Chicago "rat hole"

[passenger]

Chicago is teeming with tourist attractions - the Bean at Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Riverwalk, Wrigley Field - the list could go on and on. But this week a new spectacle has been drawing sightseers to a tree-lined sidewalk in a residential neighborhood miles and miles from the Loop.

They come to see the Chicago Rat Hole.

LINK

 

[DrLeftover]

It's been there for ages.

It was a joke awhile back about how they paved over a squirrel or something.

 

[passenger]

It's been there for ages.

It was a joke awhile back about how they paved over a squirrel or something.

Yeah, the article says it's been there for about 20 years but I guess it's in the news because all of a sudden it's a tourist attraction.
First I've heard of it.

 

[passenger]

It's been there for ages.

It was a joke awhile back about how they paved over a squirrel or something.

The viral 'Chicago Rat Hole' wasn't actually made by a rat, scientists claim​

Oct. 14, '25
A rat-shaped indent on a Chicago sidewalk went viral early last year, with troves of people venturing to the hole bearing coins and other offerings. However, a new study suggests the so-called "Chicago Rat Hole" wasn't actually made by a rat — it was probably the imprint of a squirrel.
By comparing characteristics of the hole with information about the local rodent populations, researchers determined that a squirrel most likely made the impression. The study was published Wednesday (Oct. 15) in the journal Biology Letters.

The 'Chicago Rat Hole' filled with offerings of coins and estrogen pills. ​