Creepiest Things Found In Nature

Nature can be beautiful but it can also be so horrific that it’ll make you never want to step foot outside ever again. From the most terrible aberrations the natural world can muster, to things that just shouldn’t be, let's explore some of the creepiest things found in nature.

Creepy Crawlers

Take a look at this 2020 clip below, and see what a Camper found when they woke up in the middle of the night:

Camper wakes up to thousands of spiders crawling on tent by The Independent

Hundreds of harvestmen, also unsettlingly known as daddy long legs were crawling all over the surface of the tent! Daddy long legs lack venom and aren’t known to bite, if that helps you sleep at all. No one’s quite sure why those harvestmen cluster together; it could be to deter predators, regulate temperature, or for mating. The thought of bugs getting it on while you're trying to sleep only makes that entire thing worse!

The insect nastiness doesn’t stop there, though. In 2024, tour guide Yang Xiaozhong was strolling through Shei-Pa National Park in Taiwan. All was going well, until he noticed that ground ahead of him seemed to be moving.

What Yang saw was millions of millipedes crawling along the ground! He believed that the mass was nearly 10 ft wide and over 50 yards in length. Never in his 11 years as a guide had he seen anything like it before. The millipede migration may have been triggered by several earthquakes that hit the area a few days prior. But as weird as it seems, a similar phenomenon has been observed over in Japan more than once!

In 1920, train operators recorded blankets of millipedes covering the tracks that were so humongous, they brought trains to a halt. The phenomenon happens in areas surrounding mountain forests, roughly once every eight years. Those millipedes have an unusually long eight-year life cycle that requires them to search for new feeding grounds once they’ve eaten all they can at their birthplace. At the following site, they eat, mate, lay new eggs, and die.

Hornet's Sculptures

There is a creepy-faced sculpture made even creepier by a hornet's nest that makes it look like it’s got some sort of horrifically bloated torso. And you thought hornets were bad enough!

It seems those stinging bugs are getting creative; those wasps made a nest over floodlights, it looks like some sort of cryptid.

Wasps make their nests from papier mâché made from wood that they chew down into a moist pulp. They then spit that out and shape the gunk with their mandibles and antennae. Left to their own devices, their nests can reach gigantic proportions. Just look at the sheer size of the nest this poor pest controller in the footage below found:

Arı | Arı İstilası |Arı Kovanını Bozmak | Arı Kolonisi | Atlas Türk İlaçlama 0 542 799 13 13 by Atlas Türk İlaçlama

Ocean Atlas

For all you Greek mythology nerds out there, the story of Atlas probably rings a bell. He was a Titan doomed to hold up the heavens and the earth for all eternity. While that’s just an old story, if you take a dive into the waters of Nassau, Bahamas, it’ll seem disturbingly real.

It's the Ocean Atlas, a monumental statue measuring just under 16 ½ feet long that weighs over 66 tons, that’s the same as 10 African elephants! Atlas is so large it had to be assembled piece by piece and holds the record for the largest figurative sculpture to be displayed underwater. The piece was installed in 2014 and created by Jason deCaires Taylor, who aimed to draw attention to the existential threats facing the ocean.

The sculpture depicts a young Bahamian girl holding up the weight of the sea. Her burden serves as a reminder of humanity's responsibility towards our environment. That’s lovely, but still, you wouldn’t want to come across that thing if you were swimming!

Christ Of The Abyss Statue

We’re not done with scary sea giants yet! And sorry to use the lord’s name in vain, but the next one really is Jesus Christ! While we’re used to seeing the Son of God in our churches, it’s something else to see him encrusted in barnacles like he’s a crew member of the Flying Dutchman. Cristo degli Abissi or Christ of the Abyss, to give it its English name.

Standing at 8 ft tall, that bronze statue was created by sculptor Guido Galletti and stands, arms outstretched, some 55 ft under the Mediterranean Sea, just off the coast of San Fruttuoso, and has since 1954. The artwork pays homage to Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use scuba gear.

Despite that sculpture being an unholy terror, kind of ironic, people decided to replicate the statue with two other Christ of the Abyss replicas: one appearing on the coastline of St. George’s, Grenada in 1961, and another, nine feet tall, in Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo. Diving around those things would certainly be an experience, a real come to Jesus moment!

