"I Attached a Microphone Onto a Rat, and the Audio I Recorded Was VERY Disturbing" | ClancyPasta PRESENTS

[00:00:00] Kelly Clarkson here with Wayfair. I know holiday magic starts at home, and Wayfair makes it easy. They have everything from Christmas trees and mantle decor to outdoor lighting and inflatables that I'll use year after year. Head to Wayfair.com today! Wayfair, every style, every home ClancyPasta presents I attached a microphone onto a rat, and the audio I recorded was VERY Disturbing By Pewdenator

[00:00:29] And you're listening to ClancyPasta When the large rat first crawled into my apartment through the small hole in the wall, I shooted away with a frying pan. When it returned the next day, it was greeted by a broom. On the third day, a rat trap waited patiently for it to arrive.

[00:00:57] When it did, the rodent almost expertly traversed past the trap, avoiding wearing it like a heavy surprise necklace. As I watched it bypass its certain death, then retreat back into the hole it came out of, an idea started to form within my head. Where does the rat go once it leaves my apartment? Does it crawl around in the wall and visit other creatures that resided there?

[00:01:26] Does it visit other apartments and do my neighbors also see the same rat? To find this out, I had the ingenious idea to catch the rat and place a tiny microphone on the rodent's back. I was aware that this was a strange thing to do and a disturbing invasion of privacy if the rat crawled into someone else's apartment.

[00:01:52] But curiosity overrode the feelings of guilt about the rat spying on my neighbors. So after a quick trip to an electronics shop and another outing to the hardware store, I had my microphone and a little cage that would trap the rat without killing it. I set the cage trap up over the small hole that the creature would appear from and waited for it to crawl inside.

[00:02:24] That night, just as I'd crawled into bed, I heard the sound of a small metal door swinging closed. The trap had been activated. I got out of bed, checking the trap, and found the large rat confined within the cage's walls. It was a dark gray color, and now that I saw it up close, I noticed a large scar that ran along the length of its back.

[00:02:54] It must have been from a fight with another rat, or possibly from a previous escape attempt from a different trap. I got the small microphone ready and found a thick pair of gloves, just in case it was a biter. Opened the cage and grabbed the critter out. It thrashed around in my hand and attempted to sink its teeth into my hand a couple of times, but luckily, the gloves were able to protect me from its bites.

[00:03:24] After a bit of a struggle, I was able to strap the small microphone onto the rat's back using some Velcro. Then, once I was happy with the microphone placement, I let the rat go again, and it quickly retreated back into the hole it came out of. I fired up my computer, opened the software that was linked to the mic.

[00:03:48] The microphone was set up to be constantly recording, and would transmit back a live feed to the software with only a second or two delay. It was also continuously saving the recordings, so I could go back later and listen to what had been recorded. I listened in just briefly, but only heard scratching and rustling sounds as the rat crawled back through the walls.

[00:04:19] The next day, curiosity led me to open the software again, and I looked through the recorded audio files, looking for spikes in the audio waves. That would mean that louder audio was picked up by the microphone. I saw there were three distinct increases in the audio waves, and so I went back to listen to those three recordings. The first one began with the same muffled scratching sound that I heard previously,

[00:04:48] but then a woman's voice could be heard faintly. I could just make out what she was saying. Can you please put those groceries away? The meat needs to be in the fridge. Muffled sounds. Yes, now. It needs to be done as soon as possible before it goes off. Muffled sounds. I still don't know how you ate the last lot of meat so quickly,

[00:05:16] but you better take a bit longer finishing it this time. Muffled sounds. You keep saying it wasn't you that ate it, but who what... Then a loud scream interrupted the sentence, before the same voice was heard again. Oh, fuck, that mouse is back again. Get me the broom. Now, now. Then there was a commotion,

[00:05:45] and it was hard to discern what was happening, but I could hear three distinct thudding sounds as the broom hit the floor, as the rat dodged the incoming weapon. Then the sounds of the broom crashing into the ground became more distant, and muffled scratching sounds could be heard. I guessed that the rat had escaped, and returned to its usual residence inside the walls.

