Watch: Virginia woman wakes to find bat on her mouth
DIRECT ANSWER: Watch: Virginia woman wakes to find a bat on her mouth — that is the story Richmond gastroenterologist Dr. Krista Edelman shared after waking last week to feel an animal on her face. She folded the bat's wings back, her husband captured it, and she took it to the emergency room. The bat later tested negative for rabies, UPI reported Friday.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Krista Edelman, a Richmond gastroenterologist, woke to a bat trying to get into her mouth.
- She posted an Instagram video recounting the vivid dream and real-life encounter.
- Medical officials warn bat bites can be too small to detect, making ER visits essential.
- Edelman brought the captured bat to St. Mary's Hospital; rabies tests came back negative.
- Her husband, roused by her screams, helped secure the animal in their home.
What happened when the Virginia doctor woke up?
Edelman told local stations WWBT-TV and WTVR-TV that the ordeal began inside a dream. In it, a cute field mouse seemed to be trying to get into her mouth — a detail she called "pretty vivid."
When she awoke, she reached for her mouth and felt something there. "I grabbed something and ultimately, I had folded the bat's wings back," she told WWBT-TV.
Only then did she realize a bat was on her face. She screamed repeatedly, telling her husband something like, "There's a bat in my mouth. The bat is trying to get in my mouth," according to WTVR-TV.
Why did she go to the emergency room with the bat?
Edelman's screams woke her husband, who captured the bat. She then took the animal with her to the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond.
Dr. Adam Landsee, the hospital's assistant medical director, said Edelman did the right thing — even though she did not believe she had been bitten.
"Bat teeth are very small and you don't know if you've been bitten or not, and with rabies being essentially fatal, they need to be treated," Landsee told UPI. He added that anyone who wakes up with a bat in a bedroom, a child's room, or elsewhere in the house should "assume the worst" and seek evaluation.
For official guidance on bat exposures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends contacting health officials whenever a bat is found in a room where a person was sleeping.
Did the bat test positive for rabies?
No. UPI reported that the bat ultimately tested negative for rabies, bringing a measure of relief after a frightening middle-of-the-night discovery.
Edelman shared her experience in a video posted to Instagram, turning a deeply personal scare into a cautionary tale for others. Stories like hers often land in our Bizarre News & Florida Man coverage — unsettling, shareable, and grounded in real public-health stakes.
Richmond residents and viewers far beyond Virginia have since watched her account circulate online, underscoring how quickly an odd overnight encounter can become a wider conversation about wildlife, sleep, and safety at home.