1. "Smelling the Past"
Posted by Raymond on Apr-6th-04 at 4:46 PM

The 'Wall Street Journal' for April 5, 2004 had a letter on page A19.
"Smells Can Revive Dormant Memories" says "... the powerful neurological connections between smell and memory ...".
AR Brown's book mentions this as the kick-off of Ellan Eagan's recovered memory of that day.
Can anyone provide examples form their experiences?
...
This is obviously an open-ended discussion.

(Message last edited Apr-7th-04  4:26 PM.)

Why did no one else connected to the Borden murder investigation smell anything unusual?

That's a question that I can't answer. Maybe they were so shocked by the crime that this overloaded their smelling sense (if the smell was still there). Perhaps the answer is that they were not close to this man who smelled of horses. Smelling of horses was all too common in those days.

Ellen must have had quite a nose. She smelled him while she was on the sidewalk and he was in the yard halfway to the back steps. That's a good 25 feet.  From Brown, pages 8+:

"... As she neared the Borden House on her way up the hill, she wondered if that silly girl was still washing the windows. Never in a million years would she even think about washing windows in this hot weather!"
.......
"No, the maid was not in sight, but Ellan saw a man in the Borden yard, just standing there. She started to do the ladylike thing and avert her eyes when, for the first time in her life, she found herself staring at a stranger. There was something about this man that was wrong! He was about halfway between the gate and the back stoop, and he was facing her. He turned as if to go back. ... She felt funny, sort of scared.

He stopped and turned his face toward her. His eyes looked into hers.

She sucked in her breath, gasping. Feeling faint, she shivered and almost cried out in terror. Speak of the Devil and he will appear roared in her ears. I am seeing the Devil!

When he took a step toward her, she ran. She had to get away, and somehow she did, feeling the fire from his eyes burning right through her. Even though she was confused and filled with terror, she knew something else was wrong, too. As she sped away, her senses finally told her what it was. It was his odor---one that she had never smelled before. It was not sour, not sweet, not a manure smell, not sweat . . . not anything she could even imagine! Intent on getting help, she ducked into the first yard she came to, gasping and sobbing. Then she was sick."

As Robert Harry asks, why didn't anbody else pick up this powerful smell.

Then again maybe she was downwind. 

Then again maybe she was downwind. 

If I were downwind of a stench like that, I know I'd run!! Gawwwd!!


Doug

Arnold Brown's book has the stench that William Borden carries on him as horse urine infected from Blister Beetle poisoning.  From page 290 to 291:

"Henry added that during his war service he had kidded a veterinarian about the perpetual odor of his boots, and the vet had told him that horse urine had high concentrations of many waste product chemicals in it and that sniffing it was one of the quickest ways to determine imbalances that could point directly to possible health problems in the animal.  The ver then delivered an unasked for lecture on the possible variations in odor that could occur and the ramifications of each.

Henry didn't really listen until the doctor mentioned a fatal disease called Blister Beetle Poisoning and the related stench always found in the dead horse's bladder.  He had laughed when the vet mentioned that the blister beetle is also known as "Spanish Fly," but he stopped laughing when the doctor added that getting any of the dead horse's urine on your own skin was not recommended unless you wanted to be ostracized from the human race until it wore off."

I just did a massive search on Blister Beetle poisoning, nowhere is it mentioned that there is a stench associated with the horse's bladder or urine, the urine must be tested in a lab to determine if the horse has been poisoned.

I also found this:

"Blister Beetle toxicity is not common in the eastern United States. Blister beetles are typically found in the arid regions of the western U.S."

Unless Fall River was suffering a series of droughts where they had to ship in hay from other states, they shouldn't have had many cases of Blister Beetle poisoning?


From this site: http://www.das.psu.edu/user/equine/newsletter/fullStory.cfm?newsID=218

The principle poison found in the Blister Beetle is called Catharidin.

Cantharidin is an odorless, colorless compound that is soluble in various organic solvents, but only slightly soluble in water.

From this site: http://chemweb.calpoly.edu/chem/bailey/377/PapersSp2000/Meredith/

Nowhere can I find that horse urine infected with Catharidin would smell or make you smell if you got it on yourself.  The only sign of an infected horse's urine is small amounts of blood in the urine itself.

Ellen and Henry's smell, fact or fiction? 

