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There’s one name on every Seattleite’s lips this summer: Jimothy. The round raccoon—which some have likened to a cryptid—has taken the Emerald City by storm, turning videos filmed in a northwest Seattle neighborhood into the stuff of legends. But Jimothy has captured not only the city’s hearts, but the rest of the world, too.
If you’re unfamiliar with the tale of Jimothy, here’s a quick recap to get you up to speed. On July 13, 2026, a woman named Kiana Hall saw a creature moving quickly from under a car. “I got very confused at what I was seeing,” Hall told The Seattle Times. “I just have never seen any other animal like it.” She took out her phone and filmed the creature as it scurried away.
It was only a five-second video clip of an unusually round creature that was definitely not a cat and most likely a raccoon, given its facial markings. Hall guessed it had short spine syndrome, which is a rare congenital disorder. She posted the video online, proclaiming him as Jimothy, and the rest was internet history.
Since Hall’s viral video, other residents in the Ballard neighborhood—where Jimothy lives—shared footage of the creature. Some noticed him on their security cameras, and others revealed Jimothy as a tiny, adorable baby.
Now an adult, his shortened spine, the cause of his ball-like appearance, has a positive prognosis, according to Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “The fact that he’s made it to this age tells me that he’s managing and that he’s adapting,” she says. “I was surprised and honestly a little bit inspired that he’s that resilient.”
Adaptable, odd-looking, and extremely cute (if not a little disheveled), Jimothy is a bona fide sensation. Artists far and wide have created tributes to him, often showing a round, smiling creature that’s as cuddly as he is unique. Locally, the artist known as Henry, whose iconic murals grace everything from brick buildings to buses to garage doors, painted a portrait of Jimothy and donated 100% of the money made from the artwork to the Ballard Food Bank, a place that helped him during some of his hardest times.
Scroll down to see more of Jimothy an the fan art he has inspired. If you’re in Seattle and want to celebrate him with others, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck is making an official proclamation to commemorate “Jimothy Summer” on Sunday, July 26, 2026.
Meet Jimothy, an adorably round raccoon traipsing around northwest Seattle.
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The unusually ball-like creature has a shortened spine, which gives him his unique appearance and a legendary status in the Emerald City—and now the rest of the world!
Jimothy just wants to play
by
u/degaussianfunction in
Seattle
He was introduced to the internet by a woman named Kiana Hall, but since then, other Seattle residents have shared their videos of him…
…including a video of him as a baby.
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Jimothy has gone viral and already inspired fan art, from illustrations to murals to tattoos.
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Sources: Jimothy origin story revealed in baby videos of a ‘raccoon-colored koosh ball’; Viral raccoon ‘Jimothy’ inspires mural, tattoos and Seattle proclamation
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