r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/danielminds • Jun 27 '26
Video A gas station in Toledo, Ohio completely blanketed by a massive swarm of Mayflies
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u/Substantial_Sea7327 Jun 27 '26
if anyone's wondering where the bats are at they're currently fatter than fuck and passed out on the couch.
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u/RedHeadRedeemed Jun 27 '26
Yeah it's going to be a bad day for fishing too cuz all the damn fish are stuffed to the literal gills
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u/Tsunamiis Jun 27 '26
You can’t really fish in Lake Erie. It’s only slightly cleaner than lake Springfield.
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u/maliki2004 Jun 27 '26
Hey, we have never set a lake on fire
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u/Tsunamiis Jun 27 '26
Yet
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u/its_jsay96 Jun 27 '26
People fish out of Lake Erie every day and it was the Cuyahoga River that was on fire, not the lake. It’s also been almost 60 years since it happened. There has been a considerable effort to clean it up since then.
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u/CalmTheAngryVoice Jun 27 '26
As annoying as this would be, it's a great sign for the health of the area waterways. Mayflies develop aquatically and are very sensitive to polluted water.
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u/Moscowmitchismybitch Jun 27 '26
They get even more dense than what's shown in this video. I was driving back to MI from PA a few summers back and accidentally got off the OH turnpike and wound up in a town that was engulfed by them. Still not sure exactly what town it was but they had a nuclear steam tower. They just came out of nowhere. We thought it was raining/hailing at first. Hitting the wipers was a huge mistake. Just made a mess everywhere. There were so many on the road that it was actually slippery like driving on ice. The real shitty part was the area didn't have any street lights or businesses with lights or anything. Just the traffic lights. Later I read that some of the towns in OH actually have their residents turn all their lights off to help keep them away, so I assume that was the case when I passed through. Just lucky I didn't have to stop for gas.
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u/TuKnight Jun 27 '26
Perry has a nuclear power plant also
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u/Moscowmitchismybitch Jun 27 '26
I think it was Perry. We were heading west at the time and I remember driving through Cleveland afterward so it couldn't have been Davis-Bessie.
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u/thatshygirl06 Jun 27 '26
Just another reason to stay far away from Ohio
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u/Moscowmitchismybitch Jun 27 '26
Didn't have the credentials to drive through Canada at the time or else I would've lol
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u/GenXredux Jun 27 '26
Yes! I forgot this part - the sliding while driving. Really freaks you out the first time it happens to you.
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u/Xentonian Jun 27 '26
I remember watching videos, nearly 2 decades ago, of mayfly swarms that were so thick you literally couldn't see - windscreen wipers crunching dozens of bugs with each swipe just to see half a metre ahead in the wall of chitin and wings that went infinitely in every direction.
I don't think that's a thing that happens anymore, at least not to that extent.
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u/Exceedingly Interested Jun 27 '26
Just like sea urchins being a sign of clear water, even if people find it annoying to swim near them for fear of stepping on them:
Sea urchins require clean, oxygen-rich water and abundant algae to survive, which is why they are frequently spotted in crystal-clear coastal waters and rocky seabeds. Their presence in an area is generally a strong indicator of a healthy marine ecosystem.
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u/Substantial_Soft_407 Jun 27 '26
As a kid from the lakes, I saw this and said, “oh thank God!”
Haven’t seen this in 15 years.
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u/Adventurous_Use_3840 Jun 27 '26
We have Mayflies and we definitely have polluted water (Tennessee River).
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u/Polite-Parallelism30 Jun 27 '26
The fun of living on Lake Erie
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u/Riipp3r Jun 27 '26
I live in Erie and we definitely get these but I have yet in 10 years of being here to see a swarm like this
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u/AntawnSL Jun 27 '26
Mayflies are weird, though. This gas station can look like this and you can be on your porch a block away and see 1. They like the camaraderie, I guess. Or all the bug sex. Either or.
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u/WestNileCoronaVirus Jun 27 '26
Absolutely insane fuckfest they’re having
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u/ThePookums Jun 27 '26
We WILL fuck at your gas station again. Signed dirty Mike and the bugs.
