Video taking off 110x its usual first day

O'Hare smoke break ends with a kitten's ticket home

NBC Chicago's report follows a stranded professor from an unexpected encounter outside Terminal 1 to a delivery order and an extra passenger.

Channel:

NBC Chicago Story of October 29, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 257,632 views a day, 110 times a normal first day on this channel (2,336).

Man flies home with new kitten found during smoke break at O'Hare

He needed another ticket. Virgil Wiebe, a university professor from the Twin Cities, had already missed a flight at O'Hare when an orange kitten ran up to him during a cigar break outside Terminal 1.

"This little guy just ran up to me," Wiebe tells NBC Chicago reporter Randy Gyllenhaal. He looked for a mother cat but found none, then headed into the terminal with a new travel companion.

Getting the kitten home required some airport improvisation. TSA agents told Wiebe he needed a pet carrier, so he ordered a kennel and formula through DoorDash. He then paid United Airlines to bring the kitten aboard.

NBC Chicago's report drew roughly a quarter-million views in its first day, more than a hundred times the channel's usual start for a Short. Another upload about the same adoption also drew an unusually large audience. In the comments, viewers share stories of stray cats arriving unexpectedly in their own lives, while others linger on the practical ingenuity of getting a carrier delivered to an airport.

The kitten's name preserves both parts of the encounter: Macanudo O'Hare, after the cigar brand and the airport, with "Harey" for short. During Wiebe's video-call interview, his unexpected passenger is right there in his arms.

"Who knows where Harey came from, but now he's ours," Wiebe says.

Published on Trari

Where next?

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A different discovery todayVideo taking off 12x its usual first dayFrom "please don't leave" to "ask Grok": John Oliver's midterm tourThe election-week main story drew about 3.8 million views in under a day, and its comment section filled more than twice as fast as usual.Channel: LastWeekTonight · Story of November 3, 2026

What viewers say

That kitten chose the right person to go home with.
@JenniferSmith-25See it on YouTube
I was adopted by a stray kitten 12 years ago and we've never been happier. 😻😀
@nnonotnowSee it on YouTube
Harry couldn't be bothered with that interview. Humans hands needed biting. 😅😸
@vickbond008See it on YouTube

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