Thank you, Susan!! In my opinion, you conclusively lay to rest any doubt about Ellen Eagan's "testimony"--quite frankly it smells fishy!!

http://www.macalester.edu/~psych/whathap/UBNRP/Smell/memory.html


Very interesting reading!



(Message last edited Apr-6th-04  10:14 PM.)

Thanks everybody.  Interesting!  Who would have thought to check THAT! 

Har, so Ellen was coming UP the hill?
From downtown, thru Second Street to go home?
Is that any kind of shortcut?  I thought she was going down the hill toward the shopping.  I didn't know this detail, thanks.
Wouldn't a lady want to stay on Main and look at the shops?
She lives to the West of Main and yet she cuts East and walks UP a hill?

i'm going to compliment you, ray -- just for thinking of the  importance of smell.  it is a sublime sense.  have you ever caught a fragrance that instantly reminded you of something from your past that you cannot quite put your finger on?  it can be  a transporting experience.  i don't mean to speak of negative or bad things either. but what i'm thinking of does seem closely allied with memory.  also it's close to what we call "psychic."

You're welcome, Robert Harry.  Thats all I could find out about Blister Beetle poisoning and am still trying to keep an open mind about it if anyone can come up with anything else on it.  I think I just about wore out Google tonight, every site contains pretty much the same information. 

Thanks, Audrey for the link.  I know you are French and I speak French fluently (studied French lit in college and grad school).  I had the enormous privilege of sailing from New York to Le Havre aboard the (former) SS France.  What a trip!! (This was in 1972), and one of the most evocative smells I ever smelled (this only happened twice), took me right back to the Restaurant Versailles of that ship.  It is a smell of starched linen (which they used as table cloths and napkins.  So, yes it is true. Smell really works on memory, and not just a little--when I smelled that linen smell, suddenly I was transported back to my ocean voyage!!  This same phenomenon happened once when I smelled some kind of cleaning solution that transported me back to grade school--it was exactly the same cleaner the janitors at school used.  It was as though I were standing in the hallway and Sister Magdalita was shepherding us into the classroom!!

I lost my heart to an odd fellow (no obvious jokes, please) years ago, and we dated for a few weeks.  Then he broke it off.  Years later, I smelled cologne, and I just thought, Mark!

I found out it was Vetiver de Guerlain, and, to this day, I have a bottle in the medicine cabinet!

It must be a fact, it says so in the book. (Not entirely in jest.)
Cantharadin, Spanish Fly, was used someway to treat horses. (Horse viagra?) There is a lot of those times that was lost by not writing it down. Could it also be used as a diuretic for horses?

I don't know much about this subject, but will read more via I-net.
...
NB that Brown does not say exactly what it was, but this discussion is about the likely possibility. I haven't been close to a working horse in a barn since about 1948, when my uncle got rid of horses to just use a tractor. Previously gasoline rationing, etc. Horses can eat what you grow on a farm, their manure can be used for fertilizer. Brown is right in that a farmer of that day (or now) doesn't smell like a rose.

(Message last edited Apr-7th-04  4:33 PM.)

Aren't the "odd fellows" the best ever??? For me it is
Drakkar Noir & his name was James. And, yes, I too bought a
tiny bottle of it just to remember. When I smell anyone with
it on that is who I think of. Luckily none of the guys I've
dated since have worn it. And I haven't bought it for them.

Theres this:

Blister Beetles Kill Horses

"Horses can suffer severe poisoning from even a few beetles, alive or dead (hay processing can kill the beetles and release the toxin).

At its worst, blister beetle poisoning can cause horses to suffer severe pain, shock, and death within a few hours."

From this site: http://www.thehorse.com/news.asp?fid=4553

Infested Alfalfa hay is the usual culprit,I don't think any farmer in his or her right mind would intentionally feed their horses or livestock Blister Beetles.  Yes, I would have to agree, I don't think any farmer would smell like a rose, but, Bill Borden was supposed to be an apple farmer and part-time horse renderer.  I still can't find any justification for Henry or Ellen's ungodly smell in horse urine that found its way onto Bill Borden.  Since there were horses aplenty in the streets of Fall River, the smell of a horse, its urine or manure, wouldn't wrinkle too many noses, I don't think.

