We never truly know what goes on inside our walls. If this sounds like the beginning of a horror movie to you, that’s because it is — just not the kind that you’re used to watching at the theater.
For TikTok user @chaosinthecarolinas and her family, life has been a nightmare ever since they decided to open up a bedroom wall. Instead of finding a squatter or bones in true horror fashion, though, they discovered that their child had been sharing her room with over 65,000 bees. How long had the creatures been there? We don’t know, but considering their numbers it’s fair to assume that they had been living with the family for a long while.
Of course, the family got in contact with a beekeeper in order to safely remove them from the home, however, getting them all out was no easy task. About 50,000 bees were removed during the first two extractions, but lo and behold, more just kept on coming out of the wall. There was seemingly no end to this nightmare, and the family had their home occupied by the insects for over two months. Talk about difficult roommates…
Fortunately, this wild story has a happy ending. The TikToker has kept her audience up-to-date on the situation — Bee Gate, as she calls it — and on July 11, she posted a video reporting that the wall has finally been closed up. The announcement came three months after the bees were discovered, which makes sense considering the amount of insects that had to be removed. At long last, they’re all gone, and the family has the home back.
While this update was received with glee, we can’t just forget how hard it must’ve been for the TikToker to go through all of this. During the extraction process, some social media users expressed their shock at the situation (“So at this point, I’m moving.”), as others made sure to offer words of support: “Wow. Just wow. I can’t imagine how frustrating that would be. You all have earned sainthood.” One person even took a moment to appreciate how the family opted for having the bees carefully removed instead of simply killing them: “I love that you’re saving them and not destroying them.”
Indeed, this mother deserves all the praise for such a decision. Although the process was dreadfully long and expensive (around 20K, as she revealed in a comment), it was definitely the right call. As per an article from the United Nations Environmental Programme, bees are essential to our planet, as “a third of the world’s food production” relies on these creatures. According to said article, there has been a decline in bee populations over the decades, which makes their protection that much more important.
Sadly, this TikToker is not the first to see her home occupied by thousands of these tiny creatures, and she likely won’t be the last. These things simply happen. Let’s just hope that folks out there are as concerned about the environment as she is.