‘I Might Have Rabies’: Utah Woman Grabs A Blanket From The Closet. What She Finds Inside Sends Her To The ER

It’s officially bat season, and that means more chances for close—and sometimes dangerous—encounters with the flying mammals.

This time of year, bats are more active, whether they’re looking for food or acting strangely due to rabies. Rabid bats are rare, but if you’re going to run into one, it’s probably going to happen this time of year.

So far, TikTok has been full of viral stories. One man said he got scratched while browsing mugs at a Home Goods. Another woman claims she found a baby bat in her toilet.

Now, a Utah woman has joined the list after unknowingly cuddling up with one for half an hour.

She Thought It Was Just Her Cozy Blanket

TikToker Sarah Hale (@sarahhhhale) posted a video that now has more than 1.9 million views.

In it, she smiles while walking toward the camera as the on-screen text reads, “Your chances of getting rabies using a blanket from a closet are low!”

The video then cuts to a shot of the tiny bat curled up in the folds of the blanket. The follow-up on-screen text reads, “But never zero.”

In the caption, Hale explained that the bat had been crawling all over her legs before she even noticed it.

She Tells The Whole Story In A Follow-up Video

In a follow-up, Hale says it all happened while she was hanging out at her in-laws’ house, watching her husband and his brother play video games.

They keep her favorite Minky Couture blanket in a closet just for her—and she always grabs it when she visits.

“I’m watching them play for, like, literally 30 minutes,” she says, “when suddenly I’m like, ‘Oh, I think I felt something moving just barely at my feet.’”

At first, she says she thought it was just a sock or maybe a spider, but when she peeked into the blanket with her phone flashlight, she saw the unmistakable shape of a bat.

“I’m like, ‘Guys, this is a literal bat,’” she recalls.

She Went To The ER—And Might Still Have Rabies

Once her husband and his brother stopped playing, she says the three of them managed to trap the bat in a plastic bag.

Hale says she asked ChatGPT whether she should go to the ER. At first, it misunderstood her and gave advice about tick bites.

But when she clarified it was a bat, the tone changed completely. “’Seek medical attention immediately,’” it reportedly told her.

When she got to the emergency room, she says a doctor explained her options. He told her she was in a grey area: She hadn’t been asleep, didn’t remember being bitten, and hadn’t felt anything—but rabies can still be spread through microscopic scratches or bites that go unnoticed.

If left untreated, rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms begin.

She also learned the rabies shot isn’t just a quick fix and is known to be pretty painful.

“He said it’s like ‘gelatin in your veins,’” she recalls. “If you have rabies right now, and we don’t know it, the thing that’s going to save your life is the worst shot ever.”

However, when she told the doctor she was still in possession of the bat, his tone shifted. “’That never happens,’” he reportedly said. “’You have the bat? That changes things.’”

They called Animal Control, who came to collect the bat that night for testing.

She Might Regret Her Decision

Hale left the ER without getting the shots. She’s now waiting to hear back from Animal Control, hoping the bat isn’t rabid. But one detail crushed her: She didn’t know the test would involve euthanizing the animal.

“If I had known that,” she says, “I might’ve just chosen to get the shots and secretly let him go free.”

Still, she believes the bat may have been brought inside by one of her in-laws’ cats. That, she says, makes the whole situation feel a little less random.

“I really believe it was the cat,” she added. “I don’t think the bat just made its way in.”

TikTok Commenters Were Horrified

In the comments, many users were spooked by how common bat encounters have become.

“TikTok has me believing this is a common occurrence and I’m now scared there’s a bat around every corner,” one person wrote.

Another said they’ve been seeing so many rabies-related videos that they’re now scared to walk outside at night or sleep with the window open. “Why isn’t there a vaccine for this? I want the ‘just in case’ shot.”

Others begged Hale to go back and get the rabies treatment. “Please go to emergency for shots,” one user said. “You wouldn’t feel their fangs and it can take up to six months to present and is 100% fatal.”

A few shared their own bat stories. “I found one in my bathrobe/bath towel (luckily I never touched it),” one person wrote. “After multiple cleanings my husband refers to it now as my bat-robe.”

BroBible has reached out to Hale for comment.