Horror as raw chicken 'comes back to life’, crawls off table

 Wrong. The chicken does not want to be cooked thank you (Image: Facebook)

The term 'running around like a headless chicken' has its origins in what many farmers know - chooks can indeed continue to run about after their heads are chopped off.

It is commonly believed that headless chickens run because many of the birds' reflex movements are controlled by their brain stems, not their brains - meaning a chicken will sometimes continue to race about.

But raw chicken 'coming back to life'?

A viral video appearing to show a slab of chicken on the plate full of raw meat wriggling then hoisting itself off the table is baffling the internet.

The footage shows a piece of raw chicken begins to twitch towards the plate's edge, almost as if it's escaping, then launches off the table and falls to the ground as a diner screams.

It is unclear where the footage was filmed - although many viewers have noted chopsticks on the table.

And it's even less clear how a very dead chicken has supposedly managed to 'reanimate.'

The footage posted on Facebook by Rie Phillips two weeks ago was full of theories.

Some wondered whether it is possible for a freshly slaughtered chicken's severed parts to still be firing off nerve signals.

One person suggested: "Usually because the meat is so fresh the muscles can still move."

Another didn't need any answers, writing: "Hell no if my food is walking, I’m walking too."

We slowed down the footage to show how the chicken appears to jerk unnaturally from one second to another.

So without any scientists - or perhaps special effects experts - to enlighten us all, it was left to one Facebook commenter to sum up the internet's reaction: "What the actual #%*$"