Random Truly Strange Infestations That Could Be Taking Over Your House Right Now (12 items)

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  (#1) Spider

  • Araneae

  Spiders are often found indoors, but a few horror stories really stand out. For proof, look no further than the Torsts and their "spider house" of terror.

  The Missouri couple bought a home in Weldon Spring country club in 2007. But they soon noticed a huge spider problem. And these weren't just any spiders – the house was infested with over 6,000 brown recluses, which can be quite dangerous. The Torsts weren't able to stay, and eventually had to tent the house. They then sued the company that sold the house, for pretty obvious reasons.
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  (#2) House centipede

  • Scutigera coleoptrata

  If you've never heard of house centipedes before, get ready to feel creeped out. These nocturnal animals like cool damp places to live, like your bathroom. They can administer venom through their legs, smell really bad, and live for up to seven years. They also have so many legs you won't know where to look.

  These guys live in lots of houses, but one city in particular becomes infested with them pretty much every year: Montreal. Hundreds of them pop up each spring and summer, and they're hard to get rid of, since they live in tiny cracks and dark basements. Even professionals struggle to exterminate them.
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  (#3) Scorpion

  • Scorpiones

  Arizona homes are often the target of scorpion infestations, which pose a number of problems. Scorpions are venomous and difficult to kill, and some can live for a decade or more. In other words, they're hardly the ideal house guest. One family in Phoenix would be inclined to agree.

  As the weather began to get better, Asur Cammarato started to notice scorpions turning up in her apartment. At first it was only one or two, but then she began to find dozens. The mother began making her kids check for the creatures, and her baby could not play on the floor with toys. Even then, their stings were a problem. When she told building management, they didn't seem to do much. Cammarato was basically left to deal with this nightmare on her own.
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  (#4) Giant Snails

  An infestation of this magnitude could only happen in Florida. Giant snails began showing up in the southern part of the state in 2011, seemingly out of nowhere. One particular small neighborhood, Davie, was hit hard in some truly gruesome ways. 

  These snails eat plants, but they also eat plaster and stucco in order to replenish their shells. As you might guess, that made them an absolute menace to houses. People found their walls damaged and their yards destroyed by the massive creatures, which can grow to over eight inches in size. The snails also carry parasites that cause meningitis, and one resident's German Shepherd was infected.

  Hundreds of snails have been removed from Davie, and the infestation seems to be under control. But this is one of the most invasive snail species in the world, so it may only be a matter of time before they pop up somewhere else.
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  (#5) Garter snake

  • Thamnophis

  Buying your dream home is usually cause for celebration. Unfortunately for one family, the celebration was short-lived. When Angie Whitley and her family moved into their new Minnesota home, they thought everything was perfect – until Whitley brought her first box to her bedroom and found a snake. At first, she thought it was a fluke. But six months later, she'd found about 95 snakes inside the house, and hundreds more outside. Even some of the exterminators who came to help acknowledged that it was a very extreme snake infestation. 

  How did it happen? Pest experts told Whitley there was a garter snake nest somewhere under the foundation. The newly hatched snakes came into the home because it was warmer and more comfortable. The infestation has cost the family thousands of dollars in failed attempts to rid the place of them.
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  (#6) Bee

  When weird stuff starts to drip down the walls of your home, it's rarely a good sign, even if it's honey. Latanja Levine moved into a little fixer-upper house in Texas, but in 2017 she noticed a golden goo coming down from the ceiling and decided to investigate. What she discovered was a whole lot of bees. At least 50,000 had infested the space above her ceiling, and were setting up shop for a long breeding season. Levine had a professional smoke them out, but maybe they'll be back.

  This isn't all that unusual, either. Honey-filled attics have been found in Arizona, Wales, and many other locations. Just remember, if your walls are dripping, listen for buzzing, then call a professional. Most can remove the bees without harming them.
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  (#7) Monkey

  You probably don't need to worry about a monkey infestation in the United States, but if you live in India you know they can be a serious problem. There are at least 50 million monkeys in India, and they can cause a lot of damage when they infest a place. Chittorgarh Fort, for instance, became so infested with monkeys that the landmark began to crumble due to their behavior.

