MEDFORD, Ore.– Creature from the deep, magic mushroom or Demogorgon come to life. Ideas are running wild this week as photos of a strange thing found in a Medford woman’s bath is making the rounds on social media.
The woman says she wasn’t the only one and says another neighbor reported seeing a similar thing. It doesn’t appear to be a hoax as local researchers looked at it on Monday and are stumped.
While they don’t know what it is, they are eliminating several possibilities such as it being a scene from Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” But from the photos, it looks like it could be. While our imaginations can run wild, scientists have a much more rational explanation than something from the world of science fiction.
October is for ghouls, ghosts and now – mysterious globs. Nightmares of the stranger kind appear to have emerged in Medford in the form of some “thing.”
The “thing” in question was found in an apartment on the 2000 block of Table Rock Road. The woman who found it declined to interview on camera but says it came out of the faucet while giving her kid a bath. It also appeared to be moving at the time.
Other residents in the area say they’ve seen gross things coming out of their faucets and the drains as well. Pixie Nitowski, who has lived on Table Rock Road for the last seven years, says she’s had trouble with the plumbing in the area but this she’s never seen before.
“Maybe some strange strain of fungus,” she said. “I thought of The Simpsons episode of the three-eyed fish, the nuclear reactor plant and I’m like, ‘OK now what are they doing?'”
The photos from the woman went viral locally. People all over social media comparing it to worms, parasites, and even the Demogorgon, humorously, from Stranger Things.
To get a better idea of what it was, the ‘thing’ was taken to researchers at the Oregon State University Research and Extension Center in Central Point. They too are stumped.
“It looks very strange to us cause we’ve never seen that type of thing before,” said Marsha Waite, a volunteer and plant clinic specialist with the center.
From the entomologist to the botanist at the center, various ideas of what it could be were eliminated as scientists either ruled it out as being an insect or didn’t recognize it as any plant in the area. The researchers also described various filaments or hairs sprouting from the head that didn’t qualify as any mushroom or plant they were aware of.
But there are signs that it might not be your typical monster from the deep.
“We were looking for any kind of mouth structure for insect – there was none,” said Waite. “The one end looked like it possibly could have broken off of a plant and it might be a seed pod.”
The research center believes ultimately it may be closer to a mushroom or a plant seed pod. The concern now is how did it get in the water system?
“If a piece that big got in what else got in,” said Waite.
The Medford Water Commission Director Ben Klayman says the agency tested the woman’s apartment on Tuesday. It confirmed everything tested normal. While the commission still hasn’t done any tests on the actual specimen, chances are it won’t be a Demogorgon popping out of any faucets. The commission says it expects to have the “thing” by Tuesday night to get a better sense of what they’re dealing with.
Still, if anything were to pop out, some residents hope for better things.
“I’d rather find a diamond ring,” said Nitowski.
The research center says while it may not have been able to identify the specimen that doesn’t mean it’s something new. It might just be a species of plant from the area they haven’t been made aware of.
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