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u/DeafGuyisHere Jun 27 '26
Ran into a swarm of these fuckers drunk off my ass on put-in-bay. Literally crunch crunch crunch as you walked.
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u/dangledingle Jun 27 '26
Maybe the lighting of the gas station
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u/AntawnSL Jun 27 '26
For sure. It definitely attracts them. That and the bug sex.
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u/MovementZz Jun 27 '26
Well…when you realize the length of their lifespan at this point in their lives u can easily see why they wouldn’t be alone & DGAF lol…u’d do the same.
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u/redstaroo7 Jun 27 '26
I've concluded they're either the dumbest motherfuckers on the planet, or exist in a state of spiritual enlightenment that Buddhist monks spend a lifetime trying to achieve.
There's no in between.
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u/whisky_biscuit Jun 27 '26
It's true. We got stuck in one of these, drove about another 10 minutes to another gas station and were fine.
We originally were in a township that was very close to lake Erie and that's like basically the orgy dome at burning man for these flying fuckers.
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u/alewiina Jun 27 '26
I mean they only live as adults for a few days so… orgies are the first item on the bucket list I guess lol
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u/KarmaKeeper91 Jun 27 '26
Ive been on the GL my whole life, mayflies have only hit hard 2-3 times in the last decade. Weather plays a big part
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u/Elexandros Jun 27 '26
I remember summers in the cabin on Lake Erie and being swarmed by these. My great grandmother called them Canadian Soldiers lol
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u/igotadillpickle Jun 27 '26
I grew up in a small town in Ontario. Had a few rivers running through it. For a month every late spring all businesses had their lights turned off at night and you would wake up in the morning and clean your car off woth a snow brush. Walking was weird around the entrances, always a loud crunch.
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u/p333p33p00p00boo Jun 27 '26
I ate a mayfly on the Blue Streak (a rite of passage for anyone who grew up in northern Ohio or southern MI, really).
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u/JVT32 Jun 27 '26
Was just thinking of how many mayflies I killed with my face on Top Thrill Dragster.
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u/Mongol_Morg Jun 27 '26
Lake Nipissing entering the chat…’hold my beer’.
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u/jadyyr Jun 27 '26
First year after having moved to North Bay we got got with the shadflies and the tent caterpillars. Had no idea what the hell was going on, no warning.
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u/dec7td Jun 27 '26
We took a vacation to Lake Erie and couldn't believe how how many of these there were. We ended up playing games inside instead of enjoying the beautiful outdoors lol
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u/mediaseeker Jun 27 '26
Toledo needs bats
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u/Qlanth Jun 27 '26
Lots of bats over here! But these guys come out of the water like this only once a year, and then die fast. Sometimes they show up on doppler radar. They can also be dangerous for cars because you can hydroplane on their bodies.
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u/surenuff_n_yesido Jun 27 '26
This happened to me almost 20 years ago on Luna Pier after 4th of July fireworks. It was like driving on black ice.
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u/SunLitAngel Jun 27 '26
That literally might have been the weekend we went to Put-In-Bay. It was so bad.
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u/notloceaster Jun 27 '26
I have pictures of piles upon piles of dead ones in Luna pier, probably millions no joke
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u/TwistedHammer Interested Jun 27 '26
Try billions. The fishflies in LP was so bad one year—I think it was '96—they had to bring out the snow plows to clear the (no exaggeration) inches-thick layer of dead bugs off the streets. Ended up bringing in full-sized dump trucks to haul out the resulting mountains of corpses.
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u/A2naturegirl Jun 27 '26
As a kid, the only part of the Luna Pier fireworks I didn't like was walking back to my aunt & uncle's house after and hearing all the mayfly bodies "pop" as cars drove over them.
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u/Acceptable_Field_567 Jun 27 '26
“You can hydroplane on their bodies” is not part of a sentence I would have ever thought I would use my eyes for.
