Mother Earth’s beauties never fail to amaze us, as seen by the gorgeous enormous bats and the menacing “snakes” hiding in trees. A magnificent set of pictures that North Carolina resident Regan Daniels uploaded on the Mushroomcore Facebook group quickly went viral. The images showed an intriguing discovery that Regan Daniels discovered in June 2020 while taking a stroll around Western North Carolina. When she was asked to go outside with her camera, she did so to document the odd scene. She later showed the Mushroomcore group the pictures.

Regan’s image stood out to the 30,000-member Mushroomcore group because they were accustomed to seeing gorgeous images of woods and intriguing details. So what was the subject of their discussion? Regan’s image showed the fungus Dead Man’s Fingers (Xylaria polymorpha). These weird mushrooms appropriately get their name by resembling a person who has been buried and is making a desperate attempt to rise from the forest floor with their swollen, darker “fingers” stretching skyward.

Said Regan, “Saw this Dead Man’s Fingers (or toes, in this case) fungus that I literally thought was a Halloween decoration!” in her blog. Although this fungus clearly stands out and is unusual in appearance, it is really very common and is present all year. These mushrooms are widely distributed throughout the world, but are particularly common in Britain, Ireland, continental Europe, and many regions of North America. So, with a good eye, it’s not hard to spot these swollen, wart-covered “fingers”.

They should be sought for on broadleaved tree stumps or decaying wood, especially beech trees. Dead Man’s Fingers are a fungus that only develops on dead or dying wood, which explains why they commonly emerge through layers of moss and decomposing leaves.

According to First-Nature, the fungus Xylaria polymorpha is frequently not considered to be palatable. Regan Daniels accidently came across these sinister-looking mushroom clusters while visiting a park in North Carolina. When they erupted from a stump, a number of more mushrooms of the same kind joined these horrifying creatures. Despite some reviewers rejecting the images as false since they believed they were impractical, it’s important to emphasize that these mushrooms are genuine. The variety of interesting photographs that may be found online further supports these rare species.

“I found the mushroom in Western North Carolina in the United States at a park that I frequent,” Regan told Bored Panda. “The walk is nice [and] it’s next to the French Broad River so there’s a lot of good scenery.”

Despite the fact that Reagan’s find was made in a well-known location, the examples she discovered appeared to be astoundingly well-preserved. This makes sense given that few people would dare choose these mushrooms because they think they would be hazardous or deadly. It’s likely that the Dead Man’s Fingers fungus’s creepy look makes people hesitant to handle or eat it. These unique instances thus typically go unrecognized, allowing them to maintain their pure status in the wild.