Okay, the quote is actually, “Something wicked this way comes.” A witch first said it in Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth.” Later it became the title of Ray Bradbury’s disturbingly dark fantasy novel, and later still, a Disney movie. Each foreshadows the approach or presence of something or someone evil. 

Thanks to an “AI Overview” that popped up when I searched the aforementioned phrase, I’m now aware of the compelling connection between these works and the phrase’s relationship to an experience I had in the Upper Delaware River region. 

At the time, I was traipsing down a forested trail when an offensive odor assaulted my olfactory sense. Let’s just say it stank enough to raise alarm on my part. Something was suddenly amiss. In fact, something (or someone!) was possibly decomposing nearby. Was there evil underway, or foul play?

I followed my nose in an attempt to find the source of the stench emanating from the shadowy woodland. Reminiscent of carrion or feces, it curled into the cavities of my sinuses, prompting me to hold my breath while searching for the scene of the crime. 

Just around a bend, the perpetrator lay on the ground, smeared with brownish-green slime and crawling with flies. A reddish-orange finger-like spike protruded from the leaf litter, pointing toward the sky like the victim of a crime. A corpse for sure! Call the coroner! 

But first, take stock and examine the evidence. Where were the rest of the remains? Had some animal made off with the body, leaving only a gnarled stub to mark the spot where something wicked might have transpired? 

Thankfully—nope.

Just a stinkhorn mushroom producing smelly slime to lure unwitting insects and trick them into doing its dirty work. And some happy flies only too willing to be accomplices to the “crime.” (While feeding on the goo, a bug’s feet become coated with the spore-laden substance and transport it to other locations). 

Another mystery solved in this world of natural wonders!