Crawling in My Skin

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Mar 8, 2006 3:48PM

Back in January we pointed out a story about how bedbug infestations are worse now than they have been in years, especially in hotels. The pests seem to be thriving in linens and mattresses because people travel so much more now, carrying the little stowaways with them, and because restrictions on pesticides keep exterminators from really dropping the hammer.

Based on our in-depth research at the always 100% accurate Wikipedia, we mistakenly implied that bedbugs were just a minor annoyance. Boy were we wrong; as one of our commenters said, "You will totally lose your shit if you get them," and supplied this harrowing New Yorker article as proof. But nothing convinces Chicagoist like a graphic picture, so take a gander at the pics at CBS 2 of a Chicago woman who suffered more than 500 bedbug bites while staying at a hotel in the Catskills last year. Leslie Fox woke up to find welts all over her body and blood on the sheets--maybe a normal morning for some of you, but disturbing to her nonetheless. She and her husband tore apart the bed and found the bugs everywhere. She's now suing the hotel for $20 million, upping the ante just a tad over the two free nights they offered her.

People say the worst part about bedbugs isn't actually getting bitten, it's the terrifying feeling that they're still in your bed and crawling on your skin, even after you've nuked your house with pesticide. Holy crap, we're getting itchy just thinking about it...so happy we read this right before we take a trip this weekend.