The Invasion Of The Stinkbugs



One October night a few years back, Pam Stone was downstairs watching television with her partner, Paul Zimmerman, when it struck her that their house was unusually cold. Stone and Zimmerman live just outside Landrum, South Carolina, in an A-frame cabin; upstairs in their bedroom, French doors lead out to a raised deck. That week, autumn had finally descended on the Carolinas, killing off the mosquitoes and sending nighttime temperatures plummeting, and the previous evening the couple had opened those doors a crack to take advantage of the cool air. Now, sitting in front of the TV, Stone suddenly realized that she’d left them open and went up to close them.
Zimmerman was still downstairs when he heard her scream...
The Zimmerman's story is not unique. As a matter of fact we have had marmorated stink bugs Chez Nag for the last three years; so far it has been a mini-invasion. I occasionally find their dead or dying carcasses on the floor of our second storey. I flush them down the toilet without crushing them so I have not yet experienced their signature ammonia-and-sulfur stench (and hope I never will).

Read more: The New Yorker

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