New York Apartment Where It 'Rained Maggots' Horrifies Internet

The internet was left horrified this week after a man shared how maggots started raining from his ceiling.

John, who lives in Troy, New York, rents a two-bedroom apartment for $700 a month—and when unwanted visitors started appearing from the ceiling, he was appalled.

"The maggots were falling both from the ceiling and from a light fixture in my bedroom—onto my bed," John told Newsweek. "We only learned of this when maggots started falling onto me while I was asleep."

Looking further, John discovered that maggots had been spreading out in other directions, and he started to investigate.

Following where the maggots were falling from, John took apart the ceiling and found a dead rat. Online, he posted an update with a picture of the rodent and wrote: "Yesterday it rained maggots, now it rained rats.."

After making the discovery, John shared the story on Reddit where it received thousands of upvotes and comments.

"Oh My God," read one reply, while another Redditor wrote: "Time to burn down the house."

"Time to move?" posted another disgusted commenter.

Because he rents the apartment, John contacted his landlord for help. "Our landlord has been contacted but he has been rather uncommunicative about the issue and we haven't seen him as of yet," he said.

Landlords in New York state are legally required to keep rental premises livable under the doctrine of implied warranty of habitability. This guarantees the right to functioning plumbing and hot water, for example, and cannot be waived by either landlord or tenant.

Dangerous or hazardous conditions including insect or rodent infestation, insufficient facilities, or dangerous electrical outlets can all result in a breach.

Despite the existence of the doctrine, there is no official procedure when a landlord does violate the warranty, and this can often leave individuals stuck in unhabitable homes and unable to fix the situation.

"Just to let you picture how it is around here, the building next door is abandoned and boarded up, as well as overgrown with grass and litter," John told Reddit users in a later comment on his post.

"Nothing grosses me out more than maggots," wrote another commenter on the viral post. "It's the only thing that can trigger my gag reflex just by thinking about it."

Stuck without help from the landlord, the tenant has had to take matters into his own hands for the moment.

"We've personally paid for temporary ceiling-tile replacements and will be working on replacing them," John explained. "In the meantime, we've had to deal with repetitive laundry due to the maggots and deep cleaning through the room—especially the carpets."

"Those are horrible living conditions," read another reply on the viral post, while another Redditor wrote: "I now have a new worst fear."