By Tim Binnall
A compliance officer conducting a home inspection in North Carolina got quite the surprise when he stumbled upon a monstrous eight-foot-long alligator that had somehow gotten into the attic of the residence. According to a local media report, Dean Brown made the unsettling discovery last week in the city of Wilmington as he was walking through the house to ensure that construction in the building was up to code. Upon first spotting the creature when he ventured into the darkened attic of the home, the compliance officer initially assumed that it "was a fake, stuffed gator of some sort." However, when he illuminated the 'toy' with his flashlight, the notion was quickly dispelled as "his eyes started to open, and he gave me a wink and let me know 'I'm alive.'"
The potentially perilous predicament was not lost on Brown as he smartly exited the attic after taking a few pictures of the alligator and alerting a colleague to the situation. Construction at the home was subsequently stopped and the building was evacuated until animal control could arrive to remove the eight-foot-long interloper. As for how the creature could have gotten inside the residence, Brown theorized that it entered through a door that had been left open prior to his visit. Amazingly, the compliance officer says that, based on when workers noticed an inexplicable amount of mud in the house, the alligator had likely been in the attic for around a day and a half before being discovered during the inspection.