If you were to choose one cryptid to actually be real, you might choose the Yeti, Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. There’s no way you’d pick Rat King, but unfortunately, there’s physical evidence to suggest that Rat King is very much real.

The mythology behind the creature tells of a rat leader that sits atop a throne of entangled rats, representing the evil nature of a king ruling over a grotesque nest of suffering peasants. It’s a story from 16th century Germany, but the inspiration for the tale comes from a phenomenon in which rats' tails become knotted together either naturally through blood, food and faeces or by real oddballs who go around tying rats together to keep the story alive and make a quick buck from a weird picture.