  What's more, these monkeys have quite a taste for alcohol. They booze up, break into houses, steal things, and hurt people. Their bites cause infections and spread diseases, and they leave towns covered in waste. In one particularly shocking case in 2007, the mayor of Delhi was pushed from a balcony and attacked by monkeys, and eventually died from his injuries.
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  (#8) Squirrel

  • Sciuridae

  Squirrels are smart creatures, and sometimes they decide that instead of building their own homes, they'd rather use ours. Ward's family had just such a problem with their old Victorian home. They began to hear scratching and chewing noises in the walls, and when they went to the attic, they found a nest of squirrels had taken up residence there, and were multiplying alarmingly quickly. What's worse, their son contracted a disease because of the infestation, and had to have emergency surgery to save his life.

  Squirrel infestations like this are more common than you might think, and they can be dangerous. Veterinarian David Kolins says that every year, roughly 30,000 fires in the US are thought to be caused by squirrels chewing on wires.
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  (#9) Bat

  • Chiroptera

  Sure, bats stereotypically hang out in attics – but what about endangered bats? Television presenter Dick Strawbridge and his fiancee Angel had a run in with the winged creatures after they moved from Britain to France in 2016. They planned to fix up a beautiful, dilapidated French chateau. But when they arrived, they made an unpleasant discovery: an infestation of endangered bats on the top floor. Since they were a protected species, the bats could not be evicted from the home. The couple just had to work around them.

  This isn't the only case of endangered bats infesting a home. In Coral Gables, Florida, bat researchers found a very rare endangered bat species living in an old home by a golf course in 2014. However, new owners wanted to fix up the home, and in this case the bats were moved out.
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  (#10) Gypsy Moths

  Connecticut, Massachusetts, and other northern states have a serious problem with gypsy moths. Residents can't kill the caterpillars or the moths fast enough, and the little guys can cause some serious damage due to their tendency to destroy wood. 

  Ledyard, CT, is one particular area that is heavily infested, as Lorraine Healy will readily attest. She had to cut down multiple trees that were getting chewed on by moths, since they posed a danger of falling. But after paying thousands of dollars to have the trees removed, Healy woke up one morning to find her yard and home completely covered with caterpillars.

  Healy says the infestation is under control for now, but she takes yearly precautions to make sure they don't return. Other people haven't been so lucky, and continue to struggle with swarms of moths.
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  (#11) Gecko

  • Gekkonidae

  While having a few geckos around your house doesn't sound like a huge deal, a whole lot of them can be a nightmare. In the United States, gecko infestations are not uncommon in Texas and other southern states, and they can get pretty out of hand. But one writer really got to know what a gecko infestation is like while he was staying in Panama.

  Karl Rover was staying at his stepson's place in Panama City, when he first ran across the geckos. He didn't mind them – until he moved into his own house, and found out his new pad was infested with the things. Their poop was everywhere, they'd get stuck in insect traps, and were constant underfoot. They were also incredibly loud, making it difficult for him to sleep. Ultimately, though, Rover decided he'd just have to live with them.
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  (#12) Frog

  • Anura

  Paul Marinaccio was afraid of frogs. Luckily, he had a 40-acre property in New York that was totally frog free – until a nearby development project turned his little slice of paradise into his own personal hell.

  The runoff created a water flow that brought a whole lot of debris to his property... and also a whole lot of frogs. The animals infested Marinaccio's land to the point that he couldn't even get to his garage for fear of the massive numbers of amphibians just outside his door. It rattled him so badly that he could barely leave the house, and he eventually sued the company in charge of the development for all the suffering he had incurred. Marinaccio won $1.6 million from the case.

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