Photo: Alligator Appears to Ring Doorbell at Home

Reported by Kerry Sanders, NBC

BLUFFTON, SC -- As Paul McCartney once sang, "someone's knocking at the door, someone's ringing the bell" but for one family in South Carolina, it's better not to open the door and let him in.

On Penny Creek Drive in Bluffton, South Carolina, there was a knock, knock, but it was no joke. In a matter of moments, amateur photographer Richard Holinski ripped off the pictures that tell the story. A wayward 6-foot alligator was seemingly trying to ring the doorbell at a neighbor's home.

"It looked as if he was going to ring that bell, and that's the shot I got," said Richard Holinski.

That single frame -- the one that looks so unbelievable -- was sent into the local newspaper by a friend. From there, it hit the news wires and zoomed around the world.

"They're calling from Germany, from the U.K., from Australia," said Holinski.

At first glance, it looks like a crock, like a doctored photo you see on the internet, but zoologist Ron McGill says alligators with powerful legs and sharp toenails can indeed go vertical.

"It's very common for gators to climb. I've actually seen gators scale 6-7 foot chain link fences better than some cats," said Ron McGill, Miami Metro Zoo.

Why did the gator go for the front door? Neighbors suspect the smell of chicken teriyaki grilling in the backyard.

"[It's] highly doubtful. It might have been the smell of a female alligator somewhere," said Ron McGill.

The alligator never found his love, so he slipped back into the wild and it was "see ya later alligator."

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