I found this red tentacle monster at the base of a tree in the mulch, alongside some familiar bright yellow slime mold. I'm guessing it's some kind of fungus, but really I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it. There were two other single "tentacle" projections coming out from the mulch, each about a foot away from the central group. Edit: Added another photo of a different cluster. These ones had small egg shaped white objects near the bases of the tentacles. There were lots of flies on the tentacles; maybe they were shrivelled and rotting?