If you have a fear of moths, you’ll be thanking your lucky stars you’re not the person in this story.
A foreigner living in Singapore recently spotted a huge moth in her home. Shocked by its appearance, she shared a clip of it on Xiaohongshu with the caption: “Can anyone tell me what this is.”
She added: “I spotted a black patch on the kitchen counter of my new home. After taking a photo, I realised that the pattern on its head resembles a human face.”
The moth she spotted, with patterns in the shade of brown and black, looks to be about the size of a packet drink. And the ‘face’ she mentioned? We totally see it.
According to some helpful netizens, she had encountered a greater death’s-head hawk moth, an uncommon species that can grow up to 13cm in wingspan.
When you look at it upside down, its pattern gives the illusion of a skull, hence its name. It also has the reputation for being an omen of death.
While some of us would immediately run or move house upon seeing the gigantic moth, the woman was brave enough to get close and cover it with a cardboard box. She also placed a spray bottle filled with water on top to hold it down.
The moth began jostling around in the box the minute it was trapped, and the woman described its movements as “very strong” and “very scary”.
The sound of it thumping against the cardboard, combined with its soft screeching, is what nightmares are made of.
Turns out, the death’s head hawk moth jumps around when threatened. It also squeaks when disturbed, which is part of its defense mechanism used to deter bees from attacking when in the wild.
The woman was advised by netizens to leave the moth alone and wait for it to fly away on its own.
We know what we’ll do: move.
Photos: 小小七/ Xiao Hong Shu