• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • FFS PRODUCTIONS
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Man horrified after discovering 'vampire' creature washed up on UK beach

Home> News> UK News

Published 20:11 29 Mar 2024 GMT

Man horrified after discovering 'vampire' creature washed up on UK beach

The nightmarish creature looks like something straight out of a movie

Ben Thompson

Ben Thompson

It seems you don't need go to the cinema with a ticket for Dune 2 if you want to catch a glimpse of a sandworm.

As it turns out that the monstrous creatures are showing up on the beaches of Britain now.

Will Miles, 26, found a bizarre looking beast while walking along the beach near Exmouth Marina in Devon.

He explained: "It was very noticeable, lying in the centre part of the beach near the tideline - I was on a walk after work.

Advert

"It was like a hugely oversized leech with a sucker full of sharp, inward-pointing teeth."

So, what is the creature?

The 'vampire' creature.
Pen News

It's is a sea lamprey - a species known for sucking the blood of their prey; hence why it's landed itself with the 'vampire fish' nickname.

Once widespread in the UK, they’re now rare, with their decline blamed on low water quality and man-made barriers in the rivers where they breed.

Advert

Will, a warehouse worker from Bovey Tracey, estimated the one he came across was about 80cm long - just short of the height of an average two-year-old.

"I was very surprised," the 26-year-old said.

"I’d never seen one washed up before and expected I never would."

Keen to share his strange discovery, Will posted a photo on a Facebook page for naturalists.

And though some correctly identified the elusive species, many likened the creature to something straight out of the blockbuster Dune films, based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novels.

Advert

“Looks like the sandworm from Dune,” wrote one person.

Many likened the creature to something straight out of Dune.
Warner Bros. Pictures

“So that's where Frank Herbert got his sandworms from,” added another.

“Only just seen the film and that’s where my head went straight away,” replied a third.

Someone else, referring to the fictional world where the series is set, asked: "Is this on Arrakis?"

Advert

While others called the creature 'Shai-Hulud' - using the name given to the sandworms by the indigenous people of Arrakis, the Fremen.

For others, the creature was more horror than sci-fi.

One comment read: "When I say I love the ocean, I really mean I love the surface. What goes on underneath is terrifying, and none of my business."

It was enough to make people not want to go back in the water.

"I'm never swimming in the sea again," said another.

Advert

It was also described as a 'fish of nightmares' and a 'terrifying looking creature'.

As gross as that thing looks, it would admittedly be a great way to advertise the Dune franchise.

Just get Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet to do a photoshoot with it, and you're golden.

Featured Image Credit: PEN News

Topics: UK News, Weird, Animals

Ben Thompson
Ben Thompson

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • 'Lost' species of spider discovered on Isle of Wight four decades after vanishing from UK
  • Worrying ‘harbinger of doom’ fish discovered washed up on beach that could be a bad sign for us all
  • Rare 'harbinger of doom' creature washes up on beach with terrifying warning to the world
  • Zoo releases statement after explorers found gorillas banging on window despite ‘shutting years ago’

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • Facebook/Tiffany Waterman
    an hour ago

    Family's statement after man woke up from coma to blame girlfriend for causing car crash before dying

    Daniel Waterman passed away months after a severe car crash with his girlfriend at the wheel

    News
  • National Observatory
    an hour ago

    Astronomers spot rings forming around strange object floating around our solar system

    A bizarre space rock called Chiron is floating around our solar system and has even formed its own rings

    News
  • Netflix
    an hour ago

    Unanswered questions from Teresa Halbach's murder 20 years since she went missing on Halloween

    The complex case gained global attention when it became the subject of a Netflix documentary in 2015

    News
  • YouTube/CTRM 434 36th District Court
    2 hours ago

    Judge left baffled after police officer turns up to court hearing with no trousers on

    The police officer's camera revealed that he had no bottoms on in virtual court

    News