DEAD MAN’S FINGERS

Picture the scene. It's Halloween and you've gone for an ill-advised stroll through the graveyard on the edge of town.

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As the screams of trick-or-treaters fade into the distance, a shroud of dense fog rolls in, blanketing the tombstones. It already feels like an episode of Scooby-Doo, but things are about to get worse. You stumble and fall, face-planting into the detritus, where you spot a putrid-looking hand sticking out of the ground. Misshapen digits. Long, twisted nails. You try to scream, but the sound is stuck in your throat. Where is Velma Dinkley when you need her?

Then you look again closely and realise it's not a hand at all. Although dead man's fingers (Xylaria polymorpha) may look like it belongs on the end of a dead man's arm, it's actually a fungus.