November 4, 2025 • 8 mins
A man’s late-night drive turns into a nightmare when a blood-soaked, seven-foot rat follows him home from the forest.
Driving home at 3:30 a.m. on a silent suburban road should have been routine for one exhausted man. But when something crawled out of the woods and into his headlights, his world veered straight into nightmare. What he saw wasn’t human—and it wasn’t any animal he could recognize. Standing seven feet tall, covered in blood and gray fur, the creature had the body of a rat and the eyes of something much worse.
Frozen behind the wheel of his mother’s BMW, he stared at the snarling thing as it pressed its face to his cracked window, breathing decay and death into the car. Then, everything went black. When he woke thirty minutes later, the road was empty—but home wasn’t safe anymore. The front door was smashed open, the windows shattered, and a wet, sickening sound echoed from down the hall.
That’s when he found it again—the giant rat, crouched over his cat, tearing it apart piece by piece. The police called it a break-in. He knows better. Something followed him home that night.
This is The Rat, a terrifying first-person horror story about what lurks just beyond your headlights—and what might crawl out of the dark when you least expect it.
Thank you for enjoying my podcast! Take a listen to the other podcast at Candlelight Storyworks
Midnight Scares - Fall Asleep to Spooky Storiesl
Candlight Classics - Classic Short Stories to Help You Sleep
Candlelight Romance - Fall Asleep While Falling In Love
True Crime by Candlelight - Drift Off to Dark Mysteries
Find them all on your favorite podcast right here:
https://linktr.ee/candlelightstoryworks
If you are tired of commercials, you can always follow me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/candlelightstoryworks
I am also writing a few horror and gothic romance books. If you're intrested, please follow me on my other Patreon at
http://www.patreon.com/sarahmarshalking
**While this is my voice, sometimes I use an AI cloned version of my voice because it helps with my dyslexia.
Driving home at 3:30 a.m. on a silent suburban road should have been routine for one exhausted man. But when something crawled out of the woods and into his headlights, his world veered straight into nightmare. What he saw wasn’t human—and it wasn’t any animal he could recognize. Standing seven feet tall, covered in blood and gray fur, the creature had the body of a rat and the eyes of something much worse.
Frozen behind the wheel of his mother’s BMW, he stared at the snarling thing as it pressed its face to his cracked window, breathing decay and death into the car. Then, everything went black. When he woke thirty minutes later, the road was empty—but home wasn’t safe anymore. The front door was smashed open, the windows shattered, and a wet, sickening sound echoed from down the hall.
That’s when he found it again—the giant rat, crouched over his cat, tearing it apart piece by piece. The police called it a break-in. He knows better. Something followed him home that night.
This is The Rat, a terrifying first-person horror story about what lurks just beyond your headlights—and what might crawl out of the dark when you least expect it.
Thank you for enjoying my podcast! Take a listen to the other podcast at Candlelight Storyworks
Midnight Scares - Fall Asleep to Spooky Storiesl
Candlight Classics - Classic Short Stories to Help You Sleep
Candlelight Romance - Fall Asleep While Falling In Love
True Crime by Candlelight - Drift Off to Dark Mysteries
Find them all on your favorite podcast right here:
https://linktr.ee/candlelightstoryworks
If you are tired of commercials, you can always follow me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/candlelightstoryworks
I am also writing a few horror and gothic romance books. If you're intrested, please follow me on my other Patreon at
http://www.patreon.com/sarahmarshalking
**While this is my voice, sometimes I use an AI cloned version of my voice because it helps with my dyslexia.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The rat By Sword of Lands. A few nights ago,
I was driving home from my girlfriend's house. I usually
sleep there and leave pretty early in the morning, at
like six or seven a m. That night, though, I
wasn't really in the mood to sleep. My girlfriend tried
to convince me to stay over a little longer, but
(00:21):
I wasn't really having it. It was three thirty in
the morning when I left. Her house wasn't far from
mine at all, only about five minutes give or take.
