About a week after going viral, the Chicago “rat hole” brought Chicagoans together once again, this time to restore it.
Reports that the longtime neighborhood fixture and landmark in the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street had been filled, perhaps with a plasterlike substance, circulated on social media Friday morning, followed by stories of those working to bring the creature’s imprint back to its original glory.
Residents of the building next to the rat hole — who asked not to be identified for fear of “ratribution” from those who filled the hole — worked Friday afternoon to scrub away at what was left after some dedicated fans had scraped out most of what had briefly filled the hole.
Since the viral post that started the rat hole obsession, residents of the building have become the unofficial “keepers” of “Lil Stucky” — the neighborhood name for the creature who once laid in the cement — sifting through any potentially dangerous tributes left and clearing the sidewalk of ice and snow.
The guardians of the hole weren’t sure who was behind the filling-in. They said they had shoveled snow about 9 a.m. Friday and didn’t notice the imprint had been filled in under a layer of ice. Another neighbor — whose Ring doorbell camera wasn’t recording overnight — said they had seen people taking pictures with it around 1 a.m.
Coins left in the hole were strewn about the sidewalk, though the shrine left to the side of the sidewalk seemed untouched. A clue might have been left behind by the culprits: a gray lid that could have been from the vessel holding the substance used to fill in the hole.
“Everyone has seemed really good-natured, but you always worry something bad could happen,” they said.
Jeff VanDam, an 11-year resident of the neighborhood, strolled a few houses down with a flathead screwdriver and hammer Friday afternoon to join in restoration efforts.
He said his 6- and 10-year-old daughters love the rat hole — though they know it’s a squirrel — and he “had to” set out to ensure it was preserved.
While most people have enjoyed the fuss over the landmark, he said he had heard some “annoyance” expressed by neighbors on the block, but that was mostly after someone installed a giant cross.
“I’ve heard mixed things,” VanDam said. “Overall, people just appreciate that our wonderful block is getting attention — even if it’s to look at a rat hole.”
The former New Yorker said the rat hole was a better representation of Chicago than other, more well-known landmarks, such as the Bean.
“I think Chicago isn’t the Bean, but is things like the rat hole,” VanDam said. “It’s a small, quirky feature of a neighborhood where we get used to it, we care about it, and we want to protect it. That’s what happened today.”
Three friends who came to leave a tribute to Lil Stucky — a bottle of Jeppson’s Malört — agreed.
Mo Flanagan, Olivia Grover and Perry Sadler met up to visit the landmark now that Chicago’s temperatures have become more tolerable after the deep freeze earlier this week.
Flanagan, who lives in the Avondale neighborhood, said it’s things like the rat hole that set Chicago apart from other big cities like New York, and likened it to the Cubs’ superstition around goats.
“Chicago’s a big city, but it has a lot of small-town gossip like this,” Flanagan said.
Sadler, a Wrigleyville resident, said he figured someone would interfere with the rat hole, and the trio discussed who it could be. Sadler put his bet on an angry neighbor.
Regardless of the culprit, the three agreed seeing people come together only “added to the lore” of the rat hole and showed unity among the city’s residents.
“I think it really speaks to the community aspect of this city,” said Grover, who lives in Ravenswood. “The Midwest is a caring place.”
“Chicago takes care of its own,” Flanagan said.