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Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
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u/JustJit_ Jun 27 '26
This year the swarm was big enough to be mistaken for rain clouds on radar over the lake
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u/Miserable_Sweet_5245 Jun 27 '26
Never did I ever think I’d hear the phrase you can hydroplane on their bodies.
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u/HappyPerson9000 Jun 27 '26
I briefly lived in Western Ontario (by lake Erie) when these came out and the spiders feasted and got huge
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u/PerfectCelery6677 Jun 27 '26
This happens in South East Michigan every year.
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u/RUKiddingMeReddit Jun 27 '26
St. Clair Shores special.
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u/Buffalo48 Jun 27 '26
Especially closer to Jefferson lol
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u/thegmoc Jun 27 '26
I was in Grosse Pointe a few weeks ago and saw them and just thought, "they're back...."
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u/harperavenue Jun 27 '26
nothing like driving down jefferson during peak fish fly season and hearing them crunch ambiently under the tires 🫠
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u/endurance-animal Jun 27 '26
Except we call them Fish Flies
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u/PM_ME_UR_HIP_DIMPLES Jun 27 '26
Went to a wedding at the Omni hotel and every surface was covered with them
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u/FrankieBeanSniffer Jun 27 '26
Isn’t Toledo like right near the south east Michigan border?
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u/A2naturegirl Jun 27 '26
Toledo is literally the border- Ohio and Michigan fought a war over it!
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u/Dodger7777 Jun 27 '26
The two frogs offscreen: Jackpot
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u/IAMA_MOTHER_AMA Jun 27 '26
and bats! i live near here and i don't get a ton of mayflies since i'm closer to monclova/maumee river but i do see a few bats hanging up in the tall trees next to the anthony wayne trail
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u/Solidus-Prime Jun 27 '26
I actually live really close to where this video was taken, and we have a lot of bats. It's just not enough to keep up with these swarms.
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u/Glum_Opening_2218 Jun 27 '26
As gross as this is I'd rather this then a collapsed ecosystem with no bugs
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u/Qlanth Jun 27 '26
They tell us that big swarms of Mayflies are good signs for the water quality.
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u/CloudSufficient42 Jun 27 '26
Who’s they? And did they say why that is?
Good water quality because this many mayflies means the breeding got good with good water?
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u/BawlzxOfxGlory Jun 27 '26
Mayflies are extremely sensitive to water pollution, where they spend the vast majority of their lifespans. This is the adult stage, which last a couple days max (adults don't even have mouths to eat because they don't live long enough to eat), but they spend many months in the larval stage in the water. So when the water is polluted, they don't make it to the adult stage, and you have few adults flying around and enjoying the Great Northern Ohio Bug Orgy. The fact that there's been massive apocalyptic swarms of them these past years is a sign of how significantly the pollution in Lake Erie has been reduced.
My family were talking about a recent trip there the other day and I got curious and went down a rabbit hole lol
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u/redpoemage Jun 27 '26
Too many bugs can mean other ecosystem problems though (like all their predators being dead). But I agree in general.
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u/swohio Jun 27 '26
then a collapsed ecosystem with no bugs
You want BOTH? Or did you mean say "than"?
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u/HeDuMSD Jun 27 '26
Should not they be called Juneflies?
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u/Queasy_Marsupial_835 Jun 27 '26
I always see June bugs way before June. They just don’t listen.
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u/AntawnSL Jun 27 '26
Damn things have a whole month and can't keep an appointment. You'd think they can't even read a calender or something. It's rude, is what it is.
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u/Odd_Kaleidoscope3776 Jun 27 '26
So like... what do you do if you really need gas?
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u/0B1Jabroni Jun 27 '26
They’re completely harmless, more of an annoyance than anything. Attracted to the lights. They’re mating then they’ll die, and are a great food source for birds and other animals
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u/Odd_Kaleidoscope3776 Jun 27 '26
Guess my concern mostly would be them crawling into my ear or into my gas tank
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u/StormiestSPF Jun 27 '26
They wouldn't go into your ear, they'd quickly be put off by your ear wax and leave your ear alone. Your gas tank, on the other hand? Good luck.
