- Eating the crabs would be more merciful than leaving them to suffocate in random places.
Blue crabs are generally considered a Maryland specialty, especially when drenched in Old Bay seasoning. Although the Old Line State might be the most famous for them, the crabs also show up in the Carolinas, Delaware, New Jersey, and even Louisiana.
The corn fields of Iowa, however, are decidedly crab-less. It’s weird, then, that blue crabs have recently been showing up in Sioux City.
Not only that, but people have found them in places where crabs absolutely should not be.
One crab cropped up in a local library. Another one was discovered pinching thirsty customers trying to retrieve their drinks from a Pepsi vending machine.
Unfortunately, both crabs died before they could be reintroduced to wetter habitats.
Nobody knows where the crabs came from or how they got into their respective hide-y holes. We can only assume there’s someone going around Sioux City planting crabs in strange places for some nefarious purpose.
If you live in the city, check your shoes before you put them on. There might be a pinching surprise lurking in there.
A Literary Crab
The first crab incident happened at the Sioux City Public Library on July 30. Visitors looking to get online discovered an out-of-place intruder in the library’s computer lab.
They found the small crab shuffling about between computer desks. That’s particularly impressive when you consider that the computer lab is on the second floor.
Somehow, the crab was able to scale the stairs or use the elevator. That, or somebody brought the crab in with them and left.
Who that someone was or why they thought there should be a crab at the library remains unknown.
“We really have no idea the journey that this crab had to get to the library, it just must have been hungry for knowledge here,” the library’s circulation services manager, Jenn Delperdang, told KTIV.
The library staff used their workplace’s resources to determine that the crab was a Chesapeake blue crab. Although they couldn’t figure out whether the crab was a he or a she, the staff nicknamed it Chester.
You know, the library must not have great books on crabs. Just saying, it’s pretty easy to tell a blue crab’s sex by just looking at its stomach.
Anyhow, the public also took a shine to Chester.
“I’m just glad he’s finally off the streets. I heard he initially came for the Wi-Fi, but stayed for the books!” one user commented on Facebook.
Sadly, Chester didn’t stay around for long. Although the library contacted professionals to take the crab to a more suitable environment, it died before animal control got to it
Due to Chester’s untimely passing, the Sioux City Public Library would like to remind visitors to not bring and leave random animals at their premises.
The Frances Building Pincher
The library crab was strange enough already, but it wasn’t enough. Just days later, another aquatic visitor showed up elsewhere in Sioux City.
On August 1, customers trying to purchase drinks from a Pepsi vending machine at the downtown Frances Building said there was something living in the machine. According to complaints, something was nibbling or biting people’s fingers as they attempted to grab their purchases.
The Pepsi Company sent Soso Mesa, a local technician, to attend to the machine. This wasn’t Mesa’s first rodeo, so he figured a mouse or a rat must’ve snuck inside the vending machine.
When Mesa opened the machine, however, he was in for a surprise. Instead of an angry rodent, he discovered a small crab in the drink dispensing slot.
The customers sticking their hands into the machine hadn’t been bitten. They had been pinched.
By the time Mesa found the crustacean, however, the pinching had ceased. The crab was dead.
It’s no surprise. Although blue crabs can survive on land for more than 24 hours, they eventually suffocate if they can’t keep their gills wet.
Curiously enough, the Frances Building and the Sioux City Public Library neighbor each other. Not only that, they’re connected with a skywalk.
The only logical conclusion here is that someone must’ve gone around the buildings, leaving crabs in their wake.
But why? And how many more crabs are there waiting to be found?