One man was trying to get some yard work done when he stumbled upon something that looked like it belonged in a science-fiction horror movie.
In a TikTok that has racked up nearly 2.5 million views, Lizziemcguireoffficial (@lizziemcguireoffficial) explains that he spotted a cream-colored object covered in pinkish vein-like markings. To make matters worse, the thing appeared to be alive.
“Help me,” he says in his TikTok. “So I’m out here working in the yard. And I’m walking through the grass. I look down, and this thing scares the [expletive] out of me.”
He then flips the camera from himself to the ground, revealing the strange-looking orb sitting among the grass and clover.
“Can anyone tell me what the [expletive] this thing is?” he asks.
Just as he finishes his sentence, the object appears to slightly jostle.
The unexpected movement presumably had Lizziemcguireoffficial scrambling. He drops his phone and records blurry tree branches against the sky, reminiscent of a shot from a found-footage monster film.
While the thing looks like something extraterrestrial, there’s a fairly banal explanation for what it might be.
What is the Mysterious Orb?
One possibility is that the object is an oak gall, an abnormal growth on oak tree branches caused by certain insects, particularly wasps.
Oak galls come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Ohio State University assistant professor Joe Boggs photographed around 30, which look drastically different from one another.
They can be spiky, they can be fluffy, they can look like apples, and yes, they can be pink.
These growths form when a female wasp lays eggs in a developing leaf. A mass (or “gall”) forms around the larvae, essentially acting as a nursery to protect them until they metamorphose, at which point they dig themselves out.
Because it is a parasitic process, “the oak tree is tricked into funneling nutrients to the gall to feed the larvae,” which gives the wasps-to-be all the food and shelter they could want.
According to Brandywine Conservancy, “Most galls, especially on leaves, do not hurt the oak tree, and the wasps aren’t harmful to people either.” They note that on the contrary, like many insects, the wasps that emerge from these galls are part of an ecosystem and provide “a beneficial source of food for … native wildlife.”
Can Oak Galls Move?
Oak galls themselves aren’t alive, but the insects within them are. This can cause movement.
One example is the jumping oak gall, which, true to its name, appears to “jump” after falling to the ground “due to vigorous movements of larvae within each gall.” However, jumping oak galls appear to be much, much smaller than the object in Lizziemcguireoffficial’s TikTok.
Identifying the orb from the video alone is difficult. Some commenters even suggested it could be a mushroom, or a snake or bird egg. It’s also possible that the movement was caused by an insect underneath it.
But an image of an acorn plum gall on the gall identification guide, Gallformers, looks nearly identical to the orb in the man’s video. It’s possible that he captured the very moment a wasp decided to make its debut to the world.
Still, some commenters had more interesting theories.
“It’s a gnome egg sac. Leave it for a bit, and it’ll grow a new gnome,” wrote one viewer.
“It’s a jawbreaker, strawberry cheesecake flavor 10/10,” suggested another.
Whatever the case, Lizziemcguireoffficial’s reaction suggests he wasn’t going to stick around to find out.
@lizziemcguireoffficial
Subplot reached out to Lizziemcguireoffficial via TikTok direct message.
