Awful Infestations

Doctors investigating the cause of severe headaches and facial itching in a young child discover that ants have crawled in his ear and infested his brain.

Email prank warns of deadly South American "blush spiders" (scientific name: Arachnius gluteus, or "butt spider") migrating to the U.S. in airliner bathrooms and lurking under public toilet seats everywhere.

Recycled email hoax warns of the dangers of the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata), purportedly a poisonous spider from Indonesia that hides under toilet seats and is responsible for the deaths of five people in North Florida.

Email rumor attributes an increase in bedbug infestations to infested clothing, bedding, and towels imported from foreign countries for sale in the U.S.

The unbelievable-but-apparently-true saga of 13-year-old Chandan Goswami of India, the boy who urinated live, winged beetles.

Question of the day: Can maggots infest the brain tissue of living human beings? Plus, a meditation on brain-eating snails. Lunch afterwards!

For your edification, some emailed photos showing a man whose brain allegedly became infested with maggots as a result of an untreated ingrown hair (or perhaps eating sushi).

Viral image and video purport to document the medical case of anthropologist Susan McKinley, who failed to seek treatment for a rash and wound up with an infestation of larvae in her breast.

Emailed pictures purport to show the progressive deterioration of a necrotic wound caused by the bite of a poisonous brown recluse spider.

According to this online urban legend, a woman in California got sick after cutting her tongue on an envelope infested with cockroach eggs. Days later, her doctor discovered something growing inside her tongue.

Forwarded email warns that dark-colored straws offered with soft drinks in fast food restaurants are likely to contain cockroach eggs or excrement.

The title says it all. Six variations on a fast-food horror story which you may or may not have heard before.

Revolting photos show the surgical removal of a live worm from the eye of an unfortunate patient who purportedly contracted the parasite from ordinary house dust.

A family receives a cactus as a gift and gives it place of honor in their living room. Weeks later, someone notices that it seems to be... quivering!

Emailed photos purport to show an infestation of maggots or insect eggs in the cream filling of an Oreo cookie. Yum!

Read this cautionary tale and learn a very good reason never to sleep with a necrophiliac (as if you needed one).

Has your computer ever hissed at you? Here's a tale, complete with shocking photos, of a woman who probably wishes she'd called Animal Control instead of Tech Support when her PC began making strange noises.

If you think those little green grass snakes are totally harmless, you've got another think coming!

A shopper in a department store is handling a coat, blanket, rug, or mattress (etc.), suddenly feels a sharp pain, and collapses. It turns out she was bitten by a snake hiding in the merchandise.

Viral images show a 5-foot-long rat snake lurking inside a floral wreath on the front door of a home near Slidell, LA.

A child dies after being bitten by rattlesnakes lurking in a fast food restaurant play area.

Emailed photos purport to show a nest of baby copperhead snakes found in the bottom of a plastic flower pot purchased at a grocery store.

Can spider eggs hatch inside a person's body? Here are two variants of an urban legend about a truly horrible infestation!