WARNING! This is not a story for the faint of heart. In fact, if you are squeamish about creepy crawlies, you might want to move on.

One Mainer woke up Tuesday morning feeling a little different. Not feeling sick, more like hearing a little differently and ear a little painful.

Mainer Jessi Mallory woke up Tuesday with the kind of story you see incredible headlines about from other parts of the world. Mallory woke up to a big beetle in her ear and it wasn't there to snuggle with her.

Jessi Mallory
Jessi Mallory
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Mallory writes of the harrowing tale that has all of us other Mainers creeped the eff out!

"I woke up at 4am with pain in my ear. My ear felt like it was full of fluid or something. As it turns out, the beetle pictured below was not only in my ear, but biting my ear drum! He bit me over and over. The pain was so intense that I started screaming. Chas and John came to help, but they couldn't see anything in my ear. Chas did see it's head coming out at one point, and then it went back in. This type of beetle chews through cardboard to get to food, so you can imagine how hard it was biting my eardrum. I was shaking my head, like you do when you have water in your ear, trying to get it to come out. Chas ended up calling an ambulance because I was in such severe pain. I wound up shaking my head so hard that the beetle came out just as they arrived. Chas grabbed it and put it in a baggie. They were shocked at the size of it! They told me to go see my primary. I apologized for them having to come out. They told me that it was ok and that we did the right thing. I went to walk in care, and they gave me a tetanus shot, and told me I had multiple marks on my eardrum. Thankfully, the beetle didn't pierce the membrane."

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Mallory is no stranger to courageous battles and elaborates later on in the post about what kind of medical issues have been endured in the past and how the horrific beetle experience compared, "I have had cancer, a broken foot, a severe concussion, and meningitis... I have NEVER had pain like I had this morning."

Mallory is doing better and even laughing about the extraordinary situation in a DM with me on Facebook: "it was a horrific experience, but I'm stronger for it. 😆"

I did a little research and *think* it might be a Strawberry Seed Beetle. Horrifying.

What happened to the unwelcomed tenet? Mallory tells me that the bug was named and then released into the wild to go burrow in somebody else's ear, "I named him Beetlejuice. I also let him live. Haha. We took him outside to live his best life... Even though I hate him."

Mallory was prescribed ear drops and has vowed never to sleep ever again.

I don't think I will, either, Jessi.

This beetle isn't mentioned on our list below, but here are more things in the State of Maine that will bite you.

Here Are 17 Things In Maine That Will Bite You

Here in Maine, there are plenty of critters that can take a bite out of you if they do desire.

31 Haunted Places of Maine

 

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