Only in Chicago—and apparently only on Roscoe Street, recently dubbed one of Time Out’s coolest streets in the world —could an animal-shaped dent in a slab of sidewalk inspire a civic meltdown of merch, memes and municipal pride.

On January 10, 2024, the so-called “rat hole” became a landmark overnight—beloved precisely because it absolutely shouldn’t be. The thing had been lurking there for 20 to 30 years , according to researchers, minding its own business, until Chicago comedian Winslow Dumaine posted a photo of his “pilgrimage” to it. That was all it took to send X (Twitter forever in my heart) users—and, bewilderingly, the rest of the world—into a tizzy. But rodent experts say our concrete celebrity has been misunderstood from the start, and their explanation somehow makes the

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