When I was probably around eight years old, my grandfather from Indiana came to visit us. My mom would relegate either me or my sister to the hide-a-bed couch when he would visit so that he’d have his own room, and a more comfortable bed. I got to sleep in my own bedroom during this visit. I must have won a coin toss or something.
It was your average visit from my grandfather where he did the same things he always did, like teach me to play Blackjack, which wasn’t exactly a hit with my mom. She’s not anti-gambling so much, but I think she had a different career path in mind for us than learning the finer points of doubling down and drinking free beer in casinos. If those were our true interests, we could figure that out after getting college degrees.
Back to that visit, though. One night I was awakened by just the lightest touch. Ahhh...that feels like a butterfly wing caressing my cheek. That's no butterfly, I thought. I noticed by the glow of the nightlight that there was a moth in my room. I don’t like things that fly very much. Bugs and birds are equally creepy to me in the respect that they can both fly. And land on me. And poop in my hair.
Since the moth was flying around and he actually touched me, I couldn’t stay in the bedroom that night. I couldn’t think of an easy, quiet way to get him out of my bedroom and I could think of only one solution.
I tiptoed down the hall past the other bedrooms with my pillow in hand. I removed my bath towel from the towel rack, determined I had not been followed, and promptly closed and locked the bathroom door. It’s well-known that moths have lock-picking capabilities rivaling Houdini's. I used the towel to cover the opening along the bottom of the bathroom door and lay down on the floor to get some sleep.
I don’t have any idea how much time had passed, but it was still dark, and there was suddenly a banging on the bathroom door. I opened the door to find my very pissed off parents demanding to know why I was in the bathroom in the middle of the night with the door locked. Apparently, they were less than ecstatic to have my grandfather wake them up because he needed to pee and couldn’t access the bathroom.
I haven’t really ever lived that down and I'm kind of overly paranoid. I don't resort to sleeping on bathroom floors anymore if one appears. Ewww! I don't know where this fear originated, but that's my moth story.
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Comments: 46
-R.
They found it VERY amazing, especially that I knew all that stuff.
There was only one time that a moth startled me.
It was a huge "Luna" moth and it flew in my face while hiking in the woods.
Of course anything bright lime green and about 4 inches across hits you in the face while hiking at night is gonna mess your drawers!
VERY good story Janell!
Next time i lock myself out of the house, I will call a moth!
My mind can really get jumbled up at times while thinking about 20 things at once.
Its a true curse.
Your bedroom moth story made me think of being awakened out of a deap sleep by the sound of Dracula flying around my room. That same leathery wing sound was pretty loud and freaky until I turned on the light and saw it was only a little Brown Bat. Probably not much bigger than Gary's Luna Moth.
-R.
Try forgetting something you really dont want to remember and finding you simply cant.
How about being invaded by Tarantulas ?? Now that's creepy. The boys scream for me even in the middle of the night to rescue them !! So I get rid of the spiders.
But if I should happen upon one while driving the car, I will have a heart attack !!!
LOL
I don't believe I've ever been bitten by spiders. I don't want to know if I have. Thankfully, none of the ones in my area are dangerous to humans. That doesn't mean that my cat didn't get lots of praise and extra affection for killing that giant house spider a few weeks ago. I'm not exaggerating, that thing was the size of an adult mouse.
I have been bitten in several places last night, and I haven't even seen one yet. I hate them !!
I once saw a small woodpecker attacking a Pandora moth caccoon, apparently they don't like them either.
Moths are alluring and beautiful in my eyes~ EXCEPT FOR GRAIN MOTHS~ THEY ARE DISGUSTING AND MUST DIE!~ ;)
Good call!
But, I understand phobias about other bugs! I'm not sure where my fear of beetles comes from. I have such a vague memory. But, beetles of all sorts give me the willies, even though most of them are actually harmless to humans.
Of course, it didn't help when years ago in more than one place I lived with other people that June Bugs would get into the houses or on their porches. I didn't want to kill them, but I didn't want anything to do with them and definitely didn't want them to be in the same room with me. I would try to take the broom to them to shoo them back outside. The darn things would literally stand up on their back four legs, wave their front legs (looking like a guy getting ready to duke it out in a boxing ring) and they would make this horrible hissing sound. Bet you didn't know those things were as big as two adult mice put together and could stand their ground against being swept away by a broom.
One thing that makes me not want to kill beetles, besides their just being scary and creepy, is that I can't stand the thought of c-r-u-n-c-h that I know I will have to hear from their exoskeletons.
And, I learned in high school German class that June Bugs do bite. So, not all beetles are so benign. Unlike the fuzzy looking moths that mostly just get confused by porch lights and such, because they're guided in nature by the light of the moon. Thus, the Luna Moth's name.