Put yourself in the shoes of a North Carolina home inspector. Probably a pretty normal job right?
Checking for termite damage, making sure electrical wiring is up to code, structural issues… your regular inspection duties. That is, until you come face to face with an 8-foot alligator while inspecting a new home’s attic.
Dean Brown, the code enforcement official who discovered the alligator, said that he initially thought it was an inflatable toy or even a stuffed animal at first. Why would he suspect an alligator to be hanging around in a North Carolina attic?
Brown told WECT News about his initial thoughts when he encountered the gator:
“He didn’t really move at first. He was kind of asleep, I guess. 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'”
Are you still putting yourself in the shoes of a North Carolina home inspector? Now specifically Dean Brown? I can’t even imagine that horror-movie-like moment. It is is miracle that he didn’t have a heart attack right then and there.
As to how the alligator made its way up into the attic, the inspector suspected that maybe a door to the house was left open and the 8-foot gator simply made himself at home.
Apparently the builder of the house saw some mysterious mud on the floor, but thought nothing of it. Brown came for the inspection almost two days after that, meaning the alligator could’ve been in the house for close to 48 hours without anyone noticing.
Brown couldn’t believe his own eyes when he discovered the massive alligator, which makes sense as to why no else believed him either:
“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.
When he realized I was not joking, he was able to communicate with the rest of the workers on site to leave.”
Alligator in the Attic… what sounds like a potential children’s book that teaches kids their ABC’s is instead an actual thing that poor Dean Brown had to go through.
The alligator was eventually removed by animal control, and Brown says the experience will forever change the way he inspects houses.
While you are doing spring cleaning this year, probably wouldn’t hurt to check your attic for gators too.
