Late one night in Pueblo, Colorado, a woman peered through her window and saw something that made her blood run cold. The shadowy figure on her steps wasn’t a stray cat or a raccoon. It was something else—something that’s left viewers across the country scratching their heads.

Janay Lynn, 30, managed to capture the creature on video, later posting it to Facebook to prove to skeptics that she wasn’t imagining things. In the clip, the animal is hunched over, eating cat food she’d left out for strays. Its long limbs, dark fur, and unnatural posture raised immediate concern.

“It made eye contact with me the whole time and was not afraid,” Lynn told the New York Post.

Photo: TikTok / kktv11news

Many theories have been put forth as to what the creature was.

What the Video Shows

The footage shows the animal slowly reaching out with its arms, seemingly scavenging. Its size, gait, and physical features defy easy categorization. Lynn described the animal as having a rat-like face, thin limbs, and chocolate-brown fur with pink patches around the eyes and mouth. “It’s got a rat-like face, its eyes are very small and far apart, and it has a long pointy nose,” she told New York Post.

She wasn't the only one perplexed. When the video aired on Colorado’s KKTV, anchors traded guesses on-air.

“It could be a chupacabra,” said reporter Grace Kraemer, referencing the mythical Latin American creature said to suck the blood of livestock, WLOX reports.

Some suspect the creature was a raccoon with mange.

Could It Be a Sick Animal?

More grounded theories began surfacing from wildlife officials and viewers alike. Many speculated that the creature might be a raccoon suffering from mange—a skin disease caused by mites that leads to hair loss and scabbing. According to Denver Gazette, experts believe this is the most likely explanation, although they can’t say for certain.

Mange, which often causes animals to appear gaunt, patchy, and sickly, can result in a disfigured appearance. If the animal in Lynn’s video is indeed a raccoon with advanced mange, that could explain the haunting look that’s captivated—and unsettled—so many.

Still, Lynn remains unconvinced.

“I get raccoons here every night. It’s definitely not a raccoon,” she told New York Post.

After the video went viral, some locals even came to investigate for themselves. One group found the animal rummaging in a trash can. When they shined a flashlight at it, Lynn said, “It started making a hissing-like noise. We got all scared and left.”

@kktv11news …what do you think this is? Our weekend team was sent this video from a viewer of some sort of “creature” in Pueblo. A bear? A raccoon? A “baby Colorado Sasquatch,” maybe??? We’ve reached out to CPW to see if they can identify the little guy, but what do YOU think this is? #colorado #coloradonews #coloradowildlife #pueblo #southerncolorado #whatsthatanimal #kktv11news ♬ original sound - KKTV 11 News Colorado

Online Reactions and Wild Speculation

As the clip made the rounds on social media, the theories poured in. On Facebook, commenters floated suggestions ranging from an opossum to a wolverine. A few ventured further out, calling it a baby Sasquatch or even a skinwalker—an entity from Navajo folklore said to shapeshift into animals.

Some responses were more lighthearted.

“Maybe it’s a baby Colorado sasquatch,” meteorologist Josephine Saige joked on KKTV.

Still, for many viewers, the image of the creature—dark, slow-moving, and entirely too comfortable around humans—was less amusing and more chilling.

The Ongoing Mystery

Lynn’s experience has now been covered by outlets across the U.S., turning a late-night backyard sighting into a nationwide curiosity.

Until wildlife authorities can confirm its identity—or until it returns for another midnight snack—the mystery remains unsolved.