The Rats of Tompkins Square Park Have a Movie Trailer Now

It is human nature to be both disgusted and, somehow, deeply intrigued by rats. Maybe it's just August, but this love-hate relationship is again at the forefront of NYC consciousness, as our ratty frenemies seem to be overrunning Tompkins Square Park even more than usual of late. Not content with B- or C-grade celebrity status, the rats now have an M. Night Shyamalan-esque movie trailer.

The twist? This could be a clue: Just last week a tipster informed us, "I trust your readers will find entertaining the nightly spectacle of rats swarming every evening in Tompkins Square Park. Some metaphorical and visual values can be extracted from this impressive natural phenomenon. Residents in the neighborhood expect plague to follow."

Isn't that the plot of The Happening? We got in touch with the videographer to find out what this all means. In the meantime, send us your rat stories. We love a good rat story.

[via EVLocal]

[JDoll / @thisisjendoll]

Go to Runnin' Scared for all our latest news coverage.


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3 comments
Steve B
Steve B

I heard Steve M and Jeff R are too scared to walk through the park after seeing approximate 15 rpm (rats per minute) on the way to Doc Hollidays last Saturday

guest
guest

I wonder if the rats' holes have gotten flooded with all the rain we've had since Saturday.

mirele
mirele

OH. At first I thought this was going to be about those flying rats that infest public places everywhere across the USA, but then I realized it was about the rodent.

The only rat stories I know about are from Austin, Texas in the 1980s, when I worked in a college bookstore that had a rat infestation in the basement. So poison was duly laid out and in due course, a couple of rats died...in the basement wall. Nothing like having to sledgehammer a wall to get at a stinky rat corpse. After the second rat, the sticky glue boards were deployed  and they worked great, until it came time to actually dispose of the live rat trapped on the board. That was not such a good thing.

Finally, there was the incident where one of the clerks put a large black gummy rat in the $20s slot of the register of a manager (a big, macho dude we often compared to Sam on "Cheers") who was doing textbook buyback. (It was not me, but I was in awe of the chutzpah.) The manager did a buyback, rang up the amount, opened the register drawer, then jumped back in absolute terror. He made another\ clerk give out the money and then had the clerk who'd dropped this candy rat remove it from his drawer. For all of his macho man attitude, Joe was terrified of rats. Apparently growing up in Chicago had something to do with it.

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