[00:06:12] I chuckled as I listened back to the recording. The sound of a neighbor being tormented by the same rodent that I had been seemed quite amusing to me, and I was thankful that mine wasn't the only apartment being targeted by this rat. You're not worried about hosting for the holidays? Oh, Wayfair's got me covered with holiday decor, extra dining chairs, and guest bedding, all with tons of five-star reviews, so there's no surprises. Unless Uncle Matt brings his dogs again.

[00:06:40] For worry-free hosting, Wayfair delivers. I then found the second surge in sound waves, and listened to that recording. It began, like usual, with scratching and scraping sounds. Then, I could hear the rat sniffing at something, before snap! The unmistakable sound of a mousetrap

[00:07:09] being set off. I thought that was the end of my little rat buddy, but only a moment later, the sound of the rat scampering away could be heard, followed by a chewing and eating sound. So, the rat must have gotten the bait from within the trap and escaped with its life. I'd seen the same rat avoid certain death by a trap before, and

[00:07:37] now I realize that may have not been just luck. And so I got my first indication, that it may be more intelligent than usual. Desperate to hear more, I went to the third recording I wanted to listen to, and found that the microphone had picked up a louder sound for a longer period of time than before. I clicked play, and immediately heard a man's voice.

[00:08:06] I instantly recognized it as Gary, the building's maintenance man. If I lose reception and drop out, it's because I'm about to head down into the basement. Silence. Yeah, the reception down there is a bit spotty, so hopefully I don't lose you. Silence. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah, I will get it sorted once I finish down here.

[00:08:34] The lady from 206 reckons she's been hearing noises in her pipes, so I said I'll come down here and check the plumbing. Silence. Yeah, yeah, I know. Most complaints are dumb like that, though. Like, something in the pipes. I mean, come on. Scratching sound. Yeah, must be that.

[00:09:03] It's the only logical explanation. It must be the boogeyman in the pipes. Heh heh heh. The scratching sound grows louder. Yeah, I'll go flush the boogeyman out of this lady's toilet now, and then I'll get on with- Scratching sound gets even louder, and sounds of movement can be heard. What the fuck is that?

[00:09:33] Sound of a torch turning on. What the fuck? Silence. Yeah, sorry, sorry, I'm still here. Uh, I thought I saw something in the corner of the basement. Scratching starts up again. Holy shit, there it is again. Yeah, there is something down here.

[00:10:02] It's in the corner. Yeah, some sort of a large black shadowy shape. No, it's moving. It's moving towards me. Fuck, I'm getting out of here. Fuck this. Then the sound of footsteps running in the opposite direction could be heard, and Gary yelling out all kinds of obscenities as he fled.

[00:10:29] Then all I heard was the same scratching and scampering noises that had been present throughout the recording. It sounded as if there were more than just the one rat down in the basement. It sounded as though there was a whole pack of them down there. I didn't chuckle at the end of the recording that I had done previously. Instead,

[00:10:58] I felt a tinge of worry because it seemed as though the building may have a rat infestation, and that it was stemming from the basement. Of course, when you were in the dark and you can hear and see something moving, it would be very difficult to make out if it was a bunch of rodents. So, I completely understood Gary's reaction to getting out of there as quickly as possible without investigating further.

[00:11:28] I closed down my computer and left the rat to its own devices for the rest of the day. I went to bed that night without checking in on what my friend had been up to. I was awoken by the sound of sirens later that night.

[00:11:51] I sat up quickly in bed and listened to the distinctive sound of an ambulance siren blaring and could see flashing blue and red lights from just outside the building. I got up, walked over to my window, and looked down towards the street where I saw two ambulances pulling up out the front of the apartment block. The siren sound was abruptly cut off

[00:12:20] as two paramedics emerged from the vehicle. They got a stretcher out from the back of the ambulance and started to wheel it into the entrance of the building. As they did, a police car arrived behind them. I put on my dressing gown and stepped out of my apartment and into the hallway. There were a few other residents already waiting in the hall,

[00:12:50] desperate to see what was going on too. It was most unusual for both police and paramedics to come to the building, and nothing draws in a crowd like the unusual. The elevator light at the end of the hallway showed that someone was coming up in the lift. The emergency services bypassed our floor, however, and continued upwards. Whatever had occurred, it hadn't happened on my level.

