A North Carolina house inspector who found an 8-foot live alligator in the attic of a 3-story house said nobody believed him at first
- A home inspector discovered an 8-foot-long alligator tucked away in the attic of a North Carolina home.
- The inspector said at first, he thought it was a "stuffed gator of some sort."
A code enforcement official discovered quite the surprise during a routine home inspection in Wilmington, North Carolina this week — an 8-foot-long alligator living in the third-story attic.
The inspector, Dean Brown, had gone to the house to review construction work that was being done on it, he told local outlet WECT.
Brown said while he was inspecting the attic, he noticed what he thought was "a fake, stuffed gator of some sort," according to WECT. He told WECT that at first, he didn't think anything of it, and continued his work — that is, until he looked back and noticed that the creature was "moving and breathing."
"He was kind of asleep, I guess," Brown told WECT. "But once I shined my flashlight on his head, his eyes started to open, and he gave me a wink and let me know 'I'm alive.'"
Brown snapped a few pictures of the alligator and called a coworker to inform him of the intruder.
"Nobody would believe me. I made phone calls. I told people around me, but nobody would believe me. One person did get around to go and look," Brown said, according to WECT. "When he realized I was not joking, he was able to communicate with the rest of the workers on site to leave."
Animal control officials were able to remove the alligator from the house, but no one is quite sure how it got there in the first place.
Brown told WECT that he thinks the alligator must have gotten in through a door that was mistakenly left open, because workers discovered mud throughout the house one morning, but didn't know where it came from. Brown said the alligator also must have climbed up three flights of stairs to make it to the attic, according to WECT.
"It was an experience that I'll never forget," Brown told WECT.