Rats The Size Of An Adult’s Forearm Turn Apartments Into Halloween Horror Show: Weird News

Here’s a Halloween horror story for you.

“Big” rats, some the size of an adult’s forearm, are taking over a New Haven, Connecticut, apartment complex that bills itself to tenets as “the ideal community to call home.”

Six families who have been temporarily relocated would argue with that. They’re staying at a hotel while the complex owner and manager traps rats and plugs the holes they’ve gnawed.

Some residents have reported seeing rats 12 to 18 inches long.

“I killed a big rat with broom,” one woman told a WTNH-TV reporter. “I was so mad.”

The rat probably wasn’t very happy either. Neither is Mayor Justin Elicke.

“Having a rat infestation is totally unacceptable,” he told WTIC-TV.

• Read more: ‘Big’ Rats Take Over Apartment Complex

When You Gotta Go …

The owner of a company working on a vacant lot in Montclair, New Jersey, may well have exclaimed, “Well, crap!” after discovering a theft earlier this week.

Someone had swiped the rented porta-potty placed at the job site in July.

The cost to replace it is around $725, police said.

The motive for the crime remains a mystery, and police have little to go on.

• Read more: Thief Swipes Porta-Potty From Job Site

Ask the Time, Do The Time

A man suspected of stealing a Mini Cooper in California apparently forgot one of the cardinal rules of getting away with a crime: Don’t strike up a conversation with the cops looking for you.

Healdsburg police were keeping an eye on a stolen Mini Cooper parked near a Safeway shopping center Wednesday morning, waiting to see if the driver would return.

They didn't have to wait long. A man matching the driver’s description walked right up to an officer and asked for the time.

The officer obliged him with a conversation. The man then asked if police were looking for somebody. As a matter of fact, they were.

The man said he’d driven from Santa Rosa and parked down the street. Asked what kind of car he drove, he hesitated before answering — a Mini Cooper, he said.

And just like that, he had somewhere else to be.

Police arrested him on suspicion of motor vehicle theft and booked him into the Sonoma County jail. The Mini Cooper was returned to its owner.

Whether the man ever got the correct time is unclear.

• Read more: Suspected Stolen Car Found After Suspect Asks Police For The Time

Another Dump At ‘Trash House’

Los Angeles officials have cleaned up the city’s notorious “trash house” more than once, hauling away tons of garbage and warning the homeowner to clean up his act.

Apparently, the message got buried under another mountain of junk.

The infamous Fairfax District property is once again overflowing with garbage, including hundreds of trash-filled bags, uncovered buckets of standing water and what appears to be a vehicle disappearing beneath the debris.

The property has been a neighborhood headache for more than a decade. In April 2024, Mayor Karen Bass declared it a public health emergency, and city crews hauled away an estimated seven tons of waste. Another cleanup followed in September 2025.

Now the garbage is back, and the mayor’s office is furious.

County health officials are preparing another inspection for sanitation problems and possible vermin infestations. Meanwhile, a criminal case against homeowner Raymond Gaon remains ongoing, and the court is considering appointing a conservator to oversee the property.

For neighbors who have endured years of the mess, the question is no longer whether officials can clean up the property. They’ve proved they can. But can they make the cleanup stick?

• Read more: Mayor Slams Return Of Garbage At LA ‘Trash House’

The One That Didn’t Get Away



A California fisherman hooked a shark off the Malibu coast Sunday, but the shark apparently had other ideas about who was going to catch whom.

It bit him, not once, but twice.

The man was fishing from a kayak about a half-mile offshore near Paradise Cove when he hooked the shark and tried to release it. The shark bit him, knocking him out of the kayak, then bit him again, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

A nearby fishing boat came to the rescue and helped get the man safely to shore. He was taken to a hospital with bite wounds on his lower leg and above his knee. The extent of his injuries wasn't immediately known.

Lifeguards believe the shark was a shortfin mako, a species that typically stays in deeper water. The beach remained open, and officials said the encounter didn’t pose an increased threat to swimmers.

