It all began with a five-second clip.
Kiana Hall, a 33-year-old Seattle resident, spotted an oddly shaped raccoon in her neighborhood on July 13 and pulled out her phone to capture video of the animal as it scurried across the sidewalk.
"What am I looking at?" Hall says in the footage she posted on Instagram. In the caption, she dubbed the creature Jimothy.
"He just looked like a Jimothy to me," she later wrote in the comments.
Wildlife experts were quick to point out that Jimothy likely has short spine syndrome, a rare congenital condition that causes an animal to have a shortened spinal column and a rounder appearance.
Jimothy became an overnight sensation, with Hall's video racking up millions of views and prompting a wave of other reported sightings by area residents.
It wasn't long before Jimothy fever was sweeping across the country, from farmers markets and ballparks to tattoo shops and even the White House, which posted a meme of the critter in a pro-Trump hat.
An entire subreddit dedicated to Jimothy memes has drawn tens of thousands of visitors.
"I don't know what's happening," Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show. "But I'll tell you what I think Jimothy is: a short king."
People in Seattle have gleefully embraced Jimothy, effectively adopting him as the city's unofficial mascot.
Earlier this week, city council members issued an official proclamation honoring the viral raccoon.
"The summer of 2026 is officially Jimothy Summer," Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck declared at an event featuring a contest for local artists who created pieces dedicated to the creature.
The winning works — an oil painting by Kayla Carabes titled Jimothy Takes Seattle and a stained-glass depiction of the raccoon by Virginia McFadden titled St. Jimothy — will soon be displayed at City Hall.
Rachel Pendergast-Weiss, a Seattle elementary school teacher, said she plans to use Jimothy to teach second- and third-graders about inclusivity.
"Jimothy's story is something kids are naturally drawn to, just like adults," Pendergast-Weiss told Education Week. The University of Washington joked that it was giving Jimothy an honorary degree.
The Seattle Mariners announced plans for a promotional "Jimothy Night" on Aug. 5 at T-Mobile Park, where fans will receive special Jimothy T-shirts and limited-edition baseball cards. Due to high demand, the team added a second "Jimothy Night" on Aug. 7.
It's not the only baseball team embracing the raccoon: The Rocket City Trash Pandas, a Minor League Baseball team in Alabama, are hosting their own "Jimothy Night" on Aug. 4, featuring a pregame raccoon parade, free Jimothy masks for kids and food and drinks served in dishes resembling trash cans.
Meanwhile, tattoo artists are apparently cashing in on the Jimothy craze.
The New York Post reported that tattoo parlors in Ballard, the Seattle neighborhood where the raccoon was spotted, are "fielding a surge of requests for the singular raccoon."
"I think he's kind of become a symbol of resilience," Laura Exley of Electric Kitten Tattoo, who said she booked more than a dozen clients in the past week, told the paper.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, who recently named Jimothy the Washingtonian of the Day, agrees.
"I think why he's captured so much attention is that he shows a certain resilience in getting by and even thriving given that deformity," Ferguson said.
Hall offered a simpler explanation for Jimothy's viral fame.
"I just think he's just sort of round and a silly little guy," she said in an interview with Reuters. "And people just sort of need something silly and fun in their life right now."