A Nearly Exhaustive Account of Rat Kings

Witness the enigmatic rat king!

A tangled mass of furry chaos, a rat king forms when rodents' tails become entwined, knotted, and fused into an impenetrable snarl. These bizarre phenomena have been documented since the 1500s, predominantly in Germany, yet their name, origin, and even their reality remain shrouded in uncertainty.

The term rat king has unclear origins. It might stem from a mistranslation of the French rouet de rats, meaning "wheel of rats" (the French term for rat king is roi-de-rats). However, this theory is improbable. A more plausible explanation ties it to the German Rattenkönig, a term historically used as a slur against the pope and to describe older rats. (It was thought that elder rats would rest on the tails of younger ones to build nests, and if their tails became tangled, the elder rat would survive by being fed by the younger, laboring rats. As the New York Tribune noted in 1857, a rat king, “like many rulers and officials, relied on the working class for sustenance.”)

The existence of rat kings is highly contested; although numerous preserved examples exist, they could be fabrications by fraudsters aiming to profit. (Our forebears were no strangers to such schemes: “In medieval Europe, unscrupulous traders attached bat wings to lizards and marketed them as ‘dragons,’” reports Quail Bell magazine.) Due to insufficient modern evidence, zoologists remain doubtful about rat kings—though they don’t entirely dismiss the idea that they could be rare natural anomalies.

Other rodents have also been found entangled in similar situations. In 1951, a "squirrel king" was discovered in a South Carolina zoo. In 2013, Canadian veterinarians rescued six more knotted squirrels. More recently, in Maine, four young squirrels were filmed with their tails intertwined like "a massive dreadlock," as described by the individual who found them.

Assuming rat kings are real, how do they form? Some theories are more outlandish than others: In the 17th and 18th centuries, naturalists proposed that their tails became entwined during birth, bound by afterbirth. Others theorized that stronger rats intentionally tangled the tails of weaker ones to construct nests. Both ideas are improbable.

The most credible theory is that black rats—known for their long, flexible tails and tendency to huddle closely in winter—might encounter a sticky or frozen substance like sebum (secreted from their skin), sap, food, feces, frozen urine, or blood. This adhesive could harden while the rats sleep. Upon waking and attempting to escape, their struggles might tighten the knot further.

This explanation holds weight: Most rat kings have been found during winter or chilly transitional seasons, typically in confined spaces.

Over the last 500 years, there have been between 30 and 60 documented rat king sightings. In 1973, biologist and author Maarten ‘t Hart compiled a comprehensive record of these occurrences. Drawing from Hart’s fascinating book Rats as our main reference, we present a chronological account of nearly every rat king sighting since the 1500s.

(Note: We omitted around a dozen sightings Hart deemed questionable, and we acknowledge that additional cases likely exist. However, after viewing the images below, you might agree that this is one timeline we hope never to expand.)

1576: Johannes Sambucus, a Hungarian historian, publishes the fourth edition of his widely-read Emblemata—a 16th-century illustrated book—titled Emblemata cum aliquot nummis antiqui operis. In it, Sambucus recounts how servants in Antwerp, Belgium, found seven rats with their tails intricately knotted. (The book also features tales of unicorns, so interpret this as you will.)

July 1683: In Strasbourg, France, a man named Würtzen finds six unusually large rats in his cellar, their tails so tightly knotted and fused that separating them would cause harm, according to a report from the time. The rodents are displayed at the town hall, and an engraved depiction of the tangled group is featured in the Mercure Galant.

1690: A prominent figure in Kiel, Germany, hears persistent squeaking beneath his floorboards. After pouring boiling water into a rat hole, four rats escape, but the noise persists. Removing the floor tiles reveals 14 rats with tangled tails, which are swiftly disposed of in an outhouse.

1694: In Krossen, Germany, 15 rats with fused tails are discovered at a mill. They are killed using boiling water and hung from an oak tree, becoming a spectacle for onlookers.

1705: A cluster of entangled rats is found in Keula, Germany. Preserved in alcohol, the specimen eventually vanishes without a trace.