• Read more: Shark Bites Kayaker Twice During Fishing Trip

Bites Behind The Stats

Los Angeles County has enough trouble with rabid bats without raccoons getting into the act.

A raccoon found sick in a Westlake Village-area backyard tested positive for rabies, the county's first case involving a raccoon in more than 50 years. The last confirmed case was in 1973.

The raccoon wasn’t aggressive, but four people working nearby may have been exposed and are receiving preventive treatment. A vaccinated dog that may also have encountered the animal is under quarantine and doing well.

Meanwhile, county health officials are reporting a record year for rabid bats. At least 70 bats have tested positive so far this year, surpassing last year’s record of 69. Nearly seven in 10 were found in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Officials suspect the raccoon contracted rabies from a bat, but testing to determine the strain could take several weeks.

The developments come amid a broader national concern. The CDC issued a Sept. 10 health advisory after receiving 17 percent more rabies-related inquiries in July and August than during the same period last year.

• Read more: Rabid Raccoon Found In LA County For 1st Time In More Than 50 Years | Rabid Bats Hit Record High In LA County

Nightmare On Every Street

If all of America's creepiest street names were clustered in one neighborhood, a horror movie screenwriter could get an entire script out of the street signs alone.

Start on Bucket of Blood Street. Tiptoe along Haunted Lane, Old Ghost Road and Hellgate Drive before boldly venturing down Shades of Death Road and Devil’s Lane.

If you dare, test your luck at Big Bunny Bridge, where you may encounter a 6-foot ax-wielding rabbit, or the innocuous-sounding Velvet Road, where little creatures with heads the size of melons may try to kill and eat you.

Finish at Witchinghour Court, where everything is sprinkled with pixie dust and the worst that can happen is your carriage turns into a pumpkin. Although, come to think of it, getting stranded at midnight in a giant squash isn’t exactly a happy ending.

America has a trick-or-treat bucket full of streets with creepy names, and some come with seriously disturbing backstories.

• Read more: These U.S. Roads Come With Some Terrifying Baggage

A Prickly Proposal

The Phillips Park Zoo in Aurora, Illinois, wants to bring in a new resident, and this one is going to need a little personal space.

The zoo is raising money to adopt an African crested porcupine. These dudes are big, at around 60 pounds, compared to the more diminutive North American porcupines, which range from about 10 to 30 pounds, making them the second-largest rodent on the continent after the beaver.

African crested porcupines sport seriously wicked quills of up to 20 inches long, compared with the 2- to 4-inch quills of the North American cousins. That’s nearly two feet of very good reasons to keep your distance.

Most people rarely — if ever — see a porcupine in the wild, and if they do, the encounter can end badly. This is definitely not the kind of animal you want to pet.

• Read more: Zoo Looks Forward To A Really Big Porcupine With 20-Inch Quills

Hair-Raising Parking Error

A New Jersey hair salon suddenly had a big opening Thursday that had nothing to do with its appointment book.

A customer trying to park outside Tapestry Hair Salon in Ridgewood around 11 a.m. hit the gas instead of the brake and drove straight through the window, police said.

No one was hurt, and neighbors quickly came to the rescue, cleaning up the mess and boarding up the broken window. A nearby restaurant also pitched in.

By Friday, the salon was back in business, just a day after the crash.

Police issued no summonses, and the salon thanked its neighbors for helping turn a potentially disastrous hair appointment into a one-day inconvenience.

• Read more: Hair Salon Suddenly Has A Big Opening — And Not In The Appointment Book

Parting Shot

A bee makes the most of a fall flower in this remarkable close-up by John Mastalerz, one of several Illinois photographers whose work was featured in Illinois Patch’s weekly photo roundup. The collection also includes a backyard bunny, a monarch caterpillar, a butterfly, a sunrise and a peaceful garden scene. It's a reminder that some of nature's best moments happen right under our noses.

• See more: A Busy Bee, Bunny’s Close-Up And A Peaceful Waterfall: IL In Photos