In all fairness I need to make a change on what I had originally found as to the areas contaminated with Blister Beetles:

"The most common species involved in equine cantharidiasis (cantharidin poisoning in the horse) in the Southwest are the longitudinally black and yellow striped blister beetles. Many horse owners mistakenly think blister beetle poisoning is confined to the Southwest. Blister beetle poisonings have been reported in most of the U.S., ranging from the eastern seaboard to as far west as Arizona and Colorado, and as far north as Illinois."



From this site: http://www.admani.com/AllianceEquine/TechBulletins/Blister%20Beetles.htm

Thanks for all the extra info, Susan!  Amazing the stuff you find!

I smelled a pupa of a hideous beasty insect thingy after I cut it in half.  It was too ugly to live!
The thing stunk to high heavan after and I had to bury it!
It turned out to be the cocoon stage of a giant Blue Night Moth (or called something like that.)
OOO it was horrible!
The whole experience was horrible.  It was that creeped out feeling I thought I would get if I ever saw The Loch Ness Monster.

Giant Blue Lunar Moth Pupa/Larva I found in my backyard, crawling up the porch siding.  As scary as The Loch Ness Monster!
It stunk SO bad!
(Life-size)



(Message last edited Apr-8th-04  2:03 AM.)

You're welcome, Kat, just trying to do my bit with research.  I originally just believed that the story of the smell on Bill Borden from the infected horse urine was fact and wanted to check on it; see if there was a description of the smell.  And now everyone has my findings, so far, no source mentions any smell related to it.


That thing is just plain ugly, what was the smell like?  Acidy?  Musky?  I tried doing a search and all I came up with is this guy, the larva of a Lunar moth:


We had some form of those moths in Arizona, they would pollinate the flowers on night blooming cacti.  Those moths were as big as bats and stark white.

I saved one in a jar and gave it to my lawn service to check against their book of pests.
He's the one told me it was a Blue Lunar Moth.
Those eyes are phony, BTW.
They were to scare predators!  They sure worked on me!  It truly was ugly.
It smelled like horrible skunk stink and garbage rotting when I cut it.

I really didn't have to see your caterpillar So Close Up- they are not my favorite. 

A wee bit of prussic, perhaps??

Doug

Ohmygawd!!!  I had no idea that that photo posted so big!  Sorry....

Here is the site that seems best on cantharidin.

http://chemweb.calpoly.edu/chem/bailey/377/PapersSp2000/Meredith/

Thanks, Ray, I've read through that site in my search, it is one of the better ones.  I'm still curious where this idea of the smell comes from? 

You know what, though, Kat?  Luna Moths are beautiful when they emerge.  I never could smell anything onj one; I don't know if the smell wears off or if they were too far away, but I really loved them!
(James M. Cain, of DOUBLED INDEMNITY and POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE fame, wrote a lesser known book called THE LUNA MOTH.)

--Lyddie

Kat, where does the Egan description of the horsey smell come from?  I don't see it in the Police examination, and she was dismissed after that.  Does Brown provide any kind of source for it?

I'm logging off for the holiday. Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.  Belated Passover and Happy Spring to those who don't!

--Lyddie

AR Brown's book is based on the memories of Henry Hawthorne and his mother-in-law Ellan Eagan. The story is that when Ellan smelled the old horse-drawn trolleys, it recalled that August 4, 1892 event.
Or see message #1 (or some other books?).

I was informed of that after I had killed it and found out what it was.  The guy who took it away could not find out, but he was young and inexperienced.  it took the older guy after the second one emerged, after I had killed that one, to tell me what I had missed.  Apparently after two bug homicides whatever was trying to lay an egg or whatever in my old tree trunk gave up- survival of the species and all that.
BTW:  I don't know anything about the smell of "Billy Borden".

Happy Easter to you too, Lyddie.  Ellen's story about the smell is in Arnold Brown's book.  Brown's source for the poisoned horse urine smell is from Henry Hawthorne who was supposed to have come in contact with William Borden, also through Henry is Ellen Eagen's story of the ungodly smell that came off of William when she saw him in the Borden's side yard.  Henry puts two and two together from his past experience with William who had played a trick on him by getting him to rub on salve tainted with the Blister Beetle poisoned horse urine, which burned and made him smell horrible for 3 days or so.  Apparently a veterinarian gave Henry the info about the poisoned horse urine from Blister Beetles and how horrible it smelled and if you got it on you, you would smell horrible for days.