Inside A Giant Old Tree

There’s nothing like wandering through an ancient forest and hearing the wind weave through those towering trees, it gives me chills every time. But have you ever wondered what’s inside those giants? In March 2024, social media explorers Travel Slayers decided to take a look inside a tree they claimed to be 1,000 years old.

The whereabouts of that tree is a mystery; however, hollow trees aren’t unusual. As a tree ages, its center can die, where it’s then eaten away by fungi. That is all safe for the tree since the fungi doesn’t reach the living sap wood. What isn’t so safe are the creatures that can lurk inside a tree.

From 2014 to 2016, an outbreak of the Ebola virus devastated West Africa. A 2014 study revealed that in the Guinean village of Meliandou, there was a hollow tree where children played. Little did they know that that tree was home to Angolan free-tailed bats.

While harmless by themselves, those bats may have carried the deadly disease, with Meliandou the first to be infected in the 2014 outbreak. So, next time you think about crawling into a hollow tree, beware of what lurks within.

Sunken Yacht In Antarctica

Way back in 2012, near King George Island, far from any human eyes, a ghostly ship lurked beneath the sea. In its past life, the ship was the Mar Sem Fim, a 76 ft Brazilian yacht built for expeditions. Unfortunately, one adventure would be its last.

In 2012, four men were on board the ship voyaging to film a documentary. However, winds and waves blew up around them, and the yacht became trapped in ice. The men radioed for help and were eventually rescued by the Chilean naval base in Antarctica. The same can’t be said for the Mar Sem Fim.

Over time, the yacht was crushed by the ice, leading it to sink and rot under 30 feet of water. However, the ship’s demise wasn't so permanent. One year later, it was dredged up and towed back to dry land. Only the ghost of that yacht remains in that cold watery grave.

Frog With Eyes Inside The Mouth

Back in 1992, in Ontario, Canada, high school student Deidre was in her garden minding her own business when she saw a frog with its eyes closed. Curious, she reached down and picked it up. Strangely, it didn’t open its eyes. On closer inspection, she saw something inside its mouth and that something stared back at her.

To her shock, she realized that the frog’s eyes were fused to the roof of its mouth. The eyes were still functional but only worked when the frog's mouth was open. Deidre, besotted with her new pet, named it Gollum after Tolkien’s ghoulish character makes sense.

While cases like Gollum are rare, another googly eyed mouth frog was reported in 2016. An image of that frog circulated online, with claims that it was mutated by a parasite. That explanation isn't entirely far-fetched, as the parasite Ribeiroia ondatrae can enter a tadpole’s system and cause it to grow additional, albeit deformed, legs.

Although, that doesn’t explain the eyes. Some frogs retract their eyes into their mouths when they eat to help them swallow. In Gollum's case, the palate skin was incorporated into the eyes themselves, possibly due to the retinas growing down towards the mouth by accident. Talk about eating with your eyes!

Fishing for Nightmares

In 2017, Matt Mertz went fishing off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. He caught a 27-inch lingcod, a pretty decent catch. But the fisherman noticed something in the fish’s mouth, something squishy. Peering past its serrated fangs, he saw a creature lodged in its throat, an octopus. Mertz believes the lingcod must’ve eaten the octopus just before it was caught. It’s no secret that a lingcod’s favorite food is small octopi.

Voyaging across the internet, another very odd catch has been making the rounds, a mutated three-eyed fish. Netizens claim that that creature was caught off the coast of Greenland, though it can't be said that is true for sure. The only thing people are concerned with is comparing it to Blinky from The Simpsons.

But, as freaky as a three-eyed fish may be, it’s nothing compared to our next story. In 2021, a fisherman from Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, Japan, hauled up a creature like no other. While octopus fishing, the crew were about to release their catch back into the water when they noticed one was very different from the others and not in a good way, because it had 32 legs!

If you thought that was impressive, in 1998, an octopus was found with a mind-boggling 96 tentacles! That remarkable specimen, weighing 7 pounds and measuring 3 feet, was stored at the Shima Marineland Aquarium, and a photo of it went viral in 2021.

