“Dear PoPville,
My son and I were working compost deep into out little garden a few weeks ago in Mt Pleasant (where a plum tree once stood) and came across this dude. We think is a brood X late nymph stage?
My son was 4 the last time Brood X came out and he was fascinated by them and fearlessly picked them up and handled them. He developed horrible hives that the pediatrician linked to a possible allergic reaction to the cicadas. Not definitive diagnosis, but we put a stop to picking them up and with Benadryl he recovered.”