At first glance, it looked like some kind of oversized, leathery egg sitting in the soil. But what happened next left onlookers stunned — and a little unnerved.

As the “egg” began to split open, something bizarre emerged: long, red-pink tentacles, covered in blackish slime and dotted with pimple-like textures, began to claw their way out, stretching toward the sky like alien limbs. It looked more like a creature from a sci-fi horror movie than anything you’d expect to find in a backyard.

What the man had discovered wasn’t an egg at all — it was Clathrus archeri, a rare and eerie-looking fungus better known as “devil’s fingers”.

Native to New Zealand, Tasmania, and parts of Australia, this surreal-looking fungus grows in a unique way. Unlike typical mushrooms thatt rise from the earth as caps and stalks, devil’s fingers develop inside a soft white sac that closely resembles an egg. When it “hatches,” the sac tears open, revealing between four to eight finger-like arms that slowly unfurl. Their appearance is both mesmerizing and grotesque.

Each “finger” is coated in a spore-laden slime that smells strongly of rotting meat. This odor is no accident — it’s nature’s way of attracting flies. The insects land on the fungus, feeding on the goo, and in the process, they help spread its spores, allowing the mushroom to reproduce and continue its strange life cycle.

This bizarre fungus has also earned the nickname “octopus stinkhorn” — not much more comforting than “devil’s fingers,” but perhaps slightly less ominous. Still, watching it burst from its egg-like casing is like witnessing something out of a nightmare: a living organism clawing its way into the world, one fleshy tentacle at a time.

Although completely harmless to humans, its unsettling look and pungent smell make it one of the most spine-tingling surprises Mother Nature has to offer. And for those lucky — or unlucky — enough to stumble upon one, it’s an unforgettable sight.