Meet Grimothy: The Giant Evil Raccoon Taking Over Suburban Halloween

Most suburban Halloween setups follow a predictable script: a few stretchable cotton cobwebs, a jack-o'-lantern on the porch, and maybe a solar-powered plastic skeleton if someone is feeling particularly extravagant. But when you are Matthew Inman—the artist and creator behind the wildly popular webcomic The Oatmeal—standard spooky decor simply will not do.

Instead, Inman decided to bestow upon his brother's front yard on Bainbridge Island a terrifying, magnificent masterpiece of suburban folklore: a towering, villainous giant named Grimothy.

The Legend of Jimothy

To understand Grimothy, you first have to understand Jimothy. Back in July, the internet fell in love with a viral Seattle raccoon known as Jimothy, a wild creature famous across social media for having an unusually short, delightfully round body. Captured by the hilarity of it all, Inman drew a mock police sketch of Jimothy that quickly became a fan favorite.

Most people would have left it as a cute digital sketch and moved on with their summer. Inman, however, let the concept simmer until autumn arrived.

Enter Grimothy, the Jim Reaper

When October rolled around, Inman took the concept of the stubby Seattle trash panda and leveled it up into a full-scale monster installation. Standing high in his brother's Bainbridge Island yard, Grimothy is designed as the massive, villainous counterpart to Jimothy.

The finished structure is pure seasonal art: a giant beast complete with piercing glowing eyes, a row of menacing teeth, eerie lit lanterns, and scattered skulls. Inman affectionately referred to the gargantuan creation as the "Jim Reaper" and the "Dark Lord and Father of Jimothy."

It is part fairytale boss monster, part giant trash bandit, and entirely magnificent.

"Honestly, I Could Have Built It Bigger"

Naturally, a giant villainous raccoon sitting on a quiet island residential street turned a few heads. When some local neighbors gently pointed out that the installation was astonishingly massive, Inman offered the most artistically unbothered response possible: he joked that he actually felt he could have built it even larger.

That is the beauty of ambitious Halloween craftiness. Why stop at a gigantic evil raccoon when you could theoretically build one that blocks out the sun?

The Otterly Interesting Part

There is something wonderfully joyful about the way local neighborhood folklore gets built in the modern age. Raccoons are already nature's little nocturnal chaotic neutral creatures. Elevating one from a viral meme to a police sketch, and finally into a gigantic physical deity haunting a suburban front lawn, is the exact kind of whimsical creativity that makes autumn so fun.

So, if you happen to find yourself strolling around Bainbridge Island this October and catch a pair of glowing red eyes looming above the hedges, don't panic. It's just Grimothy, guarding the neighborhood and keeping the spirit of spooky season delightfully weird. What’s the most over-the-top Halloween decoration you’ve ever seen in your neighborhood?

Keep exploring

• She Accidentally Ended a Client Call with 'Love You'—and Received the Greatest Email in Corporate History
• Why Your Toaster Is Judging You: The Secret Personalities of Everyday Objects
• He Sent an AI Agent to His Job Interview—Then Watched It Lowball His Own Salary
• Take an Otter quiz