A man who was mowing his lawn was suddenly attacked by a swarm of hornets and found the whole thing funny when he realized that the whole thing had been caught on camera.

Kevin Wille, 35, of Missouri, was taking up lawn care after putting it off “longer than I care to admit,” but he had to stop when he was suddenly stung from all sides.

Although hornet stings are painful and the experience must have been frightening, Wille said Newsweek: “If I made even a fraction of the people who watched me cross a hornet’s nest laugh or even just make their day a little better, then it was worth it.”

Wille shared a video of the moment the cameras at his house captured the hornet attack on the Reddit subreddit r/funny on August 22. It garnered over 24,000 likes, and within days the clip had been viewed over 4.5 million times.

It shows Wille dutifully pushing a lawnmower through his garden when he suddenly stops, touches his leg and looks around in confusion. However, he continues walking and takes a few more steps.

Seconds later, he starts waving his arms and realizes what is happening. He immediately takes off running to the other side of the house. The camera follows him until he disappears from view.

Wille had “no idea” that hornets were in his yard. The first time he was stung, he thought “my lawnmower had thrown up a rock that hit me in the leg. But it turns out they were trying to warn me.”

“When I realized what was actually happening, my fight-or-flight response kicked in, which turned out to be pretty weird,” Wille added.

He shared the video on Reddit via his account u/kwkevin287 with the title “I walked over a wasps nest,” but said Newsweek He later learned that they were ground hornets.

Ground hornets are close relatives of wasps and can build underground nests up to 10 inches deep, according to Pinnacle Pest Control. While they are not as aggressive as other species, they can deliver a painful sting if they feel threatened.

Wille turned his painful experience into something positive when he realized his home surveillance camera had recorded the video. He watched it “20 times” before sharing it with his friends on Snapchat.

“The overwhelming majority of my friends responded telling me to post it, and I did,” Wille said.

On Reddit, he wrote in a caption that he had been stung seven times. Users were horrified. One wrote: “THAT. MEANS. WAR.”

“You say the lawnmower is still running today,” wrote another, with a commenter adding that they “cringed when you took off running.”

Others told their own stories. One wrote that he had previously “driven over several anthills without realizing it until they were all over me and biting.”

And one comment said: “I was 15 and walked into a hornet’s nest. I felt like I was on fire. I ran in and jumped in the shower. They were under my shirt and jeans as I stripped under the ice cold water.”

Network technician Wille said he was always afraid that a snake would appear and bite him while mowing the lawn, but he never expected to be attacked by ground wasps. He was overwhelmed by the huge response to his video.

“I never expected such a response,” said Wille, describing the millions of views as “the highest number I have ever personally experienced.”

He added: “I would not recommend trying this at home.”

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