For some reason, the smell of electric street cars reminded Ellen of the horrible smell of William Borden and brought her back to that day.

(Message last edited Apr-9th-04  3:35 AM.)

How about fire and brimstone--that's what the electric cars smelled like.  The church wanted the parishners to believe that's what hell and the devil smelled like.  So of course, Ellen Egan saw a crazy smelly man who was the devil incarnate.  Plus it was hotter than hell!!

All kidding aside, if you come across any insects that need identifing, if you post a picture, I can most likely get it I.D. for you.  That goes for mammals and fish too.  Well I probably should throw in bones, plants, reptiles etc.

Have a great holiday all.

Tracie

I've got a bone!  (I think)
I found it at the beach about 25 years ago.  I thought it was the sternum of a sea turtle's shell.  It was just barely sticking out of a small dune where my blanket was.
I've always wondered what it was!
Can you find out?


(Message last edited Apr-9th-04  10:02 PM.)

Sources:  Harry's list of Addresses
Rebello's map of downtown, pg. 566 to fix the location
Panoramic Map of Fall River, 1877.
It may be a map of 1877, but the streets are still there in 1892.

(Message last edited Apr-10th-04  12:47 AM.)

As I remember it, it was the celebration that used horse-drawn trolley cars that created the smell that recalled the memories of that day? We can both look it up (later).
Does this end this discussion?
"Parting is such sweet sorrow" said Pun-master Will, the "good ol' boy".

Brimstone = sulfur. Electric cars may create an ozone smell (like after a rare rain w/ lightning). I never smelt "fire and brimstone" from electric motors on hand-tools.

How can my post #32 end this discussion?
I suppose it could.
It shows that Brown, even tho he did some of his research at the FRHS and I believe was from Fall River (?) did not think we would check his assertions as to Ellan Eagan's route home from Sargents?
It surely is a detour, no matter how one looks at it.

So did they not live at Hope & Mulberry?
Anything wrong with my map?
Maybe I should put it in the Let's Refute Brown topic?

I think it's a great map. This is the sort of thing that folks need to see to help them form independent opinions.

Have you ever posted one showing how far Bridget would have to have run to reach the Anthony household?

Bridget did not run to the Anthony's. They were in the neighborhood.

Gramma

Didn't one of these news items say Bridget went to get help from the Anthony's?
How did they know to come?

What Kat says.

"They happened to be in the neighborhood" is a Brownesque sort of statement. It doesn't even pretend to explain A)how they knew something bad had happened BEFORE any other alarm had been raised, B) how Lizzie and/or Bridget would have known they were in the neighborhood.

A group of servants in a meat wagon most likely wouldn't have just dropped in to pay a social call on the Bordens.

Tracie did get to work and showed my pics to the experts and gave me a determination that it was not a bone.  Thanks Tracie! 

Obviously Ellan Eagan chose to travel on a less-trafficked street.
Could this have been planned to bypass certain houses as well?
...
It does look like a longer route. But it doesn't show the grade.
As I remember it, I would take a longer route to avoid a steep hill. And a short cut to avoid a longer walk. It varied.

(Message last edited Apr-12th-04  1:56 PM.)

Good Idea!!! The proof of any theory is how well it explains the facts. Will you then do others?

Back in the 1940s a "huckster" used to come around with fruit and vegetables to sell to the housewifes. No meat then. But it was a horse-drawn wagon. Gasoline rationing in those days.

The quote is from Brown's book.  He says she didn't like going UP the hill.
She had no business on Second Street if she was going home from Sargents.  It's a decent hill.
Why turn East to go up a hill when your home is West, without much of one?
Maybe Main Street is a hill- I don't recall.
But you short-cut west no matter what if your house is west.

I have made this map before just showing Eagan's route to Second Street.  It was still not on the way to anywhere.  Look at it in reverse, as if she is going to Sargents.

If Brown had not given Sargent's as her destination, he might have gotten away with his description of Ellan's walk.

......