So, what’s going on with all those cephalopods? When an octopus loses a tentacle, usually due to a predator, it can regrow. However, factors like infection or genetic mutations can affect their regrowth. Pollution in the water can damage an animal's DNA, leading to those mutants.

Hermit Crab Using A Doll's Head

The picture below is believed to have been taken on the Pacific's Pitcairn Islands, showing what may be a young coconut crab wearing a baby doll’s head as a shell. Coconut crabs, a relative of the hermit crab, swap their shells as they grow to protect their vulnerable abdomens. They can reach over 3 feet long, tear open coconut husks, and are strong enough to lift up to 66 pounds, that’s as much as a 10 year old child!

Those things are bad enough without the doll’s head! As populations of crustaceans dwindle due to climate change and pollution, there’s fewer shells for hermit crabs. Plus, light fingered tourists often steal shells from beaches as souvenirs. Consequently, crabs may have to look to garbage, like that doll’s head, to protect themselves as viable shells become less common.

The Silent People, Suomussalmi

If you’re ever driving along Highway 5 in Suomussalmi, Finland, be sure to keep an eye out for a large open field. You’ll know it when you see it, because there’ll be thousands of people standing perfectly still. Those are the Hiljainen kansa, which means Silent People in English.

Despite the name, those things are actually scarecrows with heads made of peat, straw for hair, and colorful rags draped over their skinny wooden frames. As you wander amongst those lifeless folk, with their faceless faces staring at you, the eeriness becomes palpable.

They are the creation of artist Reijo Kela, who made them in 1988. Kela has never given an explanation as to what the Silent People represent. Some speculate they could be a memorial to those who have become lost, whether soldiers in battle or ordinary people.

Concrete And Oyster Shells

In 2022, after a day of snorkeling in Port Phillip Bay on the southeastern coast of Australia, swimmers approached the shallower waters near the coast, where they saw these strange, creepy nodules, each one about 6 ft wide, spread along the floor!

At first glance, you’d think they’re alien eggs ready to hatch some sort of flesh-devouring offspring! However, those are Erosion Mitigation Units, or EMUs, made from a blend of concrete and oyster shells. They were manufactured by Reef Design Lab, a Melbourne studio specializing in coastal solutions. Stretching nearly 200 feet, those 46 EMUs form a protective barrier along the Port Phillip shore.

While they look horrifying, they serve an important purpose to help reduce coastal erosion and provide homes for sea creatures. The intentionally rough surfaces attract reef-building species such as mussels and oysters. Tunnels and crevices shelter fish, octopuses, and crustaceans from hungry predators. The nodules’ surfaces also offer a place for sponges and coral to cling and grow on.

Bigfoot Laugh In Oregon

Have you ever been alone outside and heard a call, only to look around and see nothing there? For the people living on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon in 2013, that was a nightly reality. Over 120 residents reported hearing a strange call like cackling laughter in the middle of the night.

Unearthly cries echoed outside people’s homes and woke them from their sleep. One person even claimed their dog was so terrified it refused to go outside. Sceptics have dismissed those claims, attributing the sounds to foxes, cougars, or coyotes. Yet, many residents insisted they had never heard anything like it before. One man even made a video of himself listening to the cries:

the "Bigfoot In Oregon - screams heard late at night on reservation" video by ParaBreakdown

Since officials were unable to identify any animal responsible for the sounds, some have speculated that a supernatural creature might be to blame. There are even rumors that Bigfoot himself might be skulking around in a swamp not far from the reservation.

Stories of the sasquatch are not to be taken lightly, with a tribal leader of the area maintaining that he once found a massive 18-inch long footprint whilst hunting in the Blue Mountains, just over 100 miles from Umatilla. What could be making those cries?

Mysteries Washed Up On The Beach

You might already know that plenty of wacky stuff washes up on our beaches. Take, for example, the photo down below, of what people claim are crinoid fossils. Those things look just like the robots that go around harvesting humanity in The Matrix! In reality, crinoids are marine animals that have been around since the Palaeozoic era, over 500 million years ago.

Crinoids are echinoderms, belonging to the same family as sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. Echinoderms have skin made of calcite, a tough calcium mineral, which is why their fossils are so weirdly well-preserved.

