not from the lord

Last night, as I was getting ready for bed ... the NASTIEST of all bugs crawled across my carpet and under my bed. You must know that I grew up catching bugs with my neighborhood friends. I like bugs - they fascinate me and they are fun to catch. But, when they are nasty and CRAWLING ACROSS MY FLOOR I get a little freaked out ... I actually screamed (and I'm not a screamer, normally) because this thing was stinkin' nasty!! I am honestly REALLY freaked out right now while sitting in my bed writing this post. It is likely the creature is still in my room. I searched for him under my bed last night, but finally gave up. Then when I crawled into bed about 10 minutes later, I saw him (or another one!) crawling up the wall on the other side of the room. I walked up to him in an attempt to catch him, but I chickened-out as he dashed across the wall with his nasty body. yuck.

So, I decided to do a little research this evening. I could best describe this demon bug as a cross between a silverfish (although MUCH larger) and a centipede. It was long and slender with about one million legs and the longest antennas I have EVER seen on any creature. I thought I would try looking up "silverfish centipede" ... and I found it!! There was a picture of this ungodly creature ... the HOUSE CENTIPEDE!! The picture clearly shows his nasty-ness, although I'm not sure it accurately portrays his size - he was big (and nasty!).

I've been doing a little more research and it is likely that I will pee my pants before the night is over. I am REALLY freaked out right now ... and apparently I'm not the only one. I found a site dedicated to the "Scutigera-coleoptrata" by someone in Washington who has been haunted by their presence. He says, "sitting in the newly renovated sink was the ugliest creature I have ever seen. [amen!!] 15 pair of long skinny legs, two long antennae, and an inch and a half-long body ... the house centipedes are hunters. They capture and eat live prey, particulary smaller insects ... no amount of pesticide will get ride of them, and they rarely venture out in the open during the day, so controlling them by killing them on sight is nearly impossible ... And if you and I don't kill them, they're not going anywhere ... Unlike a fly, which basically lives as long as it takes to reproduce, the house centipede has a life span of up to about 5 years. [what the heck!!??!!] And it's not like killing them is easy once you find one. [amen again!] Their reaction time and senses are very good."

I also read on another site that you have to kill them as soon as you find them because they breed like crazy. Once again, this is nasty. Pray for me ... it may be a rough night :)



For some reason, this photo looks like a small/common cricket (with too many legs). However, I assure you that the creature I saw looked MUCH larger and nastier than this. You would be scared.