Before anyone interviewed a pasty Tom Cruise, tiny specialized finches were sipping the blood of boobies. Before Frankenstein was chased by a mob, we had the assassin bug. And before any parasite took over a Hollywood actor, snails had their eyes turned into rave lights.

Nature has been making real monsters for billions of years. Though we as a culture we’ve settled upon a few monster themes, the number of organisms in nature that would make your skin crawl (or crawl under your skin) far outpaces anything you’ve seen in theaters.

In the latest episode of Because Science, I explore just three of nature’s monsters, finding a vampire, a Frankenstein beast, and a body snatcher. Expect more spooky episodes all month!

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