12 Unnecessarily Nightmarish Creatures That Scuttled Straight Out Of Hell

Damn, Nature, you scary.

Goliath Bird Eating Spider
Wikipedia

We're all for appreciating the sheer majesty of the natural world - All Things Bright And Beautiful and all that - but sometimes it seems as though Mother Nature is just taking the piss.

The Earth is filled with the most magnificent creatures and the cutest little balls of fluff, but it's also home to the most disturbing collection of nightmare fuel in the universe.

Usually hanging out in the dampest, darkest spots, these creatures aren't necessarily dangerous, but they still stir something very dark and primal in the human psyche. Some part of our brain has evolved to react with the violent and all-consuming urge to send many of these creatures scuttling, burrowing and slithering back down to the circle of hell from whence they came.

It's not a part of us that many people are proud of, but it's just in our genetic make-up to want to scream like a Girl Guide on a ghost train and set fire to everything in the immediate vicinity when something large, many-legged and hairy crawls up out of the plumbing.

Come with us on a journey through some of Mother Nature's most horrifying practical jokes - but bear in mind it's probably a good idea to let your dinner settle first.

12. The "Harbinger Of Hellfire" Japanese Spider Crabs

Goliath Bird Eating Spider
Takashi Hososhima/Flickr

"Hey, you know what's awesome? Kittens! Let's make some kittens" said Mother Nature.

Unfortunately, nobody had told her that it was Opposite Day and so this foul minister of Satan trundled off the factory line and into your nightmares.

The Japanese Spider crab takes all of the worst aspects of both spiders and crabs and then makes matters a whole lot worse by growing up to 12 feet across. They scuttle around the seabed at depths of up to 300 metres (always a warning sign, the gross stuff is always deep down).

Oh and they rather thoughtfully come up to shallower water to breed, just so that we can get a better look at the miracle of life in all its spidery glory.

Not only are they twice the size of a double mattress and feed on mainly fear and algae, but they can also do you some serious damage. Those claws aren't just for decoration and they have been known to take a chunk out of the people who are nuts enough to go out and catch them.

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Writer. Raconteur. Gardeners' World Enthusiast.