I dreamed of her last night.
She had moved to this state, my area, from another country, like Mexico, and so she had no birth certificate.  She worked as a domestic and was an illegle alien.  She got married and was having an affair.  She was on the street where a major crime took place and so she lied about what she was doing there.  She was pregnant and the child was not her husbands.
It seemed the authorities and her family believed her story of why she was on that street and it protected the identity of the real father.  Later she enjoyed being in the spotlight.  Eventually she blackmailed the father of her child until he moved far away where she couldn't find him.
And that, I found out, was why she was on that street that day- for no good reason.

Yes, Ray, you are correct, it was the horsedrawn trolley which set Ellen off.

page 4:

"Ellan had been surprised at her reaction when the horses passed by in the parade.  It was the odor that had stunned her, and when the first horsecar passed, she had had an imaginary glimpse of that man in the long coat, an imagined stare into his burning eyes, and a lingering, chilling whiff of that forgotten smell--whatever it was--that she had so successfully banished from her senses all those many years.  She knew what horses smelled like, and this odor was nothing related to any of the hundreds of horses with which she had had contact.  She was honestly frightened.  Something she wanted no part of was haunting her.

We are back at square one with that alleged smell of poisoned horse urine.  Why the smell of a regular horse would bring back those memories of Bill Borden is beyond me, especially after that passage about that smell not being related to any horse Ellen had smelled ever in her life.  If one of those horses was poisoned by Blister Beetles and if there was some sort of smell present, I don't think that horse would have been in any position to pull a trolley car along.

I was told tonight the opinion that Brown meant the smell of the product *Bee Balm* (I'm not sure of the spelling), that is usually used on the udders of a cow, and that it is still in use and smells horrible.

I was also told that Brown made the story up and Henry Hawthorne's neices would joke about the story because they said no one ever spoke of Lizzie Borden in the Hawthorne household...and that Pete Peterson, here in Florida complained that Arnold Brown changed the story they collaborated upon, which was from a mish-mash of letters.

Nobody ever said that Brown wasn't a good writer!

Oh, I think you mean Bag Balm, the stuff they use to treat cows udders with.  I was just reading about it, apparently it does smell and Shania Twain uses it on herself!



From this site: http://www.epinions.com/content_40393084548#

The salve that Billy Borden gave to Henry Hawthorne to use made his skin burn, which I don't think Bag Balm would do, and apparently it made him stink for three days.  Henry had put 2 and 2 together after hearing from a vet about the Blister Beetle poisoned horse urine and Henry believed that Billy had put some in the salve as a trick.

So, Kat, whose your source? 

I've heard about Brown from 4 different people who have met or corresponded with the man.  Whenever I meet someone involved with this case I ask about Brown.  That's how I find out stuff.

EAGAN [Fall River MA Daily Globe, Tues. 11 May 1909] In this city, Eagan - 9th inst., Ellen Eagan. Funeral will take place from the residence of her nephew, Mr. Thomas C. Eagan, No. 193 Snell street, tomorrow, Wednesday, at 8:15 o'clock a.m. A high mass of requiem will be sung for the repose of her soul at SS. Peter & Paul's church at 9 o'clock a.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. [Fall River MA Daily Globe, Wed. 12 May 1909] The funeral of Ellen Eagan, held this morning from the residence of her nephew, Thomas C. Eagan, Snell street, was well attended. The body was taken to SS. Peter & Paul's church, where a requiem mass was celebrated by Fr. Curley. During the mass, Miss Franey rendered a solo. Burial was at St. Patrick's cemetery. The bearers were John F. O'Brien, Frank Lake, George Sullivan, Joseph Bolger.

www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/DurfeeFR.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/FallRiver.htm&h=369&w=576&sz=26&tbnid=KROtzdWQqIUJ:&tbnh=84&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522B.M.C.%2BDurfee%2BHigh%2BSchool%2522%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26ie%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG" target="_blank">http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/DurfeeFR.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/FallRiver.htm&h=369&w=576&sz=26&tbnid=KROtzdWQqIUJ:&tbnh=84&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522B.M.C.%2BDurfee%2BHigh%2BSchool%2522%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26ie%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG-->.

This is a different Ellen Eagan, above:


From Rebello, 129
"Obituary: Ellen T. Eagan," Fall River Herald News, January 21, 1929: 2.

"Mrs. Eagan resided at her home on the corner of Hope and Mulberry Streets until 1909. She moved to 18 Branch Street in 1910 and remained there until her death. Mrs. Ellen T. Eagan died in Fall River at the age of seventy-four on January 21, 1929."

