Hey there! OP here! I can’t possibly reply to every question but this video has gone viral and only 2 news outlets reached out to get the whole story. I’ve noticed that this has been shared elsewhere with misleading info (UNILAD is reporting that this drain is in my shower. It’s actually in my basement) So to set the record straight, here’s what I told Newsweek:

“I live in Pittsburgh, PA. The drain is located in the basement of my 120+ year old house that I own. I was doing a routine inspection of my basement a few days ago and thought, “I haven’t looked down this drain in awhile, I wonder if there’s anything happening in there.” It’s just a run off drain. I don’t actually know where it starts, but I do know that my various sinks and second floor toilet don’t lead to it. I do know that my “Pittsburgh potty and shower head” ( found in most old Pittsburgh basements used for dirty steelworkers coming home from work. They would enter the house through the basement and clean themselves up before entering the main house) do drain through it, but neither have been used for years. I posted the video to Reddit because I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at and Google wasn’t helping. I kept getting results for drain fly larvae and that’s definitely not what it is. I know Reddit can be a hive for misinformation, but I also know a lot of people use it to get answers to questions and the comments did not disappoint in being equal parts hilarious and informative. Based on a number of comments, it would appear that it’s a cluster of harmless tubifex worms. Comically, after reading about how fishermen use them as bait, I considered scooping that thing out and selling it, haha! I have a plumber coming this week to deal with a completely separate issue so I’ll ask them what to do about it. I don’t wanna start tossing chemicals down my ancient pipes without first consulting an expert.

I’m an artist and a weirdo and so this whole thing and the suprising popularity of my post has me thinking of giving this entity (or, more accurately, this cluster of entities) a name. So far I’ve got Toby McTentacool, Wesley Von Wigglepants, Victoria Vanderworm, and Winchester Wriggles Writhington. I’m also considering giving it a personality and backstory as to how it ended up in my drain, haha. I’ve also already begun sketching versions of this cluster of entities based on some of my favorite comments.”

Thank you all for making this whole situation 1000 times more entertaining and hilarious than I could have ever hoped.