Fungus infected ‘zombie spiders’ have invaded London

You’ve probably seen The Last of Us, the hit game-inspired TV series which sees a deadly fungal disease take over the world, turning everyone into zombies. 

You probably thought that was all a bunch of make believe – mushrooms turning people into flesh eating monsters. Well, we are sorry to say that something freaky and fungus related is happening in London right now. It’s probably nothing to worry about... 

Something that scientists are calling ‘zombie spiders’ has been discovered in London. Gulp. 

Gareth Jenkins, a landscaper who was working in Wanstead, discovered a group of strange-looking arachnids under the decking in his client’s garden last week. The 46-year-old told Metro that he jumped back when he saw 15 spiders covered a substance that looked like white foam. Ew. 

‘They had almost see-through legs and were about half an inch big. I’ve been a landscaper for 20 years and never in my life have I seen something like this,’ he told Metro. 

After posting his discovery online, Jenkins was told that the creatures were infected with a ‘zombie parasite’ – an entomopathogenic fungus which infects the brains of insects. And the worst part, it keeps the creatures alive for a few days, controlling their movements, allowing them to infect as many other bugs as possible. 

Jenkins said the British Mycological Society confirmed that the spiders did indeed have the terrifying zombie virus. Don’t panic just yet though, because it can’t actually spread to humans. 

‘They assured me it can’t spread to humans,’ he said. ‘But if I saw one of them run towards me I know I would die of a heart attack.’

The news comes just a month after ‘zombie spiders’ were found in caves in Northern Ireland. You can find out more about those here.

David Bowie’s old south London home is on the market for £500,000.