But discoveries don’t have to be rock solid to creep you out, back in 2017 a hulking thing washed up on Burry Port in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was large, covered in wriggling worm-like creatures, and was ominously dubbed The Beast of Burry Port.

But it's what what people may think it is, because that isn’t a beast at all, it’s not even technically alive! It was actually a large piece of driftwood covered in gooseneck barnacles. Those are crustaceans that attach themselves to rocks, ships, or pretty much anything adrift at sea. They have long, fleshy black stems that look like necks, hence the name.

If those barnacles had been alive, the residents of Burry Port could have made a tidy sum. Gooseneck barnacles are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world and can fetch about $50 per pound. Although just setting your eyes on that creepy sea nightmare costs you much more than that, depends how much you value your sanity!

San Pedro Mountains Mummy

We've all dreamed of discovering buried treasure, prehistoric fossils, or ancient artifacts. In 1934, Wyoming, Cecil Main and Frank Carr were hoping for the same thing, except they got more than they’d bargained for. They began their search like any good archaeologists, by blowing up part of the San Pedro Mountains.

The blast opened up a cave, and on entering, they saw something sat in the dark. It was a small, wizened figure, about six and a half inches tall, with protruding eyes, dry brown skin and a misshapen head. Main and Carr seized the oddity and did what any sensitive pair would do, sold it.

After which, it ended up as a sideshow attraction. Some believed that the mummy was one of the little people or Nimerigar of Shoshone mythology, who are believed to have attacked the indigenous people with tiny bows and poisoned darts.

Physical anthropologist George Gill from the University of Wyoming believes that the mummy was likely an infant suffering from anencephaly, a fatal defect that means a fetus doesn’t develop major portions of the brain. As for the mummy’s whereabouts today, it’s frequent change of ownership meant that it was lost sometime in the 1950s.

People are still hunting for it to this day. In 2005, John Adolfi, owner of the Lost World Museum, a New York museum dedicated to creationism offered a $10,000 reward for the mummy. He believed that its discovery could disprove evolution. Unfortunately for Adolfi, it remains lost to this day. Wherever the mummy is now, I hope it can rest in peace.

Lake Resia Steeple

In the winter, Lake Resia in Southern Tyrol, Italy, freezes over with a layer of ice so thick it can support people’s weight. If you want to feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, wait until it gets dark, and wander over the ice. Eventually you’ll find this spectre: the Resia Steeple. It looks like something out of a fairy tale, a dark fairy tale.

The steeple is actually part of a 14th century church, a remnant of Curon, a village that once stood in Lake Resia’s place. All was well in Curon until 1950, when the government built a hydroelectric dam. Despite protests from the villagers, two nearby lakes were merged, flooding Curon. Over 160 homes were lost to the water and the villagers were forced to move. All that was left is the spire that stands above water.

Trees Cocooned In Spider Webs

In 2010, Pakistan was struck by devastating floods. More than a fifth of the country was underwater, impacting the lives of 20 million people. Amidst the tragedy, those in the Sindh region noticed something odd in the trees. The branches of the trees were enveloped in cobwebs.

The floodwaters took six months to recede, and during that time, millions of spiders who’d sought refuge in the trees had transformed them into huge cocoons. Nothing like that had ever been seen before in the region, and for many that sight seemed like something from the lowest pits of Hell. Areas with those spider-covered trees had much lower cases of malaria, since spiders prey on disease-spreading mosquitoes that proliferate in stagnant water.

Parikkala Sculpture Park

The Parikkala sculpture park in Finland is home to over 560 concrete statues, each one individually created by artist Veijo Rönkkönen between the 1960s and 2010. His creations are certainly something to behold, stood amongst the lush forestry, they stand in odd poses, stare with sunken eyes, and smile grimly. Some even have mouths full of human teeth!

During his life, Rönkkönen was something of a recluse, though he would never try and shoo away people who came to admire his work. As his reputation grew, people urged him to exhibit his work away from his garden, but he always refused. Following his death in 2010, the land was bought by a businessman who kept the creepy attraction open, you can visit the garden right now!

I hope you were amazed at the creepiest things found in nature! Thanks for reading.