Hunting a Two-Ton Monster in Rhode Island
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So we're heading down the highway. Yep. Interstate 95, to be exact, just south of Providence, Rhode Island. Yeah, I-95 starts in Holton, Maine at the Canadian border, follows south all the way to Miami. But I assume we're not going that far. No, no. In fact, we're going to be taking the next exit, which is Thurbers Avenue. Oh, okay. That's coming up soon. Yep. Yep.

So we're taking the highway because it gives us the best view of what we're here to see. And, yeah, it's coming up soon. All right. We're going about 65 miles an hour, give or take. I hope we don't miss whatever we're looking for. It's nearly impossible to miss, Ray. We've come to Providence, Rhode Island, to look for Mr. Nibbles Woodaway. Nibbles who? Okay. In fairness, almost no one knows him by that name. So, Ray, we've come to Providence to hunt for the world's largest termite.

Folks around here know it best by its other name, the Big Blue Bottle.

Hey, I'm Jeff Belanger. And I'm Ray Ogier. Welcome to episode 395 of the New England Legends podcast. Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time, whether it's roadside oddities, ghosts, monsters, UFOs, or just the plain weird. We love it all. Plus, most of our story leads come from you. So please reach out to us anytime through our website. We'll explore Rhode Island's, no, no, the world's largest termite right after this word from our sponsor.

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The Big Blue Bug. Yeah. I see it right there off to our right. That's it. Now, I've passed this thing countless times over the years. We all have. I mean, this roadside oddity belongs to Big Blue Bug Solutions of Providence. It's a pest control business. Yeah, that's right. Okay, so take Thurbers Avenue exit right up here. Okay, got it.

And we can stay to the right off the exit to come back toward the big blue bug building. So this giant bug off the side of the highway has been here for as long as I can remember. Yeah, me too. It's not just me that's passed this thing in person many times. The world has seen this thing. This iconic roadside oddity showed up in two of the most important films in modern times. You're right. Yeah, of course, I'm talking about Dumb and Dumber and Dumb and Dumber 2. Classics, both of them.

Now, when you see the aerial shot of that doggy-looking van cruising down the highway past the Big Blue Bug, you know that's a nod to the folks in Rhode Island. No doubt. And the Big Blue Bug was also seen in one of the most important television series of modern times. Family Guy. Family Guy. Peter drives by the Big Blue Bug in one of the episodes...

Though in the animated series, the business was called Quahog Pest Control. So we've seen this thing animated as well. That's true. Okay, to find out how it got here, let's head back to the year 1980. It's June of 1980 here in Rhode Island. Jimmy Carter is President of the United States. Buddy Cianci is Mayor of the City of Providence. And Funkytown by Lips Inc. is the number one song on the radio. Won't you take me to Funkytown?

Hey, love that one. It's an earworm. The 1980s are just beginning. High inflation and interest rates have had the economy in a bit of a recession, but we seem to be moving out of it right now. Between the music and the culture, the 1980s are already looking like a time when things are going to get loud. There's a lot of media trying to command our attention.

TV ads, billboards, radio ads, magazines, newspapers, you name it, someone is trying to sell us something. That's true. Which means standing out in a crowd is even harder than it used to be.

So earlier this year, a company called New England Pest Control moved its headquarters to a commercial building on O'Connell Street, just south of the city. Now, the building will give the business room to grow. It has a parking lot big enough for their employees and their company trucks and vans. It's a good space. New England Pest Control has been in business since 1935, so they're well-established and growing. Business is good, but it could always be better.

We're standing here on the roof of the New England Pest Control building. Stephen Goldman is up here with his dad, who started the business. The Goldmans are looking around at the rooftop and gazing out at Interstate 95, just a short distance away. There's an awful lot of traffic today. Yeah, there is. And that's a lot of eyes that would see something like a billboard on this roof. Could be a great place to advertise a business. It could. It could.

But the Goldman's know if they put up a billboard, it would be just another billboard in a sea of billboards. I mean, look just down the highway from here. There's a bunch. Yeah, that's true. Now, if they want to stand out, they'll have to try something different. And so they do. They hire the Avenia Sign Company out of North Providence. They fork over $20,000 and the work begins. The plan is to make something that will stand out. And look at that.