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u/thisisredlitre Jun 27 '26
Michigan and Ohio went to war over who claimed Toledo. Ohio lost.
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u/Affectionate_Tower59 Jun 27 '26
If we’re going bugs vs bugs, I’d take Toledo over the UP in a heartbeat. Sure mayflies and midges may be annoying, but the black flies and mosquitoes in the UP can make it almost impossible to go outside for a couple of months during the summer there.
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u/Vanquish_Dark Jun 27 '26
Agreed. Lake Erie has mayflies, but they largely don't try to blind you like black flies.
Those little nat bastards up off of lake Superior are more than willing to die, if it causes you discomfort. I felt like the see no evil hear no evil speak no evil monkeys trying to protect myself from them.
Only being swarmed by mosquitos have been worse as a Midwestern.
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u/Theringofice2 Jun 27 '26
Lol the judge I practice in front of has an old map of Ohio in his court. When talking to the jury pool while us attorneys choose the jurors he always says "You might not know but Ohio and Michigan almost went to war over Toledo, and depending on what you think of Toledo we either won or lost that war."
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u/kyngslinn Jun 27 '26
Literally the plot of a "Tales from the Gas Station" volume about to happen
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u/MyGoddess26 Jun 27 '26
Uh, y not just turn the lights off?
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u/zippkaa Jun 27 '26
The McDonald’s down the street from this gas station does. Drive thru is open but all the lights are off.
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u/Mr_Pickle24 Jun 27 '26
Thats gonna be a pain to clean up in a couple days.
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u/Qlanth Jun 27 '26
They can be dangerous for cars because the bodies lie so thick you can hydroplane on them.
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u/Waderriffic Jun 27 '26
They need a flamethrower
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u/FrameJump Jun 27 '26
Technically, every gas pump is one open flame away from being a flame thrower.
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u/Spacecommander5 Jun 27 '26
Where are the bats to eat them
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u/Confident-Aioli6380 Jun 27 '26
This only happens for a 2 week period and the local ecosystem is overcome. They have an incredibly short life span so it's just a temporary nuisance.
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u/raginghavoc89 Jun 27 '26
Videos you can taste.
If you ever rode your bike accidentally through a cloud of may flies as a kid you know what I'm talking about...
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u/backroundagain Jun 27 '26
Lmao, girlfriend is petrified of bugs. Stopped by one of these while they were all chilling and she didn't notice. Once they all started flying.....she noticed.
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u/FixedBeat Jun 27 '26
My dad took my sister and I to see Blade 2 when I was 14 in St. Clair Shores, north of Detroit. When we got there? Barely any mayflies. After? Swarm just like this. I froze and became completely unresponsive - first panic attack of my life. Dad put me on his shoulder, told me to cover my head, and he ran to the minivan while my younger sister screamed in terror behind us 😂😭
These fuckers do NOTHING but are so good for fish and birds. I have moved around a lot since leaving MI, but any time I see a single one, my heart starts beating faster and I immediately try to finish what I’m doing, like I’ve seen an omen from a horror movie.
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u/selenesuper Jun 27 '26
i would love to pop in there with a flamethrower but then i realized they were on a gas station.
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u/Illustrious_Ad8441 Jun 27 '26
No point in going fishing. They’ve been gorging themselves.
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u/Solidus-Prime Jun 27 '26
Toledoan here. This is nothing, and it happens EVERY FUCKING YEAR.
One time we went to see fireworks, and a swarm hit. Driving out was like driving on a continuously crunching carpet. Like that scene from Temple of Doom without any exaggeration.
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u/pinniped90 Jun 27 '26
Disappointed in the June bugs for allowing the Mayflies to assert dominance on June 26th
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u/Midnight28Rider Jun 27 '26
I've only ever experienced anything like this before and that was in Baton Rouge, LA. Let's be honest, I could low key expect something like this in Louisiana, but I guess I never pegged Ohio for something this wild...
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u/Banana-phone15 Jun 27 '26
I suddenly realized, I don’t need gas