaving thousands of viewers laughing, worrying, and speculating about the mysterious object that terrified people when it started to “wiggle and move.”

On April 15, a user shared a photo on the popular subreddit, “What is this?”, hoping to get help identifying a dark, stringy, hairless object protruding from a narrow gap in the ceiling panel of their home.

Along with the image, the original post’s author, who goes by the alias Takuraiii_, offered his fellow Redditors the chillingly casual caption: “I noticed this sticking out of my ceiling – what is it?”

Within hours, the post received over 35,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments. Redditors from all walks of life, pest experts, and armchair comedians joined in for a series of shocking identifications, outlandish theories, and plenty of jokes.

The Ceiling Invader
As Reddit usually does, the thread quickly took on a life of its own.

After the original post’s author explained that “it’s moving, so it’s probably not dead,” people examined the details—the color, the texture, the slight taper—and weighed in on the unsettling image of the cheeky ceiling invader.

“Rat expert (no official credential, but I’ve seen An American Tail at least six times),” begins one mischievous user, referring to the 1986 animated film about a family of mice. “It could be a tail, yes… but it could also be a decoy. Call for backup. Infrared. Night vision. I want eyes on every crumb. We’re not dealing with just any rodent. We’re dealing with a professional.”

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