You've heard of the plague of locusts God rained down upon Egypt. Well, I thought God had done something similar to Shaker Village in the form of cicadas. They were literally EVERYWHERE! The numerous trees were so full of them buzzing and humming that you felt you either needed to run under the trees or freeze in fright. I just knew one was going to come zinging into my face, sending me into an utter panic. I am not really scared of cicadas, but in such vast quantities, they make your skin crawl. I can't describe the swelling buzz they generated. It rose to staggering and bellowing heights and then simultaneously dropped off as though they were being conducted.

We asked one of the Shaker Village employees if this was a yearly phenomenon and she said, no, this was just the 17 year cicadas. Kind of like a 100 year flood, I guess. They gave me the heebie-jeebies....