100,000 Bees Living in Walls of California Home Send Woman to Hospital

An elderly woman in California was hospitalized after she suffered hundreds of bee stings on June 28 – after six years of the insects infesting her home. 

Linda Briggs, 74, was swarmed by the bees that have lived in her home’s walls for more than six years. She was standing outside of her house when the bees began to gather around her and attack. 

“I get up to walk towards them because they came closer and I didn’t want to go in my house and open the door and let them in the house and the dogs are usually right there,” Briggs told KTLA. 

“I had that towel and I was kind of smacking it and swinging it around to distract them.”

A neighbor ran over to help Briggs by spraying a hose at the swarm but was forced to flee when the bees began attacking and instead called 911, according to KTLA. Eventually, a team of firefighters was able to intervene and neutralize the swarm — but not before they, too, were attacked. 

Briggs told reporters that she was fortunate to not have suffered more from the stings. 

“People said it was really lucky,” she said to KTLA. “That some people have died from this and that I had a lot of toxin in me. If I were to get stung again, that could be fatal.”

The hospital removed more than 700 stingers from Briggs, leaving her sore in the following days, according to KTLA. When removal crews arrived at her home after the attack, they found over 100,000 bees living in her walls. 

“I was very lucky that I didn’t die,” Briggs said of the attack.

Briggs is a beloved figure in her neighborhood, in the city of Murrieta, according to a GoFundMe created to help her with medical costs, following the bee attack. 

“She is an integral part of the community in this quiet little cul-de-sac,” the GoFundMe reads. 

The GoFundMe was created to help fund the full removal of the beehives, as well as covering medical expenses and home repairs.