'Haunted monstrosity': Is this New Zealand's scariest garden gnome?

Meet Po, a haunted, children-scaring garden feature terrorising Wellington. Photo / Supplied

Nearly 20 years after the children's television show Teletubbies ended, the show's cuddly red character Po has come back to terrorise Wellingtonians.

A scary 1.3-metre Po garden gnome has gone viral after owner Molly Johnson put it up for sale online.

It's attracted many bidders, but the "monstrosity" of a garden feature comes with a warning after scaring numerous children and animals.

Johnson told the Herald it's time to part ways with the "alarming piece of art", which scared her dog for two years.

"I originally saw it online from a lady who was selling it for a dollar because her children were afraid of it. I told my husband 'we're getting it'. He sulked the entire time we owned it!

"It looks like it has teeth. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen. Not even I liked going outside at night. It's since had pride of place in my garden for two years.

"We've had Po long enough, and we've just purchased a house and my husband said it's too heavy to move. So I thought it's time to share the love around."

In Johnson's sale pitch, she described the unique garden feature as "a useless, heavy, alarming piece of so-called art" that was "haunted", "ideal for scaring children" and "definitely the statement piece of 2020".

Her post attracted thousands of comments, polarising viewers as to whether it was beautiful or potentially New Zealand's worst garden feature.

Meet Po, a haunted, children-scaring garden feature terrorising Wellington. Photo / Supplied

"I'm terrified, get that f**king thing away from me," one punter said.

Another added: "Po is scary. Would give me nightmares. Do you really want this greeting you at 3am?"

Johnson confirmed Po has since been sold for $100 and the new owners are stoked at their latest purchase.

Although Johnson says Po is a "burglar deterrent", she's happy the haunted artwork is gone.

"I'm so glad it's gone. The new owners sent me a photo of Po smiling into their lounge. They sent me a text just to clarify if I was joking as to whether it was haunted or not.

"This is the type of thing you'd sell and then people would suddenly go missing."

It's not the first time a Teletubby has scared viewers.

The See Saw episode contained a lion and a bear made of moving cutouts that appeared incredibly creepy and frightened children so much it had to be banned.