A bizarre creature roaming the streets of Seattle has left residents wondering whether they are looking at a mutant, a cryptid or something else entirely.
The small gray animal, with its oddly rounded body, unusually long legs and strangely shortened frame, was recently spotted wandering through Ballard, a neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, where a video of the mysterious visitor has spread rapidly online.
While some locals joked it looked like a creature from another world, wildlife experts believe the animal is actually a raccoon, named Jimothy, with an exceptionally rare condition that dramatically alters the shape of its body.
The creature was spotted Monday night by Kiana Hall, who was walking with her partner near the Ballard Goodwill when she noticed what she thought was a cat crouched beneath a parked car.
Hall watched in amazement as the strange-looking animal emerged from beneath the car, crossed a patch of grass, climbed a flight of stairs and disappeared over a fence.
Once she got a better look at its distinctive facial markings, she realized it was a raccoon, just one unlike any she had ever seen.
Experts believe Jimothy has short spine syndrome, an exceptionally rare congenital condition that prevents parts of the spine from developing normally.
Instead of hardening into bone, sections of the vertebrae remain as cartilage and fuse together, leaving the animal with a severely shortened back while its legs continue to grow to their normal length.
The small gray animal, with its oddly rounded body, unusually long legs and strangely shortened frame, was spotted wandering through Ballard, Seattle
She posted the video online, affectionately naming the animal Jimothy because she felt the quirky name suited its unusual personality.
Within days, the clip had racked up more than five million views, with thousands of commenters comparing the bizarre-looking creature to everything from mythical beasts to internet cryptids.
One person shared on Reddit: 'This is the most Seattle animal possible.'
The viral footage soon solved a local mystery, as a Ballard resident recognized Jimothy after spotting what appeared to be the same raccoon on a home security camera weeks earlier and shared the video on Reddit, adding another sighting to the growing collection.
One Reddit user posted: 'I've seen this dude in our Ballard backyard multiple times over the past year or so.
'He usually hangs out in our apple tree. When we first saw him, he was with a group of other raccoons (maybe his siblings?), but lately he's been solo.'
Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, told the Seattle Times that the animal was likely born earlier this year.
She added that Jimothy appeared healthy overall and was showing encouraging signs that he could survive in the wild.
Experts believe Jimothy has short spine syndrome, an exceptionally rare congenital condition that prevents parts of the spine from developing normally
One person who said they watched Jimothy grow up recalled that the unusual raccoon was born in a stand of cedar trees in a neighbor's backyard.
As a baby, they said, he looked like 'a raccoon-colored Koosh ball' and was so small and clumsy that his mother and two siblings often carried him to keep him from falling during their nightly trips through neighboring yards.
The resident said the family disappeared after the cedar trees were cut down, about eight months later.
They did not see Jimothy again until early last year, when he unexpectedly darted in front of their Uber, several blocks from where he was born.
'It made me and the neighborhood group chat so happy to see he was still kicking,' they wrote, adding that they were glad to see Jimothy 'getting his flowers.'