July 1719: A tangled mass of nine rats surfaces in Roßla, Germany. (Naturalist Johann Heinrich Linck is said to have created engravings of this bizarre find.)

1722: Villagers in Dieskau, Germany, stumble upon 12 rats with knotted tails rummaging through a pea barrel. After being dispatched with boiling water, the rats are sent to Dresden’s Royal Natural History Collection. Sadly, this peculiar specimen is believed to have been destroyed in a fire in 1849.

1722: A squirming knot of rats (exact number unknown) is discovered in Leipzig, Germany. The tangled group is killed, preserved in alcohol, and displayed around the city. Later, it is mummified and kept in a private museum, only to vanish mysteriously.

1725: In Dorndorf, Germany, 11 rats of varying sizes—believed to be a mother and her offspring—are found with their tails entangled.

1727: In a remarkable year for rat kings, naturalist Johann Linck documents four sightings in Germany. However, Hart asserts that only one—a rat king from the picturesque town of Wernigerode, reportedly preserved by a local noble—holds any credibility.

1748: German zoologist Johann Goeze records the discovery of a revolting cluster of 18 rats in Gross-Baullhausen, Germany.

1748: A tangled mass of 10 well-fed male rats is found at a monastery in Bad Langensalza, Germany. Despite the monastery's sanctity, the rats are killed, preserved in alcohol, and, like many others, eventually disappear.

1759: A tinsmith in Arnstadt, Germany, is shocked to discover six entangled rats near the town market. This unusual find inspires five oil paintings, four of which are lost during World War II. (Hart notes that the sole surviving painting is displayed in Arnstadt’s Castle Museum.)

1772: Twelve rats with knotted tails are found in Erfurt, Germany. The specimen is later depicted in J. J. Bellerman’s 1820 book Ueber das Bisher Bezweifelte Dasein des Rattenkönigs, or On the Hitherto Doubted Existence of Rat Kings. (For the record, the book doesn’t achieve commercial success.)

December 1774: Christian Kaiser, a miller’s assistant, uncovers 16 tangled rats in Lindenau, Germany, and takes them to artist Johan Adam Fassauer, hoping for a painting. Instead, Fassauer starts charging the public to view the rats. When Kaiser learns of the profits, he demands the specimen back. (Hart states that “the story’s conclusion is unclear,” though some accounts suggest it sparked one of the oddest legal disputes ever.)

1793: A complex knot of 10 rats is discovered in a stable in Wundersleben, Germany.

1793: In Brunswick, Germany, seven rats with intertwined tails are unexpectedly found in a local outhouse.

1810: Brunswick experiences a double dose of rat kings! After enduring days of relentless squeaking, a wealthy resident rips up his floorboards to uncover a tangled mass of seven rats. “Their tails were so tightly and inseparably fused that pulling them apart was impossible,” Hart notes.

December 1822: A thresher in Döllstädt discovers two clusters of rats—one with 28 rodents, the other with 14—hidden in a barn’s main beam. “All 42 appeared extremely hungry, squeaking nonstop, yet they looked perfectly healthy,” zoologist Alfred Brehm observed. “They were all the same size and large enough to suggest they were born the previous spring.” The rats are displayed around town before being unceremoniously dumped on a manure pile.

May 1828: While spring cleaning, Miller Steinbruck of Thuringia, Germany, stumbles upon a charred knot of 32 rats in his chimney. This chilling rat king is now housed at the Mauritianum Museum in Altenburg, Germany.

May 1829: An artist takes a creative approach with a twisted group of eight rats found in Flein, Germany. “Unlike the typical circular arrangement, this rat king resembled a bouquet, with their tails forming the knotted stems,” Hart describes. The specimen is now preserved at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum.

1837: A group of twelve rats is discovered in Zaisenhausen, Germany, leading the finder to seek a pastor’s advice. The clergyman hands the specimen to a local museum director, but upon the director’s death, the rat king’s location is lost forever.

1841: Six rats with tangled tails are found in Bonn, Germany. Preserved for over a century at the University Zoological Institute, the specimen is tragically lost during World War II.

March 1844: A cluster of seven rats is discovered in the Bavarian town of Leutershuasen, Germany.

