Kid finds meter-long earthworm in his backyard: 'Stuff of nightmares'

A nine-year-old New Zealand boy has shocked the world with his wriggly discovery.

Barnaby Domigan from Burnside, Christchurch, was playing around in his family garden when he came across one huge creepy crawly.

What looked at first like it might be just a large worm turned out to be an absolutely monstrous meter-long earthworm burrowed in the dirt.

Barnaby shows his dad Chris, who wasted no time snapping a picture of his son's discovery, which looked absolutely enormous being held on the end of a stick.

Meanwhile, the boy's mom, Jo, took to Facebook to share the creature.

See the meter-long worm below: 

"GUYS! This is an ACTUAL WORM Barnaby found in OUR backyard today!!!! Is this newsworthy!?! I think it’s newsworthy," the stunned mom captioned the photo per news.com.au.

It wasn't more before the lengthy invertebrate attracted hundreds of likes, comments, and shares. Local and global media were quick to reach out for more details about the shocking discovery.

In an interview with Stuff, Barnaby described the moment of his first encounter with the beast.

"I grabbed it with a stick. I thought wow, what an amazing discovery. I thought it was a worm, but I had no idea what it really was," the nine-year-old recalled.

Barnaby's mom said her son was very pleased with his discovery, and that he "thought it was wonderful".

"It was ginormous. He was most impressed with himself," she added.

However, she was less keen on the earthworm, which she dubbed the "stuff of nightmares."

Not discouraged by his mom's disapproval, Barnaby told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint program that he had named his new friend "Dead Fred".

A regular earthworm. Credit: Colin Varndell / Alamy

The young boy also revealed that he wanted to keep the worm as a pet - but that his dad had put his foot down.

"I tried to convince my dad to keep it in a plastic bag, but he wasn’t really in on that idea," he said, adding: "I think it’s because adults don’t really enjoy giant worms in their houses. If I was an adult, I would agree."

Amazingly, there has even been a song made about the youngster's discovery - check it out below:

"The story is now a song," Jo wrote on Facebook. "Our close family friend just so happens to be Music with Michal - recently crowned Best Children's Artist NZ - Michal thought it was hilarious how far and wide this story spread and so proud of Barney's interview that she wrote this amazing song"

Featured Image Credit: Chloe Parker / Alamy