The Science of Monsters

Some animals are able to manipulate their hosts from within, causing them to act in self-destructive ways that ultimately benefit the parasite. The females of a Costa Rican wasp lay their eggs on the abdomens of orb spiders. After living off its host for weeks, the wasp larva injects a chemical into the spider that makes it build a strange, new kind of web. The web is meant to support the wasp cocoon. After the wasp hatches it will kill and eat the spider.⁵

There are parasites that specifically target humans including tapeworms, scabies, and certain amoeba. Around 70 percent of parasites are not visible to the human eye. Others, like the malarial parasite, can grow up to thirty meters long. In 2017, a six-foot-long tapeworm was removed from a patient through his mouth. The man had been experiencing stomach pains for over two months. A colonoscopy revealed the tapeworm and an endoscopy confirmed it was curled up in his small intestine. After sedation, the tapeworm was pulled from his mouth intact.⁶ The horror movie writes itself!

Could a creature attach itself to a human and kill them like the The Tingler? The tingler may not exist, but there have been living things found inside of people. One such case was Sanju Bhagat. He always had a large stomach, but in 1999 it became so swollen that he appeared to be in his third trimester of pregnancy. He was having trouble breathing and was rushed to the hospital. Emergency surgery was performed to remove what they thought would be a tumor. After entering the abdomen, though, it became apparent that Bhagat suffered from fetus in fetu, an extremely rare condition in which one twin can be absorbed by the other while in the womb. The fetus can survive as a parasite past birth by forming an umbilical cord-like structure that takes its twin’s blood supply. Often times the unknown twin will grow so large that it starts to harm the host, at which point doctors usually intervene. When surgery was performed on thirty-six-year-old Bhagat he had no idea what was inside of him. Doctors described seeing one limb, then another come out. Developed hands with long fingernails, feet, hair, teeth, and bones emerged and were disconnected from the host. Bhagat went on to make a full recovery.

There have been at least two reported cases of people’s mouths becoming “impregnated” by squid sperm. After biting into partially cooked squid, squid sperm implanted itself in the mucous membranes of the victims’ mouths. Doctors later removed the living creatures from their tongues, cheeks, and gums. In 2013, a four-year-old boy was found to have a live snail living in his knee. Several weeks earlier he had tripped and fallen at the beach, getting a scrape on his knee. The wound didn’t heal and was thought to be infected until, upon closer inspection and a squeeze, a sea snail popped out. The boy ended up keeping the snail as a pet and named him Turbo. Now that’s a happy ending!

Spiders have been found living inside of multiple people. One woman reported hearing a scratching noise in her left ear and finally went in to see the doctor when her pain became unbearable. A spider was discovered building a home in her ear canal. After several attempts it was finally removed by being sedated. In 2014, a spider entered a man’s stomach through an appendectomy incision. It traveled all the way up to his chest, inside of him, before it was removed by doctors. Another woman reported feeling a crawling sensation inside of her head. Doctors discovered a live cockroach in her skull which had entered through her nose. It was removed but doctors said it “didn’t want to come out.”

These examples are true horror, but what about perceived danger? William Castle, the director of The Tingler, used a gimmick called “Percepto,” a vibrating device in some theater chairs which activated during the climax of the film. Before the movie began, he appeared with a message:

I am William Castle, the director of the motion picture you are about to see. I feel obligated to warn you that some of the sensations—some of the physical reactions which the actors on the screen will feel—will also be experienced, for the first time in motion picture history, by certain members of this audience. I say “certain members” because some people are more sensitive to these mysterious electronic impulses than others. These unfortunate, sensitive people will at times feel a strange, tingling sensation; other people will feel it less strongly. But don’t be alarmed—you can protect yourself. At any time, you are conscious of a tingling sensation, you may obtain immediate relief by screaming. Don’t be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with all you’ve got, because the person in the seat right next to you will probably be screaming too. And remember—a scream at the right time may save your life.