"Leeches anyone?"

[4spurs]

My father was born in 1904, at home in New Orleans [Pacific Ave., Algiers]. He told me that every spring when his father would bring him in for a hair cut the barber would place a leech on his neck. He said that was done to "thin the blood" something to do with getting ready for the tropical summer of Louisiana.

I have no idea when that practice stopped; he never had a barber place a leech on my neck despite the fact that I too endured the same steamy summers growing up in New Orleans in the 50's.

Anyone, have any recent, deliberate, encounters with leeches? Comments, observations?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The fresh-water lake where my uncle had a camp when I was little was seething with leeches -- which we called, in our blunt way, "bloodsuckers." There wasn't a swimming trip went by where some kid didn't come screaming out of the water "BLOODSUCKER! BLOODSUCKER!" and would instantly be surrounded by a crowd of other kids watching as somebody's mother poured salt on it to kill it. (All mothers carried a box of salt to the lake. It's just what you did.) And then it'd be picked off and thrown in the bushes and we'd all go back into the water until it happened again. You kids today with your sanitary swimming pools don't know what you're missing.

(I don't recall that we ever felt especially refreshed after the experience, either. But we were Northerners, and we have naturally thin blood.)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

To leeches were attributed any number of healing powers. I guess in some places these claims persisted longer than others.

However, I know that leeches are now being re-investigated for potential use in medical situations. A number of sports (mostly football) teams in the UK are reputed to use them as part of the health and fitness regime of their players, and in recovery from injury.

bk

 

[DocMustang]

I grew up with a mortal fear of leaches. The house where I grew up was on the border of a neighborhood park. Through the park ran a small creek where my friends and I would spend long hours catching frogs, tadpoles and generally acting like little boys. The one thing we NEVER did was touch the water with any part of our body. You see, our parents had explained to us that leaches "probably" lived in the creek.

Now to a 6 year old boy nothing is quite so terrifying as an animal with no face that sucks your blood. Our fertile pre pubescent imaginations conjured up visions of "vicious, bloodsucking, piranha leaches" whereby any body part which broke the surface of the water would be instantly and totally covered in vampiric parasites. Such was the level terror associated with this terrible fate and so certain were we of its inevitability, that when my sister accidently fell into the creek, she immediately screamed in terror, burst into tears, convinced that all of the tiny bits of algae clinging to her 5 year old body were leaches. She probably still has nightmares.

If some well meaning barber had EVER placed a leach on me he would have found one terrified little boy on his hands.

 

[DocMustang]

To leeches were attributed any number of healing powers. I guess in some places these claims persisted longer than others.

However, I know that leeches are now being re-investigated for potential use in medical situations. A number of sports (mostly football) teams in the UK are reputed to use them as part of the health and fitness regime of their players, and in recovery from injury.

bk

They do see some use in the evacuation of Haemotomas (big bruises, or pooling of blood beneath the skin) particularly relating to complications from surgical wounds, and in both open and closed fractures where the pooling of blood can inhibit healing, provide a nidus for infection and where re-opening or surgically draining the haematoma would be inadvisable.

 

[dhermann1]

In our Lake Chautauqua we always swam with an awareness of bloodsuckers. Never had the pleasure, myself, but I knew plenty who did. It was mainly kids who stayed near the shore and just waded, rather than plunging into the deep water.
I suspect that Louisiana held onto a lot of archaic folkways like that. I'm sure the leeches had no therapeutic value to a healthy young kid getting a haircut, tho!

 

[RichardH]

The fresh-water lake where my uncle had a camp when I was little was seething with leeches -- which we called, in our blunt way, "bloodsuckers." There wasn't a swimming trip went by where some kid didn't come screaming out of the water "BLOODSUCKER! BLOODSUCKER!" and would instantly be surrounded by a crowd of other kids watching as somebody's mother poured salt on it to kill it. (All mothers carried a box of salt to the lake. It's just what you did.) And then it'd be picked off and thrown in the bushes and we'd all go back into the water until it happened again. You kids today with your sanitary swimming pools don't know what you're missing.

(I don't recall that we ever felt especially refreshed after the experience, either. But we were Northerners, and we have naturally thin blood.)

Thank god we don´t have bloodsucking slugs here in Norway ;P, that sounds really unpleasant

 

[DocMustang]

Thank god we don´t have bloodsucking slugs here in Norway ;P, that sounds really unpleasant

That is the really odd thing about leaches: they numb you up first. If you are really paying attention you might feel a slight pinch. Sometimes you notice one attaches someplace you can see,but most of the time the only way you know you have one on you is when someone else yells "BLOODSUCKER!" and points at you. Then you scream and cry because of the idea that some foul creature is draining away your life's blood. Then some mommy puts some salt on the cursed thing and it falls off leaving a little tiny hole, smaller than the end of your little finger.

 

[Burton]

I have had a number of encounters with leeches in tropical places but one I remember well was in a very muddy village in New Guinea where after hiking in and trying to wash up I found I had one on my eyelid. It was disgusting even for me.

 

[Puzzicato]

I have had a number of encounters with leeches in tropical places but one I remember well was in a very muddy village in New Guinea where after hiking in and trying to wash up I found I had one on my eyelid. It was disgusting even for me.

That is pretty disgusting!

I remember being a leader on a youth group camping trip - we told the kids that the leeches with yellow stripes would kill you and the ones with red stripes were fine. We also told them that if you see a spider on the ceiling you have to watch them like a hawk because they suffer traction fatigue and fall off without warning. We'd probably be arrested for emotional abuse now.

 

[Burton]

I never did figure out how I was able to have one up so high (my eyelid) as most leeches are always close to the ground. Must have been on a branch or something. Bled a lot too. Disgusted even the New Guineans and they are hard to disgust.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I was once told that there are species that hang around on branches - a bit like some species of tick - and sense the heat of a person coming by and drop on to the unwary traveller.

I have no idea if this is true.

I never did figure out how I was able to have one up so high (my eyelid) as most leeches are always close to the ground. Must have been on a branch or something. Bled a lot too. Disgusted even the New Guineans and they are hard to disgust.

 

[Tomasso]

It was mainly kids who stayed near the shore and just waded, rather than plunging into the deep water.

Yep, they rarely hook on to swimmers. I swam hundreds of miles in a leech infested lake with nary a nibble.

Now Candiru are a different story........:eeek: