Hoboken 'Worm Tornadoes' Cause A Stir

HOBOKEN, NJ — After a Hoboken councilwoman posted a neighbor's photos of hundreds of worms circling on sidewalks near the Hoboken waterfront Thursday morning, social media users rushed to either explain the "worm tornadoes" or express just how grossed out they were — and they were pretty grossed out.

[UPDATE: Several Scientists Try To Explain Hoboken 'Worm Tornadoes']

A Rutgers scientist even weighed in on the unusual circular formations (see below).

"Worm Tornado?" Tweeted Tiffanie Fisher, who represents the upper waterfront area. "Has anyone ever seen anything like this?"

Amid the 117 retweets and 42 comments, observers responded:

Gross!!
— Deborah Peterson (@DpdelanoDeborah) https://twitter.com/DpdelanoDe... 26, 2021

The worms were several hundred feet upland, on the concrete walkway outside a condo building called Maxwell Place, which replaced the Maxwell House Coffee plant that closed in Hoboken in 1992.

While the swirls of worms were on sidewalks and steps, they did not appear close to the waterfront, so it's unlikely that they were simply deposited there by aggressive tides.

Fisher and others sought explanations from biologists and relevant academics about what kind of worms they were, and why they were in such a formation. While it had rained the night before the worms appeared on Thursday, they did not reappear after another rain Thursday night into Friday (we checked).

TY! I’ve learned today that Apparently earthworm herding is a thing... I’ve reached out to the authors to see if they can shed any light on the #wormtornado https://t.co/MGSUmg2NyH
— Tiffanie Fisher, Councilwoman (@Tiffanie_Fisher) https://twitter.com/Tiffanie_F... 26, 2021

Residents linked to articles that might explain the phenomenon, amid their retching emojis. Some referenced the "ant balls" that form in hurricanes and floods (because you weren't grossed out enough).

Could the matter be related to the environmental changes that have brought a seal and some deer to the mile-square New Jersey town in the last 12 months? D'Oh, A Deer! Two Deer Run Through Hoboken

The director of the Rutgers Plant Diagnostic Lab offered a theory, and asked Fisher to try to get samples to be sure. Fisher asked her constituents on Facebook to get samples, but by afternoon, the worms had dried out.

Councilwoman Fisher said on Friday, "What a great response we received from people around the world. We all cringed, laughed, and learned at the same time!"

Meanwhile, NASA says that the next full moon this Sunday is the "worm moon," named by the Native Americans "after the earthworm casts that appear as the ground thaws." Could this week's warm temperatures have helped push the worms to the surface?

Patch will update this story as we get more squirmy details.

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