12 Unnecessarily Nightmarish Creatures That Scuttled Straight Out Of Hell

If you think you've met some control freaks in the past, get a load of this guy. This parasitic flatworm is pretty much the ultimate controlling ex of the animal kingdom, but with added death and mind control.

Commonly known as the Green-Banded Broodsac, Leucochloridium paradoxum like to hitch a ride on the inside of snails and force them to commit suicide.

As with a lot of parasites, the process seems to begin with snails' nasty habit of eating poop (way to go, snails). This time it's bird poop that has been infected with the eggs of this nasty little freeloader.

After entering the snail's system, the broodsac grow and grow, eventually forcing its way into the snail's eyestalk. Here, it wiggles around, trying to look as much like a tempting caterpillar as possible. Why? Because birds love to eat wiggly little caterpillars.

They don't just stop there, though. Unfortunately for the broodsac, snails don't generally hang out in the brightly lit conditions that would leave them vulnerable to birds, preferring dark, damp, birdless environments. so they overcome this by taking over the snail's brain and forcing it to got and sit in the bright sunlight and wiggle their extremities like a mollusc version of an Amsterdam window hooker.

The bird swoops down, eats the helpless snail, and the broodsac can then lay its eggs in the bird and begin the whole foul process again.