--This Ellen moved around the time of the death of this other Eagan... 

Hey guys,

Bag Balm (my Gram called it titty ointment)  doesn't smell bad!!  It is acually good stuff.  My great aunt used it on my back after a severely bad sunburn and it just about healed over night.  They sold it house to house back in early 1900's, my gram and aunt georgie swore by it.

And Bee Balm is a common name for Mondera which is a herb that folks make tea out of and use for a poultice.  I have loads of bee balm just for it's beauty and the butterflies love it.  It does have an unusual odor but not offensive and it is quite invasive.

My two cents,

Tracie

Hey guys,

Bag Balm (my Gram called it titty ointment)  doesn't smell bad!!  It is acually good stuff.  My great aunt used it on my back after a severely bad sunburn and it just about healed over night.  They sold it house to house back in early 1900's, my gram and aunt georgie swore by it.

And Bee Balm is a common name for Mondera which is a herb that folks make tea out of and use for a poultice.  I have loads of bee balm just for it's beauty and the butterflies love it.  It does have an unusual odor but not offensive and it is quite invasive.

My two cents,

Tracie

Thanks, Tracie, good to know about the smell about Bag Balm, I had just read that it smelled to the people who had written the articles.  I would imagine it would smell kind of like Vaseline as it is petroleum based?

Kat, I think I smell a new Hatchet article in the making! 

Obviously they never published their gossip. But did they ever put it in writing and notarized? Stories change over time.

Actually, the quote of Ellan Eagan never said anything more than the smell of horses. If you read it, there is another discussion about how some horses and men can smell horribly. (As I remember it.)

Gramma, do you know anything about the Eagan's?

Correction on my citation of Cain:  the central image is a Luna Moth, but the book is called THE MOTH.

--Lyddie

But what is the thing, Kat?  I was torn between a ceiling fan blade and the missing handle to the hatchet.  Tracie, you sound like a valuable addition to our resources!

--Lyddie

Sensitive noses to object to vaseline!  I can second Tracie's testimony on bag balm--a bit gooey for my taste, but perfectly inoffensive--and bee balm a different balm altogether.  Tracie, doesn't bee balm contain a bit of honey, maybe even royal jelly? I have never bought it, but it's sold all over the place around here.

--Lyddie

My girlfriend who lives at the beach handled it today and she said it is biological, of something which was once alive.  It has tiny fissures -like bones which lose calcium- in it's side view (like a cross-section view).  It's sort of honey-combed.
She said that after I told her the expert's interpretation but I didn't tell her what I thought it was.
Then we discussed it as being from something alive--She thought sea turtle as well.
I still don't know.  Maybe I need more opinions.
I do appreciate the ones I get.

My home is infested with those horrid Japanese Beetles.  When you squash one it stinks terribly...

These horrid little insects look just like ladybugs but they are definitely not ladies!

While I haven't used it for years, I think nothing in the house smells like mothballs. What is your nomination?

Hi Lyddie,

Royal Jelly, I think comes from the hive not bee balm, but I could be wrong.

Kat,

Without having the artifact in hand it is difficult to determine what it was in the past--sorry for the mistaken I.D.

Japanesse Beetles are a nuisance!!  They start out as grubs and eat your lawn.  The skunks love to eat them tho.  Seven powder works good on plants to keep the beetles off, but it looks lousy. 

Just got back from Nantucket hence the late response.

Tracie

I think it is spelled "Sevin", and might just be banned like other powerful insecticides. They sell a grub killer lawn fertilizer that does work. Instead of Mother Nature (= skunks).

May I respectfully suggest an exterminator? Or call your county agricultural expert for advice. They are a menace inside or outside.

Just like "trolls" by any other name. (Thanks Kimberley.)

I seem to remember some kind of Japanese Beetle thing that you hung from a hook at the end of a short metal stake.  It came 2-4 to the pkg., and if I have the right product matched to the right pest, it worked pretty well.

--Lyddie

Thanks Tracie.  Yes I believe that it would be difficult to identify 100% something one could not handle.

Yes, I've used them years ago when the newspaper reported an infestation. They contain a pherome(?) that attracts the bugs, and a poison that kills them. You should have seen them swarm into the opened container!!