But ladies passing out due to mosquitoes, death by shark capture and flying ants triggering chaos? Yes, this all occurred throughout Essex’s summertimes of the past.
Here are 7 stories from the previous including animal and bug encounters that will make your skin crawl…
FLIES RESULT IN GRUESOME FIND
In June of 1912 individuals setting about their business in Southchurch was sidetracked by swarms of flies hovering on the window of a house. It quickly emerged the flies were there for a factor. A female had actually laid dead in your house for 6 months, previously un-noticed. The broken down victim was 38-year-old Mrs Freshwater who was from Weston-Super-Mare.
She was a maternity nurse who had actually pertained to Southend for a prolonged break. She had actually passed away of natural causes however for some factor no one had actually reported her missing. A telegram was discovered clutched in her hand and the larder was overrun by rats consuming the food.
MOSQUITO CHAOS
Hundreds of individuals were unwinding on the Southend Pier extension one lazy afternoon in September 1926 when the peace was shattered by a pester of mosquitoes. The insects were said to have ‘come with the tide’ and for thirty minutes they required individuals to run for cover. The band playing on the pier even needed to stop mid music, such was the effect of the undesirable arrivals. It go so bad that 2 girls passed out due to the ‘excitement and pain’.
FLYING ANT-ICS
In August 1929 Southenders were doing fight with an intrusion of flying ants. In the High Street and Alexandra Street the air was thick with the bugs and thousands were to be seen the ground. One eyewitness said: “Occupants of deck chairs discovered themselves surrounded by swarms of ants, and though they killed huge number the wide range was not perceptibly reduced.
Windows and doors of stores and homes were secured, and many individuals put boiling water on the intruders, whose disappearance was as unexpected as their look.”
BANDSTAND MAYHEM
Flying ants were back in the area in August of 1931. This time the afflict swarmed onto the bandstand, triggering a turmoil. They likewise flew through windows of the tramway cars and trucks. A “wholesale slaughter of the insects took place,” said one regional.
SNAKES ALIVE
In 1930 snakes were triggering an issue. Motorists reported an ‘epidemic of snakes’ crawling along the Southend Arterial Road close to Rayleigh.
Two schoolgirls from Rayleigh needed to be dealt with in medical facility from adder bites. A year later on the snakes were back. In Benfleet a ‘snake hunt’ was arranged and 12 turf snakes were killed in one field alone. In another field 7 adders were discovered and killed. The residents were properly frightened as numerous kids had actually been bitten by snakes while having a picnic.
BUTTERFLY PLAGUE
In August 1917 Southend was struggling with a pester of white butterflies who were infesting crops, especially cabbages. It got so bad that the Food Protection Society provided rewards to the young boys and women who might record the most butterflies.
SHARK CATASTROPHE
In August 1928 2 guys from London were fishing in the river Blackwater off Bradwell-on-Sea. They remained in a cruising luxury yacht. They spotted a shark and offered to enter a rowboat and capture it. They handled to hook the shark however as they got it into the rowboat the shark set up a violent battle and the craft reversed. The shark escaped and both guys drowned.
