In June of '82 while driving up to Michigan from Virginia, we stopped at a convenience store in Maryland, just below the Pennsylvania state line. (I can't recall the name of the town.) It was around 11 PM. These really ferocious looking insects were everywhere; on the store windows, all over the ice dispenser, on parked vehicles, everywhere. They were grayish brown, about 5 inches long, and their wings were more like moth wings than fly wings (they weren't transparent or opaque). Some of them were flying around the lights in the parking lot, and I swear, they looked like friggin' birds! These things had some major mandibles. They looked like they could take your finger off if they got a hold of you. Gave me the creeps walking from the car to the store with these things all over the place. Folks inside the store, including some locals, had never seen anything like them. One dude was saying how he had unknowingly put his hand near one of them, and it grabbed on to the fleshy part. Scared the crap out of him and hurt like hell. Actually drew blood, he said. I believe it. Despite my warriness, my curiosity won on the way back to the car. I prodded one of these strange creatures that was on the ground with the toe of my boot. It latched on to the edge of the sole, and I had to step on the thing with my other boot to pull away from its grip. I swear, its pinchers left a visible mark in the hard leather of the sole. Damdest things I ever saw! I've never been able to determine exactly what these nasty buggers were. Anybody have a clue?

ScottyG