[00:13:19] Me and a few other people took the building stairs down to the lobby to inquisitively and probably intrusively wait to see what was going on. After a fairly long wait, the elevator's down arrow light flickered on, and as it did, I saw multiple onlookers' necks craned forward, eagerly awaiting their arrival

[00:13:46] with an almost disturbing fascination. The doors to the lift opened, revealing the two paramedics pushing the stretcher, now draped with a white sheet concealing the body underneath. The crowd of people parted and allowed them to pass, some bowing their heads as the stretcher was wheeled in front of them.

[00:14:13] The gurney's wheel squeaked as it passed me, and I caught a quick glimpse of a dark red spot on the otherwise white sheet. Blood. The wheel squeaked out the front door of the building, leaving behind a small crowd of shocked onlookers. A death had occurred in the building, and due to the blood on the sheet,

[00:14:41] it seemed it may not have been a peaceful death. The crowd started whispering amongst one another as the ambulance drove away, its light shining into the foyer, covering everyone in a blue and red light. Rumors almost immediately began to circulate, then moved throughout all the floors of the apartment block, without anyone really knowing

[00:15:10] what had actually happened. I heard a couple of older ladies talking next to me, and caught wind of what they were saying. Did you hear that woman screaming? It's what woke me up. Yeah, she woke me up too. It was coming from an apartment on my floor. 206, I think it was. And as I watched the squeaking stretcher

[00:15:40] exit the building, it reminded me of one thing. The rat. Maybe I would be lucky, and it was nearby when whatever happened, happened. Or possibly, the microphone would pick up some more information from residents talking about what they had seen. Because, apparently, there had been screaming too, which is something

[00:16:09] that I had missed. I rushed back upstairs to my apartment, got out my computer, and checked the audio files that the rat had recorded that day. There was only one obvious moment throughout the night that the microphone had picked up noises for an extended period of time. I went back and listened to it. It began with the sound

[00:16:38] of running water and the melody of a lady singing. The splashing water grew louder and louder as the rat presumably moved closer towards it. The singing voice also became louder, but I didn't recognize what song she was singing. Suddenly, the singing stopped, and only the running water could be heard. Then,

[00:17:08] that sound ceased too, and there was silence just for a moment. Honey, I can hear it again. The lady who was singing yelled out. A muffled reply could then be heard. That noise in the pipes, it's back again. She responded. I thought the maintenance guy was supposed to fix it. But,

[00:17:38] another incomprehensible response came from another room. The rushing water sound returned just for a moment before disappearing again. I can definitely hear something! The lady called out once more. Come in here and have a listen! I turned the volume up on the computer and listened very carefully. And, I think I could

[00:18:07] make out a very faint tapping sound that I guessed could have been the noise that the lady was hearing from the pipes. Okay, dear, let me have a listen. A man's voice said this time. After a moment of muffled noise, the lady spoke again. It's not turning on! I'm turning the tap and no water is coming out! Can I quickly have a look at it? I'll try and figure out

[00:18:36] what is going on. I could hear a couple footsteps and then a yell of surprise. Oh, shit! The man cried out. There's a rat in the bathroom. Over there, do you see it? There was a moment's pause before the woman let out a little yelp. Oh, you're right! Yuck! That's a fairly big one, too! She said. What do we do?

[00:19:06] The man asked. Do I try to kill it or do I shoo it away? That's when the loud commotion began. I heard a loud cracking sound and a loud high-pitched scream. There was the sound of glass shattering, thudding as objects hit the floor, and the loudest of all, the squeaking sound of multiple rats.

[00:19:38] Over the rodents' screeching, I could hear the yelling and swearing of the two people as they desperately tried to get away from what was happening. Get it off me! Get it off! Get it off! I heard the man yell. Then I heard him let out a scream that was cut short by a choking sound. A loud, cracking sound of something breaking followed, before the only thing I could hear was a soft squelching

[00:20:08] and gurgling. The woman's screaming carried on, although harder now to hear, more suppressed than it was before. The soft squishing and slurping sound continued on until I had heard enough and pressed pause. I sat back in my seat, both in shock and confusion.