At this hour. Of course, there was not a single
soul in sight on the roads, just me and my
mom's old BMW. I'd made the trip probably hundreds of
(00:41):
times over the last couple years. The darkness, lack of people,
and quietness didn't really scare me anymore. For some reason, though,
I felt oddly on edge as I drove home. I
do have anxiety, of course, my mind just has to
exaggerate every single thing that could possibly go wrong. I
(01:02):
could hit a pothole and pop my tires. I could
get mugged, I could get pulled over. I could crash
my car into a tree. I could hit someone with
my car. I was cruising down this familiar road I've
been down a million times. My head lights were the
sources of light beside some street lamps every now and then.
(01:24):
Only about a minute from my house, I was looking
forward to flopping into bed and waiting for slumber to
grasp me. Just as I was thinking about that, to
my right, I saw something weird come out of the
forest and head towards my car. This forced me to
swerve and hit the brakes. I lurched forward. I didn't
(01:44):
hear a bump, so at least I didn't hit whatever
it was. Initially I thought it was an animal of
some sort. I tried to calm down, though, when you
have anxiety and your fears suddenly become realized, it's a
bit hard to relax your nerves after that. After about
a minute passed, I thought I was ready to go.
I expected to at least see the animal keep running
(02:07):
to the other side weird, but whatever animals are pretty skittish.
It most likely just ran away once it saw me
barreling towards them. Right in front of my car, I
saw something. It was on all fours staring at me
with huge and expanded eyes. There were also two large ears,
(02:29):
a long snout and dark gray patchy fur all over
its body. Looking a little closer, I could see its
extremely sharp claws and something swaying back and forth behind it.
There were some darker parts on it, but I couldn't
tell what exactly they were. It was probably ten to
eleven feet in front of me. I didn't know what
(02:52):
to do, so I just sat there with my eyes
staring at it. It opened its mouth to reveal razor
sharp teeth, a gross diluted tongue that seemed to cut
itself as it dragged across the teeth. What finally revealed
itself to be an off pink tail swooshed behind it.
I sat there, still as a statue as I slowly
(03:15):
processed what I was seeing. As it focused on me,
I could see its pupils getting smaller. There was no
way I couldn't see it. Its eyes were too big.
The thing slowly advanced towards the other lane. Now illuminated
in the light, it looked like some kind of giant rat,
(03:36):
A huge rat. Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds,
but please just listen to me. When I say giant,
I mean giant. The thing was like seven or eight
feet tall. I found out what the dark parts were blood.
It was covered in blood. I began to hyperventilate. I
(03:58):
had to get out of there. I didn't know what
the hell this thing was, but I didn't want to
stick around and find out. I made a little plan
with myself to just bolt when the thing was out
of the way. When I put my Mom's b m
W back into drive, the rat immediately turned my direction
and stared at me. I heard it make these sounds, squeaking,
(04:20):
grunts and hisses. The rat made its way over to
my side. My Mom's car can get kind of hot,
so I had the window down a bit. I kept
repeating what the hell in my mind over and over again.
As it approached my window, I had a clear view
of it. Now. The stench that breathed forth at me
(04:41):
was the worst thing I've ever smelled in my life.
I've smelled some pretty damn horrid things, but this was
on a whole other level. I don't know how to
describe it, but it's like a combination of road kill,
a dirty dumpster body odor, and just general shit. It
was making me want to throw up. As it was
(05:03):
practically nose to nose with me, I blacked out. I
remember opening my eyes and it was gone. I was
just sitting there alone. What happened? Where'd it go? I
know I didn't imagine it. The mind can conjure up
some pretty crazy shit, but not that. Why'd I black out?
(05:23):
Maybe my mind just shut down completely trying to rid
itself of such a horrible sight. Hyperventilating, sweat clinging to
my clothes, and tears beginning to stream down my face.
I checked the time on my phone. Four a m.