1870: In Keula, Germany, a rat king of unspecified size is found and preserved, only to vanish during World War II.

February 1880: A postman in Düsseldorf, Germany, hears strange squeaking from a wall and uncovers a tangled group of eight rats. The specimen is photographed and preserved, only to disappear during World War II.

1883: German zoologist Hermann Landois attempts to debunk rat kings by tying the tails of 10 dead brown rats together. Hart notes that the results were unconvincing: “Anyone who tries this (as I have) will find the knots too tidy to resemble natural rat kings.” However, Hart acknowledges the possibility of fraud: “Owning a rat king was lucrative, leading some to create fake ones. Kusthardt (1915) mentions that many counterfeit kings were displayed at fairs and similar events.”

April 1883: A merchant in Lüneburg, Germany, hears loud squeals beneath his toilet and discovers a tangled cluster of eight rats. Like many others, it is supposedly preserved but lost during World War II.

1889: A small rat king of five or six rats is discovered in Obermodern-Zutzendorf, Germany. News of the find reaches England, where The Newcastle Weekly Courant perpetuates the myth that, like royalty, the rats were fed by their fellow rodents: “The rats were in excellent condition—proof that their less fortunate brethren had taken great care of them.”

April 1894: A frozen cluster of 10 rats—many bearing bite marks and chewed limbs—is found beneath a haystack in Dellfeld, Germany. The specimen is on display at the Strasbourg Zoological Museum.

November 1899: A group of seven rats is discovered in Courtalain, France. The specimen is now housed at the Musee de Chateaudun, located a two-hour train journey from Paris.

May 1905: A group of seven young rats is reported in Hamburg, Germany, and is now preserved in the city’s Natural History Museum. (The following year, another group of seven is found in le Vernet, France.)

January 1907: A tangled cluster of 10 black rats is discovered in Rudersdorf and preserved.

October 1914: A young rat king is found alive in Moers, Germany. It is later preserved and eventually goes missing.

March 1918: The rat king makes an unusual appearance in Bogor, Java! This group of 10 rats is not only one of the few reported outside Central Europe but also the only case not involving black rats.

1930s: In New Zealand, a twisted cluster of eight rats falls from the ceiling of a shipping office. Clerks attack it with a pitchfork before donating it to the Otago Museum, where it remains today. (The museum discovered the tails were knotted with horsehair.)

October 1937: A farmer’s servant finds nine tangled rats in a starling’s nest in Büngern, Germany.

1940: In what is believed to be the Lictenplatte district of Offenbach, Germany, a group of five young rats is discovered wriggling in a pigsty.

June 1949: In Berlin, Germany, three separate rats are placed in a bucket on June 2. By the next morning, they are mysteriously knotted together. Otto Janack, a local rodent control official, untangles them, concluding it’s either a prank or one of nature’s bizarre anomalies.

1951: A group of four adult rats is found in Châlons-sur-Marne, France (now known as Châlons-en-Champagne).

1955: The Natural History Museum of Maastricht acquires a fascinating specimen: a rat king of seven rats discovered in Limburg, Netherlands.

1961: A Russian journal article on cavity-nesting birds mentions a rat king of unspecified size found in Lithuania.

February 1963: A farmer in Rucphen, Netherlands, hears a loud squeak and traces it to a stack of bean sticks in his barn. Spotting a rat, he kills it but struggles to pull it free—only to discover six more rats attached to it. After exterminating the group, the specimen is later X-rayed.

1966: A man named Wierts tries to create a rat king by gluing the tails of six live albino lab rats. As the rats struggle to escape, their tails knot together. Wierts anesthetizes them, removes the glue, and finds the knot remains intact.

1986: A roi-de-rats of nine rats is discovered in Vendée, France. It is now on display at the Natural History Museum in Nantes.

2005: In Saru, Estonia, a farmer finds a group of 16 rats—nine still alive—in a shed, their tails knotted together by frozen sand. The specimen is taken to the Natural History Museum at the University of Tartu and preserved in alcohol. (Reports suggest two other rat kings were found in Estonia during the 20th century, one involving 18 live rats [PDF]!)