I'd say mission accomplished. It took months. It's made of fiberglass, wire mesh, and steel. The final assembly is taking place on the ground. Okay, it's being lifted into place by a crane.

and gently set down on the roof. Wow, look at that. Now what we're looking at now is 9 feet tall, 58 feet long, with 40 foot long wings, 7 feet of antennae, 11 feet of legs, and weighs in at 4,000 pounds or 2 tons. It's painted purple, and it's modeled exactly after an eastern subterranean termite. Even the purple color is authentic to the termite.

This is what they look like under a microscope. It's just that this one is 928 times larger. A Rhode Island roadside oddity was born. And that brings us back to today. Jeff, we didn't travel back in time for very long. No, we didn't, but there's a lot more to say on this one. So in those early days, New England Pest Control just wanted to stand out. Tens of thousands of eyes pass through this section of I-95 every single day.

The giant bug quickly became a landmark. Now, as we mentioned, the original bug wasn't blue, it was purple. But spending all that time in the hot sun faded the purple to a light blue pretty quickly. In 1990, they held a contest to name the giant termite. The winning entry was from Geraldine Perry of Tiverton, Rhode Island, who came up with Nibbles Woodaway. That's awesome. I get it.

But as we said, no one really calls him that. Even the locals don't know him by that name. Locals have always called him the Big Blue Bug. Now this oddity quickly became an icon in the state. And New England Pest Control really got into the spirit.

Around Halloween, the bug made Don a witch's hat and a mask. He'll wear red, white, and blue for Independence Day, bunny ears for Easter. And of course, at Christmastime, he's covered in lights and sports a big glowing red nose, just like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I've passed by all those versions over the years. Yeah, yeah.

Back in 2002, the big blue bug was removed from the roof for the first time in over two decades so it could be refurbished and repainted. Some regular I-95 commuters panicked when their favorite mascot was missing for a few weeks. The fixed-up bug showed up in a few local parades before being set back in its rightful place, restoring order to the universe.

And as we mentioned earlier, the Big Blue Bug made cameos in Dumb and Dumber, Dumb and Dumber 2, Family Guy, but also The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and The Daily Show. The Bug was even featured in a Rhode Island Lottery scratch-off ticket. You know you've made it big when you're on a scratchy. That's for sure.

Though the mascot had the name Nibbles for decades, back in 2012, New England Pest Control decided to rename their company Big Blue Bug Solutions. You can only swim against the tide for so long, I guess. Sure, yeah. Plus, at this point, if you said Big Blue Bug Solutions, I know exactly what you're talking about. I'm not sure I would have equated New England Pest Control with anything specific.

So back in 2012, the general manager said in an interview that they do over a million dollars a year in termite extermination business alone. So that $20,000 investment in 1980 seems to have paid off. I'd say it has. The big blue bug has survived multiple hurricanes, plus all the other weather New England can throw at it. It's even survived gunshots.

When you come around the bend on I-95, just south of Providence, seeing the bug is kind of like seeing an old friend. It's familiar. You know where you are when you spot it. You can call it gaudy if you like, call it camp, but this oddity has been around long enough that it's become part of Rhode Island's identity. ♪

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And to see some pictures of the big blue bug, click on the link in our episode description. Go to our website and click on episode 395. Or I guess you could just watch Dumb and Dumber. Or Dumb and Dumber 2. Or Dumb and Dumber 2. T-O, by the way, not T-O-O. That's right. Man, I think about how powerful roadside oddities are. Yeah. I think we have to say this. Big Blue Bug Solutions, not a sponsor. No, no. But beloved by all, whether you use them or not. Yeah. And we just gave them like...

A whole podcast. Well, maybe a free termite extermination at the houses. I don't know. Or at least a consult or something. I don't know. But think about it. But they made this thing that's purely to drive their commercial business, which, of course, we need bug extermination. We've got to protect our homes. I totally understand that. They've been around since 1935. They're doing something right. Mm-hmm.

But they did this gaudy thing. And I'm sure there must have been pushback in the beginning, right? Oh, I would imagine somebody. Neighbors, although it is a very commercial area. It's right off the highway. Those are mostly commercial buildings. But someone has to look at it and go, I don't want to look at that. That was a commuter. I bet. I bet you there's a commuter that goes by every day like, I can't believe I have to look at this thing. And would you rather just look at a boring rectangular rooftop?