I'd blacked out for thirty minutes. I didn't know what
the heck that thing was, but I couldn't take it
(05:44):
any more. I just wanted to go home and sleep
for as long as I possibly could. But it wouldn't
be that easy, would it. When I pulled into my
driveway and looked at my house, my heart skipped a
couple beats. The front door was broken open and some
of the windows were smashed. I got out of the
car and ran inside. My house was a total wreck.
(06:08):
Everything was broken, smashed. What have you? Obviously, my first
thought was that my house was broken. Into hyperventilating again,
I dialed nine one one, but that's when I heard
something coming from down the hall. It sounded like someone
ripping and tearing pieces of meat off from the bone
(06:28):
and sloppily eating it. There were a few muffled squeaks.
With my phone to my ear, I slowly made my
way towards the sounds. That's when I saw it. Tall body, gray,
bloody fur, needlelike claws, ripping pieces off my cat and
eating her. I heard the nine one one operator on
(06:52):
the other end, but I didn't respond. Slowly, my phone
slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor.
A rat looked up at me as it finished the
last of its meal. I couldn't move. I was too scared.
We stared at each other for several moments. When it
led out this terrifying cacophony of squeaks, grunts, and hisses.
(07:14):
I turned and ran out of my house. Weirdly enough,
the rat didn't follow. Running as fast as I could
down the road, I saw the red and blue lights
of a police car, I stopped them and told them
what happened. The two officers looked at me like I
was crazy, but they were at least nice enough to
escort me back. When we got to my house, the
(07:37):
rat was gone. I didn't have any evidence of what
I saw, and the police took it as some sick
o burglarizing my house and killing my cat. I'm still
going over everything with them. Now that I think about it,
I don't necessarily blame them for not believing me about
the rat. Still, I didn't like their subtle smirks they
(07:59):
tried to wipe off their faces when I said, a
giant rat ate my cat. It's still out there. If
anyone has any information about the rat, please contact me.
I need help.
The rat By Sword of Lands. A few nights ago,
I was driving home from my girlfriend's house. I usually
sleep there and leave pretty early in the morning, at
like six or seven a m. That night, though, I
wasn't really in the mood to sleep. My girlfriend tried
to convince me to stay over a little longer, but
(00:21):
I wasn't really having it. It was three thirty in
the morning when I left. Her house wasn't far from
mine at all, only about five minutes give or take.
At this hour. Of course, there was not a single
soul in sight on the roads, just me and my
mom's old BMW. I'd made the trip probably hundreds of
(00:41):
times over the last couple years. The darkness, lack of people,
and quietness didn't really scare me anymore. For some reason, though,
I felt oddly on edge as I drove home. I
do have anxiety, of course, my mind just has to
exaggerate every single thing that could possibly go wrong. I
(01:02):
could hit a pothole and pop my tires. I could
get mugged, I could get pulled over. I could crash
my car into a tree. I could hit someone with
my car. I was cruising down this familiar road I've
been down a million times. My head lights were the
sources of light beside some street lamps every now and then.
(01:24):
Only about a minute from my house, I was looking
forward to flopping into bed and waiting for slumber to
grasp me. Just as I was thinking about that, to
my right, I saw something weird come out of the
forest and head towards my car. This forced me to
swerve and hit the brakes. I lurched forward. I didn't
(01:44):
hear a bump, so at least I didn't hit whatever
it was. Initially I thought it was an animal of
some sort. I tried to calm down, though, when you
have anxiety and your fears suddenly become realized, it's a
bit hard to relax your nerves after that. After about
a minute passed, I thought I was ready to go.
I expected to at least see the animal keep running
(02:07):
to the other side weird, but whatever animals are pretty skittish.
It most likely just ran away once it saw me
barreling towards them. Right in front of my car, I
saw something. It was on all fours staring at me
with huge and expanded eyes. There were also two large ears,
(02:29):
a long snout and dark gray patchy fur all over
its body. Looking a little closer, I could see its
extremely sharp claws and something swaying back and forth behind it.
