I had a job with a company whose name I’d rather not say. I’m not sure how litigious they are, and with everything going on, the last thing I need is a lawsuit. I’m getting ahead of myself though.
The job itself was, in theory, pretty simple. It was a work from home position, part time, where I’d be tasked with rating random YouTube videos. They’d be rated on how informative they were, what they were attempting to do, if they were spreading hate speech, if they were encouraging dangerous acts, that sort of thing.
For the most part, the job wasn’t that hard. A lot of the hate speech videos were pretty easy to spot; bigots aren’t shy about their views. Most of the other videos were pretty normal: vlogs, review channels, unboxing videos, that sort of thing. Occasionally there’d be some weirder stuff. I vividly remember seeing a video for something called “cow transformation ASMR” one time. However, on the whole, videos would be split between normal YouTube stuff and people calling for the death of various minorities.
A thing to note about this job was that it was first come, first serve. Sometimes there’d be videos for me to rate; sometimes other people will have already done that. I found the best time to do this job was at weird hours, when most people were asleep. Because of that, I’d be watching and rating random YouTube videos at 2 in the morning.
That was just what I was doing a few weeks ago. I’d just finished watching and rating a video of a guy rambling about how masks were a sign of the new world order or something. I was getting tired, and figured I’d do one more video and get to bed. I submitted my rating and went on to the next video.
The first thing I noticed about the video, called “bye_rat_1,” was that it was in pretty low quality. It was recorded at night, clearly handheld and very shaky. The first thing shown in the video is the person recording it, a guy in a black ski mask.
“Hey hey hey,” he said in a high pitched voice. “Today I’m going to show you all what you should do to the fucking rats who run this fucking planet into the fucking ground!”
He turned the camera around, which showed he was by some sort of strip mall. It seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it. He walked around until he found a rat. He stepped on the rat’s tail as it attempted to run, keeping it in place. He put down the camera, making sure to angle it so that it could see the rat, and bent down. It’s then I noticed he was holding a knife.
What happened next was horrific. I don’t want to go too much into it. All I will say is that two things from that video will always stick with me: the horrific pained noises the rat made and the man’s gleeful laughter at what he was doing. After the man was done, he picked up the camera and pointed it back at himself.
“And this is what these fucking rats deserve. They better watch out, ‘cause I’m coming for them.”
With that, the video ended.
I’d been doing this job for a few months, and this was the first gore video I’d seen. The most graphic thing I’d seen up to then was a pimple popping video. Confused and horrified, I decided to take a look at the channel. It was called The_Rat_Catcher, and had an icon of a rat’s head. It had only started a few days prior, with its only video being the aforementioned “bye_rat_1.” There was no channel description, no contact, nothing.
A part of me wanted to think that this was some sort of ARG or art project or something. I’d stumbled upon a few of those both on my own and through this job. People liked making fake spooky videos. This, though, this didn’t feel fake.
I rated the video negatively, and went to bed.
I woke up the next day, and in the light of morning tried explaining that video away. It had to be fake, I told myself. I was tired when I saw it, it was around 3 in the morning, and it probably just seemed more real and scary because of when I saw it. It was probably just some ARG or creepypasta thing.
That’s what I told myself, anyway.
I tried focusing on my other job, a part time position at a grocery store. The job normally sucked, but while doing it I was able to stop thinking about the video. Whiny customers tend to demand all of your attention, after all. The day went by, and by the time I clocked out I had put the video out of my head. I went to get some food, but as I walked to my car and looked across the street, I noticed something: a strip mall. Not just any strip mall. The strip mall.
I tried dismissing it. A lot of strip malls look the same. It’s probably a coincidence. Besides, the video was taken at night. It’s not like I could see it clearly, right?
I kept telling myself that, even as I walked over to the strip mall. I followed The_Rat_Catcher’s path and saw…
Nothing.
I took a breath. Guess it was just my imagination. The video must’ve spooked me more than I realized. I started to walk back to my car when I noticed that I’d stepped in something. Stepping back and lifting up my shoe, I realized what I had stepped on: the mutilated corpse of a rat. I stood there for a minute, staring in shock and horror.
Oh my god, it was real.
It was real, and I had no idea what to do. Who do I call? YouTube? The police? PETA? I was just too stunned to make a decision. Instead, I drove home and tried to distract myself. TV didn’t work. Neither did video games. A part of me knew I had to do something. I decided I’d call the cops. First, I needed to check that the YouTube channel was still up so I could provide some evidence for all of this. I found The_Rat_Catcher’s YouTube channel, and to my surprise there was another video: “hello_new_rat.”
I clicked on the video, and saw myself recorded from far away. I was looking around the alley, stepping on the rat, and going back to my car. After I left, the camera turned towards the man in the ski mask, who said, “I found a new rat.”
My eyes widened in horror at this. Ok, I definitely needed to call the police. I got my phone out and dialed 911. But, before I could press the call button on my phone, I heard a knock at my door.
I should note that I live in a small apartment with paper thin walls. As much as I wanted to call the cops, I was worried that if I did, whoever was knocking would know I was here. Instead, I stood still, barely even daring to breathe.
There was another knock at the door, harder this time. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.
“I know you’re in there, hiding like a rat.”
And with that, I decided, fuck it, I’m calling the cops. I pressed the call button on my phone, and explained what was going on. I spoke loudly, hoping that the threat of the police might scare away my stalker. Just in case, I made sure to get a knife.
I was told the police would be there soon, and to just hunker down and wait until they arrive. That half hour wait was the longest half hour of my life. I moved as far away from my door and windows as possible, and held my knife with a white-knuckle grip. The seconds ticked by, painfully slow, and then…
A knock at my door.
“It’s the police. Are you ok in there?”
Cautiously, I walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. Standing in front of my door were, in fact, cops. I let them in, and explained everything. The YouTube channel, the dead rat, the weirdo at the door. The cops said that when they got here, they didn’t see anyone by the door. However, they did find something left behind: a dead rat, with a note that said “see_you_soon.”
After that, I ended up staying with some family while the situation was being investigated. I quit my video rating job because after everything that happened, the thought of doing it scared me. I didn’t want to stumble upon anything else this terrible. Thankfully, my family has been very understanding about what happened and have been trying to help me through it.
The_Rat_Catcher’s channel was deleted. I don’t know if YouTube did it or he did it himself, but I’m glad it’s gone. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t been caught yet. Even with my family reassuring me that I’m safe with them, I’m still worried about this guy. I know that won’t change until he’s behind bars.
If I’d written this a few days ago, then that’s where the story would’ve ended. However, something else happened. A couple of days ago, I lost a sock after doing some laundry. I didn’t think it was too big a deal, since this sort of thing happens all the time. I figured it’d turn up and quickly forgot about it.
Then, today, when I was walking out of the house, I noticed something in front of the door. It was, of all things, my sock. I picked it up, and noticed there was something stuffed inside it. I looked inside the sock, and dropped it in horror and disgust.
Stuffed inside the sock was a dead rat.