[00:20:38] I wasn't entirely sure what I had just listened to, but I knew that I just heard a man die. I stared at the screen for a while, contemplating what I should do about it. Should I give the recording to the police? I quickly glanced out the window and saw the police car still parked out the front of the building. They were still here, so it would be

[00:21:08] as simple as just finding them and playing what I had recorded. But that would mean revealing that I had placed a microphone on a rat and had been secretly recording other residents in their apartments, which didn't feel entirely legal. As I was weighing up the options to tell the police or not to, I caught a glimpse of something. In the corner

[00:21:37] of my eye, I saw that the microphone was currently picking up audio. Hesitantly, I clicked on the option to listen into the live recording and braced myself for what I was about to hear. The live playback began, and I heard a man's voice speaking. Me? Exactly? What happened?

[00:22:07] Silence. We understand that you are still in shock, Mrs. Taylor. But if we can get a recount of tonight's events, then we can start to piece together exactly what happened to your husband. I quickly realized that the voice belonged to one of the police officers, and they were speaking to the now widow of the man who had been killed tonight.

[00:22:36] The rat was still in the apartment. Or, more likely, the microphone had fallen off of the rodent and was left behind in the apartment. Either way, it was giving me direct access to the police's interview of the only witness. I had a feeling of apprehension about whether I should be secretly listening in to this

[00:23:06] conversation, but any worried feelings of guilt were quickly overridden by sheer curiosity, curiosity, and I continued to pry with my secret bug. I just desperately hoped that curiosity wouldn't kill the rat. The police questioning continued. Mrs. Taylor, take as much time as you need, but everything you tell us

[00:23:36] will help us understand what happened here tonight. There was quiet for a while longer, except the soft sobs of the grieving woman. I heard her sniff a couple of times before she began to speak. There were noises in the pipes. She stammered as she was trying to hold back tears.

[00:24:08] He came into the bathroom to listen to them, but he saw a rat in the corner of the room, a big one. It had something on its back, and as he went to get rid of it, they came out of the pipes. What did Mrs. Taylor? What came out of the pipes? The rats, they came spilling out of the sink, they came up through the plug home in the bath, they came

[00:24:38] out from everywhere. Then they crawled onto him, covering him entirely. Then one of them crawled into, into, into his mouth? One of the policemen prompted. Mrs. Taylor let out a loud wail, but didn't verbally answer the question.

[00:25:08] I assumed that the policeman was correct, though. The lady continued to cry until she was asked another question. Where did the rats go? After the attack, how did they leave the apartment? The woman stifled her cries just long enough to answer. They went back the way they came in.

[00:25:37] They went back into the pipes. And do you know where the pipes lead in this building? Yes, she answered in a quiet whisper. They go down into the basement. Of course. The basement. It's where the pipes lead and it's where Gerald the maintenance man saw the large shadow.

[00:26:07] Of course, that's where the pack of rats lived. Down in the damp darkness. And of course, I had to know more about what was actually happening down there. I never heard of rats attacking humans in the way that had occurred. A rat forcing its way into a man's mouth and crawling down was something I had never heard of happening before.

[00:26:37] Something more was going on. When I listened into the microphone the following day, I could hear a few people talking and consoling the woman whose husband had been killed. This pretty much confirmed my suspicions that, in the wild frenzy of the rat attack, the microphone became dislodged from the vermin's back and was now sitting somewhere

[00:27:07] in the apartment of 206. So, I couldn't rely on it any longer to gain insight into what was going on. It was the next day when I had a plan on how I was going to approach the next stage of investigation. I caught a glimpse of an exterminator's van pulling up out the front of the apartment. Two middle-aged men hopped out, both wearing blue overalls and walked into the

[00:27:37] lobby. I watched on as they returned to the van a few minutes later and began to unload their equipment. That's when the idea struck me. I hurried down to the lobby and saw that both of them were still unloading the van and so I approached them and gave them a wave to grab their attention. I carefully explained about the rat and the microphone and how I heard what I had

[00:28:07] heard as a result of the two. Both of their little grins as I told them my bizarre story gave me an indication that they thought all of it was a little bit amusing and something they had never heard of before. I was worried that they would be creeped out by my behavior and would just report me to the authorities. But once I explained

[00:28:36] what my next plan was, I was pleasantly surprised when they agreed to go along with it. After another quick trip to an electronics store and another quick purchase, I was back at the building and found the exterminator team once again. Once they reaffirmed that they approved of my plan, I gave the small camera to one of the men who strapped it around his head.

