'Monster in the closet' that terrified toddler turns out to be 60,000 bees in her bedroom wall
1 May 2024, 14:20 | Updated: 1 May 2024, 14:42
Instead of 'monsters' lurking in three-year-old Saylor Class’ bedroom closet, a beekeeper found tens of thousands of honeybees buzzing in the walls.
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The child has recently watched the animated film, Monsters, Inc., which revolves around monsters scaring children.
To combat the Saylor's monsters, her parents handed her some 'monster spray', a bottle of water.
However, the toddler became more insistent about something lurking in her closet.
Saylor's mother, Ashley Massis Class, then began to notice bees inhabiting in clusters near the attic and chimney outside the family's house in North Carolina. She thought her daughter's 'monster' could just be Saylor hearing the buzzing.
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However, the 'monster' turned out to be closer to the toddler than Ms Massis Class thought as a massiave cluster of the insects was discovered in Saylors' bedroom walls.
A pest control company found that the insects were honeybees, a protected insect species in the US.
The family's incident has gone viral on TikTok after Ms Massis Class posted a series on TikTok documenting the honeybee removal since last week.
Ms Massis Class and her husband contacted a beekeeper who noticed the insects were travelling via the attic floorboards, which are right above Saylor's bedroom.
He also tracked a coin-sized hole in the attic vent's corner.
The buzzing insects had spent around eight months building their hive. To scan the toddler's bedroom, the beekeeper brought a thermal camera.
The beekeeper, whom Saylor called the 'monster hunter', opened the wall to reveal a massive honeycomb.
The 'monster hunter' told the BBC he had never seen a hive go that far down into a wall.
Ms Massis Class compared the scene to a 'horror movie', as the insects 'just came pouring out'.
Between 55,000 and 65,000 bees and 100lb (45kg) of honeycomb was removed by the beekeeper.
The honeybees were reverse vacuumed out over three extractions and put into boxes to be relocated to a honeybee sanctuary.
Saylor's bedroom had to be screened off between the extractions to stop the bees travelling around the entire house.
The house’s electric wiring has been damaged. However, Ms Massis Class' homeowner's insurance will not cover pest-related incidences because they say it is preventable.
Around $20,000 (£16,000) worth of damages have been caused by the honeybees.
