Hold on to your hat, Jerry. I had to Google corn smut and it turns out that huitlacoche, or corn fungus or corn truffles are non-poisonous, edible, and a delicacy, especially in Mexico. For myself, it's an ear of corn I would not buy.
Me either! Scaried the crap out of my wife and daughter. As a child in Missouri and California where my father help grow a lot of corn, never saw anything like it.