ANIMAL PLANET GETS INSIDE YOUR HEAD - AND BODY - WHEN "MONSTERS INSIDE ME" RETURNS THIS OCTOBER

-- Fear the Unseen When the Series Returns Thursday, October 6 at 10 PM (ET/PT) --

(New York) - Forget scorpions, snakes and spiders; the new season of Animal Planet's MONSTERS INSIDE ME is what will keep you up at night. The frightening-fan-favorite series returns Thursday, October 6 at 10 PM ET/PT with cases that are truly the stuff of nightmares. Biologist Dr. Dan Riskin is back as host and provides scientific perspective on the terrors plaguing these unsuspecting victims.

The new season kicks off with a special episode looking back at three of the craziest cases that have stumped viewers. The shocking stories continue with 15 new cases in five all-new episodes that could leave one second guessing their every move. From a toxic trinket and a disease transmitted from animals to an alarming eye infection and bacteria found in all freshwater environments, these microscopic monsters are closer than you think and ready to cause havoc to any body they can find.

This season follows mind-blowing mysteries including:

· In the small town of Bayou Vista, Texas, a man who has been experiencing a stabbing pain in his groin discovers it's not an infected ingrown hair as his doctor suspected but a botfly that has been living in his scrotum.

· In Shalimar, a small town in Florida's panhandle, a woman begins gaining weight unexpectedly and starts having blurry vision. After being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and receiving medication, she believes she's on the mend but is shocked when the test reveals her breast implant has developed mold.

· A Tennessean man believes he has an acute infection after experiencing debilitating pain in his left hand and is given antibiotics. When the pain doesn't subside, additional tests conclude a barnacle has attached itself to his hand.