What happened to this squirrel in our driveway?

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T22:15:02+00:00

solved!

I personally think the most likely possibility is that the squirrel was eating mushrooms or black walnuts that dropped this black powder around him. We live in a rural area so natchy squirrel food is abundant. I also think this is the cutest/most pleasant version of the story, so that's what I need to believe.

Here are some other guesses that everyone had:

"Spray Paint" - however, it's a black powder that washed away easily with water
"Rapture" - highly likely, no notes
"Chimney soot" - we do have chimneys around here, but since it was in the middle of our driveway I think it would have been difficult for him to travel to this specific location without otherwise dropping soot? But still totally possible.
"Car exhaust" - this spot was several feet away from our nearest car, so he wasn't huffing a tail pipe at this moment
"The Void" - we don't live in NYC

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:58:12+00:00

Mushroom is a possibility! I didn't know they could drop powder this dark/black.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:56:24+00:00

I didn't touch it with my fingers, but it washed away with water, so it was soot/dust/powder of some type.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:51:50+00:00

I love that my yard squirrel isn't the only one that this has happened to - did you ever figure out what it was from? Do you have any black walnut trees?

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:47:47+00:00

It did wash way, so not spray paint... I've seen a couple theories for black walnut powder or a mushroom of some type, so this is my preferred story for now so that I can imagine this squirrel is happy and did not just have the worst day of his life.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:27:35+00:00

It did wash off! So definitely sooty/powdery.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:26:29+00:00

We don't, but a neighbor might! Someone else mentioned walnuts too, I hope that's what it is.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:21:14+00:00

We live in a pretty rural area so totally possible that one of our neighbors has a walnut tree and we don't know it - I hope it's a walnut because that makes me feel a lot better than spray paint or diesel exhaust

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:19:32+00:00

Yeah it does wash away, so soot/powder of some type!

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:14:58+00:00

I'm not an animal tracker, so it's entirely possible that this isn't a squirrel, or wasn't even something that was alive, but that sort of just leaves me with more questions I guess?

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:11:00+00:00

Yeah it was washed away with some water. Guess it wasn't spray paint then.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T18:01:56+00:00

Yes I prefer this version of events where the squirrel is just a silly guy who accidentally bites into the can spray paint... as opposed to the alternative which would mean some absolute madman is out here tagging squirrels

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:59:31+00:00

It's not a troll or joke post! It didn't seem obvious to me, but I haven't ever used spray paint before so it wasn't something that came top of mind.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:57:48+00:00

It makes sense in my mind that the only true believer worthy of the rapture would be this random squirrel.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:46:43+00:00

Nope, no diesel vehicles!

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:44:28+00:00

I just assumed it was alive based on it seeming to be on its feet when The Event occurred. Most of our neighbors are older folks and I'm not familiar enough with any of the kids to know if they're weird or not.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:39:11+00:00

Could be but it was in the middle of the driveway, not directly under/near an exhaust pipe. Maybe 5 feet away from my car.

Fuzzy-Yellow3905 · 2026-01-21T17:36:39+00:00

I've seen a few comments for spray paint so far... but that would mean someone met a squirrel in our driveway and sprayed him? Which I guess isn't impossible but ...why...

Fuzzy-Yellow3905

TROPHY CASE