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A Reddit user’s short trip away from home ended with an unpleasant surprise—a strange orange-colored fungus-like growth sprouting from a wall inside their house.
Posted on August 6 by u/BlGMAK in the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, the thread titled “Went on vacation and came back to this,” quickly drew attention, amassing 4,600 upvotes and hundreds of comments. The accompanying photo shows the textured growth protruding from the wall, prompting disgust, curiosity and plenty of jokes from viewers.
“I was gone for two days,” the caption of the post read. In a later comment, the poster said, “I think it’s fungus,” describing it as “dry and crunchy.” They did not specify which room of the home the growth was found in.
Charlie Leduc, director of operations with Canadian microbiological testing company Axxonlab, reviewed the image in the Reddit post and told Newsweek that the location appeared to be “a bathroom shower shelf with poor caulking, allowing moisture to penetrate the corner seam, saturating the hardwood—framing stud—behind the wall.”
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Leduc noted that the fungal structure looked to be in an advanced stage of drying. “It would probably take days/weeks for a mushroom to look that dry and brown/yellow,” he said. “While the photo is good, it’s not enough for identification. The mushroom seems to already be in a state of decay, likely due to a lack of moisture as a result of the occupants being away for several days.”
He explained that for mushroom to grow inside a home, there must be prolonged saturation of a hardwood or other structural component. “While mold can develop rapidly on porous surfaces like drywall or dust—within 24 to 48 hours—this is not the case for mushroom growth,” Leduc said.
The appearance of fungi indoors is not uncommon, particularly in damp or poorly ventilated areas. A January 2024 study in the Journal of Fungi found that “the number of buildings experiencing humidity problems and fungal growth appears to be increasing as energy-saving measures and changes in construction practices and climate become more common.”
The study identified increased humidity as “the most critical factor for indoor fungal growth,” often linked to condensation, water damage from leaks, or flooding. It also noted that heightened moisture can damage building materials and release chemical emissions. The study noted that the World Health Organization has estimated that 10 to 50 percent of homes in Europe, North America, Australia, India and Japan face moisture-related issues.
In the case of the Reddit post, Leduc said the suspected fungus likely started developing long before the two-day trip. “For mushrooms…to grow inside a residential environment and building materials, moisture needs to saturate a hardwood… for a prolonged period of time,” he said, adding that the decay seen in the photo suggested the fruiting body had already peaked before the homeowner’s return.
Reactions to the post ranged from morbid fascination to outright revulsion. U/Used_Macaroon_2328 simply asked: “What IS that…” while others warned that the visible growth could be a sign of deeper damage.
Some Redditors responded with humor. U/Alternative-Golf-585 quipped: “There’s a fungus among us,” while u/whhaaaaaatttt referenced Star Wars, writing: “That’s no fungus, that’s a space station.” Others were unsettled by the sight. U/belgravya said: “This is so disgusting. That shower is a tear out.” Another commenter, u/protomenace, warned: “This is only the part you can see. The part inside your wall is probably 10-20x more pervasive… You might have a plumbing leak behind there causing moisture buildup which the fungus is feeding on.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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