Woman Wakes, Pulls Bat From Her Mouth

A Virginia doctor says a nighttime dream about a "cute little field mouse" took a sharp turn when she woke up to find a bat on her face, apparently trying to get into her mouth. Richmond gastroenterologist Dr. Krista Edelman recounted the encounter in an Instagram video and local TV interviews, saying she was caught somewhere between dream and reality when she reached out to grab what she thought was a mouse, now trying to wiggle its way into her mouth. "When I touched the hair on its back and kind of pulled it out and then looked at it, that's when it was like, 'My gosh, this is real life,'" she tells WWBT.

Her screams woke her husband, who managed to catch the bat with a bucket, net, and pair of mittens, while Edelman washed her mouth out with soap. She later brought the animal to the ER, where a physician said she'd made the right call. Because bat bites can be hard to detect and rabies is almost always deadly, doctors advise treating any close contact seriously. "You kind of have to assume the worst" if you wake up with a bat in your room, one tells WTVR. Edelman therefore began a rabies vaccine regimen, though she was able to discontinue treatment once the bat tested negative for rabies.