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Screengrab via Click2Houston/Facebook

Dead rat in bottle of Dr Pepper is the saddest attempt at viral hoax

You've got to be kidding.

 

Miles Klee

Internet Culture

Posted on May 10, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 7:34 pm CDT

In an age where customer complaints go viral—especially when people fight a major corporation on behalf of their innocent kids—it’s worth being skeptical of the more outlandish claims.

But, what the heck, let’s try this on: A family in Houston says their 3-year-old boy was drinking a bottle of Dr Pepper that turned out to contain a dead rat. Get a load of this horrorshow:

[Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/KPRC2/posts/1309991972364186 embed.]

Is such a thing possible? Is there even a rat stupid enough to get sealed inside a bottle of soda? We’ll leave that question to the rat experts. Meanwhile, just take closer look.

Click2Houston

Nope, nothing about that says “shitty Halloween prop shoved into an old plastic bottle half-filled with flat cola.” No sir. So what if we know that soda can essentially melt bone within 24 hours? Of course this rodent would have remained intact for however long it sat on the shelf of a gas station food mart. Don’t doubt it for a second. 

Click2Houston

Anyway, the folks at the Dr Pepper-Snapple company offered to have the rat tested at a third-party forensic lab, but the family has refused, wanting to have it tested themselves. We can only hope that by helping their hoax go viral, it’ll be exposed all the sooner. 

H/T Click2Houston

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*First Published: May 10, 2016, 2:17 pm CDT