While taking a walk through the woods on his work break, Mike Roberts was left horrified by what he had stumbled across.
Poking through the greenery in the 'perfect' shape of a hand, he saw five-stems of Xylaria Polymorpha mushroom which is known as dead man's fingers in Colwyn Bay, North Wales.
Due to their white-coloured ends, it gives the creepy impression that they are a restless zombie fingertips reaching out from their grave.
Stunned at his discovery, fungi-enthusiast Mike, 31, claimed it' was a 'once-in-a-lifetime' to find what he did and couldn't wait to show colleagues and family when he left the woods.
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After sharing the creepy snaps on Facebook last week, the images went viral and got over 70,000 reactions - with some spooked users saying it's put them off mature walks for good.
Speaking about his discovery, Mike, from Llangollen in North Wales, said: "I was shocked when I first saw it. It really looked like a zombie hand reaching out of the ground.
"You do see [the mushroom] in groups of five pretty often but this one was shaped like a hand with a thumb. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
"It's a mushroom I've seen hundreds of times but to see it in that particular formation was pretty special.
"I feel lucky to have spotted it. When I got back to work I showed it to people, then I sent it to my mum too."
Mike said he found the 'scary' dead man's fingers during its asexual stage when its 'fingers', or stromata, have white tips because they're not firing out spores.
The Xylaria Polymorpha mushroom is common in the UK and Ireland and earned its nickname of dead man's fingers due to its uncanny resemblance to human digits.
However, Mike said that he has not seen one that is this realistic before.
He first spotted it in May 2021 but it's recently gone viral on Facebook with users labelling the find 'freaky yet amazing'.
One user commented: "That's horrifying! Imagine coming across that while walking in the woods!!"
Another said: "Ok, that would freak me out, even knowing what it was!!"
A third added: "That's the kind of stuff horror stories are written of. If I saw that, I'd never go walking in the woods again!"
A fourth said: "Wow I thought it was a hand. It is freaky, but amazing."
Have you discovered something naturally creepy while out in the woods? Let us know in the comments below.