[00:29:07] So, you are sure it's okay if I record what you're doing and watch it on real time? I asked the man. Yeah, I'm not fussed as long as you call for help if some of the little bastards try to get me. He said with a small smile on his lips. But his eyes showed that maybe he wasn't really joking. In fact, both of the exterminators did look frightened to go

[00:29:37] down into the basement, especially if they had been informed about the previous attack, which is probably why they had allowed me to film it. Just in case it did happen again and they did need someone to come to the rescue, I shook both of their slightly shaking hands and I wished them luck and told them that I

[00:30:11] the head cam live feed. The video was silent as no microphone was built into the camera but the image was crisp and clear. I immediately saw that both men were in the elevator presumably heading down to the basement. I saw the door open and the exterminator stepped out of the lift and into the short corridor that led to the basement door. The man with the camera on his

[00:30:41] head gave a thumbs up to the camera as they turned to open the basement door. The door was opened revealing a faintly lit stairwell that led down into the depths of the building. The men walked forwards and descended downwards into the dark unknown. Two lights suddenly illuminated my screen as their flashlights were turned on. They continued on

[00:31:11] into the dark damp cellar shadows dancing and flickering as they walked onwards. The camera abruptly panned to the right as if the man wearing it had been startled by a noise and turned to look only to reveal long pipes running across the wall. I noticed that his companion's flashlight also turned in this direction at the exact same time.

[00:31:41] The camera then adjusted back to face forwards. In the light the men's torches revealed a large mostly open space with pipes fuse boxes and water heaters laid out across the basement in an organized mess. I could only see what the torches illuminated. Everything else was in total blackness. Both torches then suddenly

[00:32:10] moved to somewhere off in the darkness and the camera followed. the couldn't see anything out of the noise. The camera then bobbed up and down a couple of times. He was pointing in the direction they had turned their lights and was clearly urging his colleague to go out to investigate the sound. The other

[00:32:40] exterminator stepped towards the noise taking small apprehensive steps and I think I saw just a few seconds before they did. As the torch beam crossed the basement floor I briefly saw something dark run across the screen. It moved with an erratic fluidity like hundreds of different entities moving separately but with one common purpose I

[00:33:11] think they both saw the dark mass heading towards them just a second after I did just a second too late once they did see the mass of hundreds of rats that was swarming towards them it was too late to run hundreds of rats ran up the legs of the exterminator that was in front and then up onto his torso it would look like a

[00:33:41] frenzied race towards his head hundreds of the little hairy creatures enveloped the man and he was quick to fall towards the floor where the rats just found it easier to cover his entire body I was thankful in that moment that the camera could not pick up sound because I imagine it would have

[00:34:11] picked up the sound of gnashing teeth sinking into flesh and then the sound of hundreds of small mouths chewing what they had bitten off the group of rats were fighting amongst each other to be the next one to get a bite

[00:34:57] Deaths all stopped fighting one another for another scrap of meat. I saw that they all stopped eating at the exact same moment, and in unison, they all turned to face the camera, all of their eyes glowing a bright white as they reflected the torchlight.

[00:35:21] They began to climb off the man they had already eaten, leaving behind mostly bones, with only small scraps of meat still attached to them, and started to move towards the other exterminator. This time, it seemed more organized, and not the chaotic swarm of rats that it had been before.

[00:35:47] Each rat seemed to move with a purpose, and knew exactly where they were headed. They slowly moved towards the other man, some standing in front of him while others started to move around him and circling him. The camera panned left, and then right, revealing that the rats had formed a perfect circle around the exterminator.

[00:36:13] I could see the camera begin shaking as the man trembled with fear. The glowing white eyes of the rats circled around the man, all staring up at him. Then they all moved at the same time, all moving as if they were all one, encroaching upon the exterminator.

[00:36:39] The camera looked downwards towards the man's leg, and I saw one of the rats crawling up his legs, coming closer to the camera. But it never made it as high as the camera on his head, because it crawled up his torso, and onto his face, and then began to force itself inside of his mouth.

[00:37:05] I watched in horror as the rat with a large scar across its back snapped open the man's jaw, and crawled within his mouth, disappearing inside of him. Its tail being the last thing I saw vanish into his mouth.

[00:37:30] Then, I saw the rats that were circling around him begin to climb up and onto the man, too. And quickly, my screen turned to black. As the camera was completely covered in the rodents, another feast had just begun. So, I saw the rat. Thank you.