A woman on vacation in Greece woke up in the middle of the night thinking her necklace had slid down her neckâonly to discover something far more unsettling.
Redditor u/Thin_Perception5438 shared the creepy encounter in the subreddit r/whatisit, where the post quickly gained more than 10,000 upvotes.
“Woke up thinking my necklace was sliding over my neck then realised my bed would have to be at a titanic angle, heard some noise next to me and found this on my pillow. The picture isn’t great, middle of the night, covers almost half the pillow it was large. Are they dangerous, can they bite (I have kids staying here too),” she wrote.
The Redditor later said that commenters identified the creature as a centipede, likely the Scolopendra cingulata, also known as the giant Mediterranean centipede. They said they were familiar with small centipedes, but not one of such a large size, nor did they realize it carried a particularly nasty bite.
Thin_Perception5438/Thin_Perception5438
Fearing how indestructible it looked, they decided against killing it. Instead, they carried the pillow, centipede and all, outside. That left them wondering if the creature might find its way back indoors, especially after some Redditors insisted they should have killed it.
The encounter happened in the Peloponnese region near Amaliada, in the early hours of Friday, August 15.
“It did make for a disruptive next night’s sleep. We didn’t tell the kids until we were leaving the place. Interesting twist to the incident is that it happened on a national holiday, The Day of Virgin Mary, and apparently, a day one should avoid harming any living beings. All the things we learned!” the woman told Newsweek.
Centipede bites are rarely dangerous to humans but can be extremely painful, according to Healthline. Symptoms usually include swelling, redness, and intense localized pain that can last several hours. In rare cases, people may experience fever, chills, or swollen lymph nodes. While not typically life-threatening, bites from larger centipedes like the Mediterranean species can be especially severe.
Redditors flooded the comments with their reactions and own experiences.
“Hey OP, I used to live in Hawaii where these things were all over the place. These centipedes are a b**** lol. Their bite won’t kill you, but it will hurt. I had one crawling on me in the middle of the night and it freaked me out too,” wrote one commenter.
“One of the things I read, and worked for me, is peppermint oil. I went to a local Walmart and bought a bunch of peppermint oil and sprayed it all over my place. Apparently they HATE mint oil and as a plus, it made my place smell fresh lol. After spraying my place VERY THOROUGHLY, I never had anymore issues.”
Another commenter wrote: “That’s a f****** centipede and if it had bitten your neck you probably would’ve survived, but for a bit you’d wish you hadn’t.”
Others recalled personal encounters, including one who shared: “I got bitten by one in my bed when I was a kid back in the ’80s. It’s one of the few things I remember from back then.”
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