One rainy day a few years ago, I was with a group of friends coming out of someone's house when one of us kicked what looked like a twig - until it twitched out of the way of his foot. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a worm - by far and away the biggest worm any of us had ever seen. It was not very much thicker than a normal earthworm, but incredibly long - from what we could see above the pavement, it must have been more than a foot.

As we stood around remarking to one another on the size of the thing - you just don't get worms that size in England - someone noticed that just a foot or so further on was another one, at least as big as the first! Looking around, we realised that it was not just the two of them - every foot or two along the street there was another of these tentacular, oversized worms reaching out from beneath the pavement, exploring the wet ground. There were far more worms out than I've ever seen in one place, and every one of them was as long as my forearm. We started to get a little creeped out when we found the same thing on the other side of the road. When it turned out the next street was full of them too, we decided we would feel safer walking out in the middle of the road.

At least three or four adjoining streets were lined with these things. When I went back the next day, they were all gone. I have no idea where they came from, nor where they went; I don't think any of us ever saw another giant worm in the neighbourhood.

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