What IS that? 'Forest ghoul' caught on camera in dead of night by a deer hunter

By Matt Blake
Last updated at 7:07 PM on 10th December 2010

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If you go down to the woods tonight... you probably won't believe your eyes.

Because judging by footage from a hunting firm's website, this crouching phantom looks like Spider-Man has swung on to the set of the Blair Witch Project.

A deer hunter in the U.S. posted a video said to feature the creature on the Wildgame Innovations website - and the piercing white eyes aren't the sort you would want to meet on a dark night.

Enchanted wood: This mysterious creature was snapped by a deer hunter on a reserve in Berwick near Morgan City, Louisiana

Creepy crawler: The hunter, who insists it is not a hoax, posted the image on the Wildgames Innovations website

The hunter said he was lying in wait in the pitch black when a ghoulish spectre filled his sights.

Its eyes glowing in the light of his torch, it leapt from the undergrowth and flashed a look at the camera before vanishing back into the bushes.

Are they related? The 'forest ghoul' bears a resemblance to Spider-Man, whose latest screen outing has just gone into production

The hunter, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was so frightened he said he broke the camera but retrieved the image from its undamaged memory chip.

The picture was taken on a reserve in Berwick near Morgan City, Louisiana.

Internet users agree the whole thing is merely a hoax - and one comment posted claimed the figure had been stolen from a video game he had seen two years ago.

But the hunter insisted it is not a hoax.

Conspiracy theorists will no doubt note the similarity between the figure's crouching pose and that used by Spider-Man, whose latest big-screen adventure has just begun shooting.

The as-yet untitled fourth Spider-Man is due to be released in July 2012 and will go back to the beginning of the Peter Parker story.

And with producers known to go to any lengths to promote forthcoming movies, there is always the chance this 'mystery' could run and run.

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