There were some darker parts on it, but I couldn't
tell what exactly they were. It was probably ten to
eleven feet in front of me. I didn't know what
(02:52):
to do, so I just sat there with my eyes
staring at it. It opened its mouth to reveal razor
sharp teeth, a gross diluted tongue that seemed to cut
itself as it dragged across the teeth. What finally revealed
itself to be an off pink tail swooshed behind it.
I sat there, still as a statue as I slowly
(03:15):
processed what I was seeing. As it focused on me,
I could see its pupils getting smaller. There was no
way I couldn't see it. Its eyes were too big.
The thing slowly advanced towards the other lane. Now illuminated
in the light, it looked like some kind of giant rat,
(03:36):
A huge rat. Yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds,
but please just listen to me. When I say giant,
I mean giant. The thing was like seven or eight
feet tall. I found out what the dark parts were blood.
It was covered in blood. I began to hyperventilate. I
(03:58):
had to get out of there. I didn't know what
the hell this thing was, but I didn't want to
stick around and find out. I made a little plan
with myself to just bolt when the thing was out
of the way. When I put my Mom's b m
W back into drive, the rat immediately turned my direction
and stared at me. I heard it make these sounds, squeaking,
(04:20):
grunts and hisses. The rat made its way over to
my side. My Mom's car can get kind of hot,
so I had the window down a bit. I kept
repeating what the hell in my mind over and over again.
As it approached my window, I had a clear view
of it. Now. The stench that breathed forth at me
(04:41):
was the worst thing I've ever smelled in my life.
I've smelled some pretty damn horrid things, but this was
on a whole other level. I don't know how to
describe it, but it's like a combination of road kill,
a dirty dumpster body odor, and just general shit. It
was making me want to throw up. As it was
(05:03):
practically nose to nose with me, I blacked out. I
remember opening my eyes and it was gone. I was
just sitting there alone. What happened? Where'd it go? I
know I didn't imagine it. The mind can conjure up
some pretty crazy shit, but not that. Why'd I black out?
(05:23):
Maybe my mind just shut down completely trying to rid
itself of such a horrible sight. Hyperventilating, sweat clinging to
my clothes, and tears beginning to stream down my face.
I checked the time on my phone. Four a m.
I'd blacked out for thirty minutes. I didn't know what
the heck that thing was, but I couldn't take it
(05:44):
any more. I just wanted to go home and sleep
for as long as I possibly could. But it wouldn't
be that easy, would it. When I pulled into my
driveway and looked at my house, my heart skipped a
couple beats. The front door was broken open and some
of the windows were smashed. I got out of the
car and ran inside. My house was a total wreck.
(06:08):
Everything was broken, smashed. What have you? Obviously, my first
thought was that my house was broken. Into hyperventilating again,
I dialed nine one one, but that's when I heard
something coming from down the hall. It sounded like someone
ripping and tearing pieces of meat off from the bone
(06:28):
and sloppily eating it. There were a few muffled squeaks.
With my phone to my ear, I slowly made my
way towards the sounds. That's when I saw it. Tall body, gray,
bloody fur, needlelike claws, ripping pieces off my cat and
eating her. I heard the nine one one operator on
(06:52):
the other end, but I didn't respond. Slowly, my phone
slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor.
A rat looked up at me as it finished the
last of its meal. I couldn't move. I was too scared.
We stared at each other for several moments. When it
led out this terrifying cacophony of squeaks, grunts, and hisses.
(07:14):
I turned and ran out of my house. Weirdly enough,
the rat didn't follow. Running as fast as I could
down the road, I saw the red and blue lights
of a police car, I stopped them and told them
what happened. The two officers looked at me like I
was crazy, but they were at least nice enough to
escort me back. When we got to my house, the
(07:37):
rat was gone. I didn't have any evidence of what
I saw, and the police took it as some sick
o burglarizing my house and killing my cat. I'm still
going over everything with them. Now that I think about it,
I don't necessarily blame them for not believing me about
the rat. Still, I didn't like their subtle smirks they
(07:59):
tried to wipe off their faces when I said, a
giant rat ate my cat. It's still out there. If
anyone has any information about the rat, please contact me.
I need help.
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