When I was little, my family spent a lot of time with my parents’ friends the Bennions. My first memory of visiting the Bennions was when they lived somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley, in Murray, maybe? In my memory, their house had a gradual ramp of some sort inside, and I rode down it on a tiny little riding toy. I might have been two or three years old. I remember the ramp as being huge and really steep. It was probably almost perfectly level in real life.

New Place

When I was four, we moved from Boise, Idaho, to Price, Utah. Sometime later that year, we visited the Bennions at their new place outside of Vernal, Utah. They had bought a small farm, and while we were there I learned how to ride a bike on the concrete basketball court behind their house. I remember the weather being dreary, and there were thin layers of water and ice on the surface of the basketball court. My mom was not pleased that I now knew how to ride a bike. With me, that could only mean trouble.

For four years we lived in Price, a few hours’ drive away from Vernal where the Bennions lived. Then we moved to Vernal ourselves, where we lived for a year. During those five years, we regularly spent holidays at the Bennions’ farm. Thanksgiving, summer visits, sleepovers, and more. Sometimes my mom would drop one or more of us off at the Bennions’ for a play day with their kids.

The Canal

There was a slow-flowing irrigation canal across the road from the Bennions’ house. It was an old canal. During the summer it was the de-facto swimming pool for kids in the community. The canal had huge cottonwood trees growing on its sloped banks, hanging over the water and providing nice shade during summer months. The banks were low and in most places they were easy to climb up and down. We loved hanging out there, swimming, wading, having water fights, and watching the other kids and even adults who came there to escape from the summer heat.

On one of our visits to the Bennions’ we went swimming at the canal early in the day. It was hot, and there were a lot of kids there. While I was swimming, I felt a sudden, stabbing pain on one of my outer thighs. I mean REALLY bad pain! I quickly jumped up and waded out of the water, looking down to see what was hurting me.

Freak Out

What I saw completely FREAKED ME OUT!!! Some kind of bizarre insect had me in the grip of multiple pincer legs, sharp ends buried in my skin. But worse, IT WAS TRYING TO EAT ME!!!! I am not kidding. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!! It was quickly and steadily using a beak-like appendage to eat a hole in the side of my leg!! Its legs were latched onto me and its head was buried in my thigh.

I’m pretty sure my words could not possibly convey the horror I felt at what was happening to me. As I clamored up the bank of the canal, I pulled at the thing, trying to get it to let go and to stop eating me. I did manage to get it off of me and flung it away. I walked across the road to the Bennions’ house (I’m certain I was freaked-out sobbing, maybe even screaming at that point in time, but I don’t remember that). As I walked, I realized that my leg wasn’t working right. In fact, it was quickly becoming paralyzed!!!

Damage

I’m not sure who contacted my mom or how long it took for her to come to get me. But by the time we got home, I couldn’t walk at all. My leg was completely paralyzed. Sometime after I got home (it might have been later that day, or maybe it was the day after) I developed the unmistakable signs of blood poisoning. A red ring appeared around the wound, and a red streak extended from it.

Mom took me to see a doctor, and I suspect that the MD put me on antibiotics, although I don’t remember. The paralysis slowly wore off, I regained my ability to walk normally, and eventually I had a full physical recovery.

Trauma

Unfortunately, my mental state did not bounce back quite as fast. I had already been a die-hard bugophobe (hashtag FYI the right kinds of bees CAN sting you more than once!). The canal attack put me over the edge. I’m pretty sure my parents got really tired of listening to me shriek any time some crawling or flying bug-like creature got near me. There’s a high probability that I was suffering from some sort of PTSD after the attack of the canal critter.

An odd thing happened in the years after the canal incident. From time to time I would tell someone the story, and they wouldn’t believe me! I had a clear picture in my head of what I had pulled off of my leg, but I didn’t come across anything in any of my school classes, reading, or TV viewing that matched what I remembered.

The Critter

That was, at least, until I was a teenager. One night my family was sitting together watching a nature show on PBS when lo and behold, here came a segment on giant water bugs. They showed how water bugs and their nymphs attach small fish and pollywogs, grab on, inject paralyzing poison, and suck the insides out of their helpless victims!!! I WAS ONE OF THEM!!!!

I jumped up in my seat and yelled, “That’s the thing that bit me in Vernal!!!”

Yuck!

Here’s what happens in a water bug or nymph attack: “If prey is successfully grasped it is quickly dispatched with a pierce from the bug’s needle-like rostrum (fused mouth parts) and an injection of toxic enzymes. These enzymes poison the prey and begin to digest it at the same time. Once the enzymes have completed their job the bug again uses its rostrum, but this time sucks out the pre-digested soup that was its prey, leaving a limp bag of skin.” (source: NatureNorth) THAT WAS ME!!!!!

It was a huge relief to finally know what had attacked me. It was great to know the source of my personal horror story. I’ve never met anyone else who has had a giant water bug or nymph try to eat them. I’m sure they’re out there, maybe one of you is a fellow victim! Their nickname is “toe biters” for a reason. For me, the moral of the story is this: when a little kid tells you that something in the water tried to eat them, BELIEVE THEM!!! Hahahaha!!!!

Learn More

To learn more, click on this link to a an article in Scientific American. Another great source of information is NatureNorth.

A plug for NatureNorth: You can help NatureNorth produce more great articles with a secure donation through PayPal. I have no connection to them but was happy to find their page on giant water beetles. To learn more follow this link: Support NatureNorth.