Would An Earwig Really Crawl Into Your Ear?

When I was about 12 I woke up hearing a strange noise in my ear. Went in my parents' room and my dad told me it was probably water, and to turn my head to that side and shake it. I did, and an earwig came out and went back in....I freaked out and jumped up and down until it fell out. 17 years later I'm still terrified of them, and really paranoid about my ears...if my hair brushes them it scares me.
I don't think they get in people's ears as a rule, but they'll go anywhere that's small, warm and dark, so it happens.

I have a pretty clean home but one night I felt something on my arm when I was sleeping... It was an earwig, so I flicked it off. Went back to sleep. Woke up again to something crawling around my ear. I freaked out and started swating my head but saw nothing, (thought it might have been my hair) until I looked at my blanket to make sure. It was an earwig... Didn't sleep for the rest of the night.. Eesh..

Well, the short answer is "very probably not". That said, you could imagine very unhygienic conditions (think the Dark Ages), people sleeping on the floor in an overly ventilated house (many insects about). The earwig looking for a nice warm dark damp place to lay her eggs....

The name earwig comes from an old English word, 'earwicga'. It means 'ear beetle'. It is commonly believed that earwigs like to wanter into people's ears. Some stories say that they will burrow into your brain and lay eggs there. These will cost fever and insanity. The consoling thing is that earwigs are not parasitic, they would prefer to lay their eggs under a stone. The human ear, unfortunately is about the right size for an earwig so not inconceivable they could wander in if given ample opportunity.

The annoying thing is that most websites will tell you that earwigs don't really pinch ... I don't know what planet these people are on. I've been pinched by them, and so have my kids, and it hurt!

Yes, they do. I can tell you this for sure because this night I awoke to the feeling of water in my ear. I was poking my ear and tipping my head sideways, the way I would get water out. Soo I decide that poking my ear was pointless and just allowed gravity to do the work.
And an earwig fell out of my ear.
It was the most terrifying thing ever, I tell you. So YES, they absolutely DO go in your ear.
But I don't think they go as far as laying eggs, and they definitely don't go as far as going into your brain as some legends say they do.

Yesterday I had an EXCRUCIATING headache. Took allergy med, wait 30min-nothing; took SIX ibuprofen, 30 mins nothing. I was considering going to emergency room (it was Saturday) when I accidentally dripped the ice cube I was using on my forehead (which was also not helping the pain!) directly into my right ear. I rolled over to get the water out (I was laying in bed trying to get this headache to pass) and the pain subsided and I fell asleep. My husband woke me up 20 mins later (checking to make sure I was still alive!) and I got up and felt absolutely fine. UNTIL I LOOKED ON MY PILLOW!! There was an earwig on it! It was dead! I think the ice cube drip drowned it and it fell out of my right ear. I think it was pinching me and causing my pain. It was a headache, sick to my stomach, thought I was going to pass out all-overwhole body experience. I now have 2 problems: 1) do I need to worry about what if the bastard laid eggs in my ear????!!! 2) How do I eradicate the bastards from my home and yard?? Please help!!!

I can't sleep at the moment because I woke up to an intense pain and discomfort as if maybe blood or liquid was about to come out of my ear.  There was a definite pinch of sorts and I was losing my mind thinking I was asleep and couldnt wake up from a bad painful dream.  10 Min's of flipping out trying to decide whether or not to go to the hospital and I finally felt the "liquid'' coming out again, I ran to the bathroom and noticed something falling out and in the sink there was an earwig.  I know the chances are ridiculous this could happen however I am now restless and need to leave the motel I am in

A few months! Ago I began hearing grinding and crunching in my ear I dissmissed it as vibration off my pillow. But recently I have begain to have sever ear aches. Last night it grew so bad I could not move my neck it felt like a grinding in my brain. Its been 3 days without sleep. And if I put pressure form the palm of my hand onto my ear air escapes inmy head. What the heck is going on?/

It's an earwig !

My fiance and I were in bed just about to go to sleep when she started screaming " something just crawled into my ear! Get it out! Get it out!" I jumped out of bed to switch the light on, but I couldn't see anything in there.
My fiance is paranoid about little creepy crawlies and often I will come into the kitchen to find her screaming because there is a moth inside the house, so you can imagine how hysterical she was when she had something in her ear. She rang the hospital where they told her to shine a flashlight inside  the ear and if that didnt work try canola oil. I could see it starting to come out when I shined the flashlight but it still didnt come all the way. We used some oil and within 10 seconds it was out. Scarier than child birth.

One crawled in my ear last night and it hurt really bad. I put some peroxide in my ear and it came out but it was still really freaky

Had one in my Ear had some Ear pain. But nothing more. Ending up killing it in my ear...and using a Q tip to push the pieces out.... Was not fun.

You definitely do not need filthy conditions to find an earwig in your ear. YES, it is shocking to me. I have a spotless house and yet my daughter woke up in the middle of the night crying with ear pain. After giving her tylenol, I realized she was holding toilet paper to her ear. So I asked to remove it and saw blood on it. I looked in her ear with a flash light and an earwig came crawling out. Her pain stopped immediately. As a mother of five children, I have had to take care of a lot of unexpected situations, some are so gross there are no words to describe. This was by far the worst ever. I wanted to yell for my husband to come and I wanted to freak out so bad but I knew if I did the bug might not come out and that would have made things worse. My precious 8 year old daughter was just so happy that the pain was gone she just skipped off to bed and fell fast asleep. I, on the other hand, did not sleep. I kept wrapping my hair over my ears in fear! The image of that bug coming out of her ear will haunt my sleep for the rest of my life.

Yes they could, but its not very likely.

I live in a pretty clean house in Melbourne, and so it was a big surprise when I got into bed, pulled the covers up, and I felt something brush against my left ear - I thought it was my hair but then I could hear like a rustling sound in my ear and I knew something wasn't right. I woke my husband up but he couldn't see anything in my ear but when I went to touch my ear, it made the sound again and I knew there was definately something in there! We went to the emergency room and during the drive, I could feel it crawling around in my ear as it it almost tried crawling out a few times but went back in. The nurse put some antiseptic solution in my ear and she said it crawled out straight away. I never got to see it but the nurse said it was an earwig. I have never been so scared in my life! I'm still paranoid that it has laid eggs in my ear or something.... Ewww YUCK! I'll be sleeping with ear-plugs every night from now on...

I think it should not be possible. Finding earwigs in your ear is quite rare, as these creatures do not fly and mostly prefer dark and damp places. Urban legends stated that earwigs crawl into people's ears and lay eggs inside their brains, but I think it is just some untrue myth, not worth considering about.