A resident became spooked when she uncovered this bright white eight-legged critter lurking in her garden shed.

Samantha Shwalbe-Askey was packing away bubble-wrap, when the lone stranger flickered into her vision, causing her to slowly back away, closing the door behind her.

The retired 64-year-old, of Shepherd’s Walk in Hythe, said: “I had to do a double take because I had never seen anything like it before, it looks like trouble.

“I’m not a huge fan of spiders, but if they’re in my vision I’m okay with them, it’s just when they suddenly scuttle off.

“But this one in my shed gives me the heebie-jeebies.

“I know nothing about the spider other than the fact that I decided he now has ownership of the shed, and I would get the legal paperwork sorted immediately. “

Attempting to identify the species, Samantha took to social media networking site Facebook and posted a photo of her eight-legged visitor, causing a swirl of speculation.

Some suggested it could be a relatively rare albino spider, while others suggested a colour-changing species of crab spider.

Samantha continued: “I hadn’t opened the shed door for weeks, and I don’t think I will again, if that one spider is in there what else could be in there?

“I just wonder what kind of spider it is, I’ve never seen one that looks like that before. There’s also what looks like a nest-like structure attached to the ceiling.

“It’s certainly not part of the shed.”

But some eagle-eyed residents proposed the shed-dweller was a common cellar spider infected with a fungus that targets vertebrates.

It is commonly believed the cellar spider is particularly prone to the fungus, because it thrives in similarly damp conditions.

Once the fungus is established the spores rapidly infect other spiders nearby.

A quick internet search suggests the small beige cocoon, which can be seen in the picture, is in fact a small wasp nest.

It comes after an all-white species was spotted in a garden in Barming, Maidstone in 2014, believed to a crab spider.