I love the big blue bug. And I remember being a kid and my parents pointing it out and thinking, before you come around the corner too, they're like, all right, look for the big blue bug. And I'm like, oh my God, there's a real huge bug there. But then you see it and you realize it's manufactured. And I just introduced it to my kids recently, which is really nice. You look for it every time you go through Providence. And it's, I don't know. It kind of...

it's a, it's a landmark. So you know where you are and how far you've got until your next destination by hitting that big, big blue bug. If you're coming up from the South, it's, you see it, I think a little further off. You get a little more because you come around a corner and there it is right there. If you're coming North to South, but if you're coming South to North, you have, you see a little more time to see it. Um,

When you see it, you know you're about to go around the bend and get into like the most downtown part of Providence where the traffic tends to be the worst. Right, right. There's merges there and whatever. You're going to probably slow down after you see the bug. Yeah. So yeah, it's become a thing. But when you see that, it's funny how it's like certain architecture comes to define a city. You know, all over the world this is true, but so do like bugs and like a roadside auto like this. Yeah.

And it's been around so long. So I'm sure in the beginning, someone complained, I don't like it. It's ugly. It's gross, whatever. But then after a while, you're like, fine, I'll put up with it. And then like once your kids are like, wow, the bug, you're like, I love that bug. I always did. Becomes a thing. I always loved it. No, you didn't.

No, you didn't. I remember you complaining forever, like that stupid, ugly thing. But you love it now because it's stuck around long enough that it's familiar. It's family, right? Yeah. That's ours. That's ours. That's ours. However ugly something might be, if it's in your community, you can claim it as yours. Darn right. Don't make fun of it. We can make fun of it. You can't. So think about that. $20,000. A lot of money. You don't want to just lay that out. Yeah. And risky. We're going to build a giant bug. Right. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. Will it... I mean, it's New England. The weather is crazy. We get everything. Will it withstand high winds or snow? Blizzard or anything, yeah. Even the heat, you know? And my gosh, that's got to be the most profitable business investment...

The good thing is with attractions like that, people tend to try to steal them. You know what I mean? But this one you could not steal. So crane needed to put it in place. There's even more to say. So people request to go up there. My buddy Frank, Frank Grace, photographer, right? So we, you know, he literally called him and said, could I go on the roof and photograph it? No. No.

People have asked them, can we go on the roof and get married next to the big blue bug? No kidding. No. Yeah. They won't let you. Insurance issues. Of course. Of course. You fall off. Yeah. We don't need that publicity. Right. The bug is doing its job 24-7, 365. Right.

Like a bride falling off the roof and dying. Yeah. We don't need that. Right. That's what they call bad press. Yeah. That's not good. So they get requests all the time. Can I go up there and get photographs with it? Can we do a bridal thing with it? Can we do whatever? So even professionally, right? Yeah. They wouldn't let Frank up there. No. I'm sure there's someone they know that they

would allow up. But if you just call off the street. And again, totally understandable. Of course. I wouldn't want people up on my roof. And then you let one person up and all day it's become a thing. Maybe someday they'll make it a tourist attraction. Right. But for now, just let them do their work. I'm sure there's no railings on the side of that roof because it's a roof. It's a commercial roof. You could walk right off it, you know? But yeah, someone's like going back further to take the selfie. I'm like, yep, that's how it ends.

And don't stand in 95 to get the picture either. No. Or don't even take the picture if you're driving, please. But it's so close. So there's a ramp. So there's regular 95 where you see it, but there's also a ramp that's even closer. Yeah. I forget which ramp that is, but it comes, you know, I mean, you could almost throw a rock out your window and hit it. You know, I mean, it is that close. Yeah. So really brilliant. And I look this up too.

you are allowed to put up a billboard if you own the building and it is for your business. Okay. If you want to put up a billboard and rent it out to whoever wants to put their message on it, that's a whole other permitting sort of thing. You need, you know, ordinances and stuff like that. So,

technically it could be a sign on your business and that's okay. But I think they knew like a billboard, that stretch in 95, there's a dozen billboards. Oh, absolutely. It's littered with billboards. Like between the airport and Warwick to Providence. Like it's just, you know, now it's just like a car dealership.

Cannabis companies. Cannabis companies. And even like sex toys. And attorneys. Like adult stuff. Yeah, attorneys. And attorneys to help you sue somebody. That's it. Those are the four billboards that you're going to see. I mean, you'll see different versions of them with different names. But yeah, that's the billboard you see. And there's a bunch of them.

Yeah. And then I couldn't tell you a name of any one of them, like specifically. Right. But you're just like, oh, lawyer, car company. A couple casinos maybe. Yeah, casinos. But yeah, they're all the same. So we also, we've said this in multiple episodes when we've covered really funny graves. We've said, if you want to be remembered forever, just have a really memorable headstone. Right. Something super funny or outlandish where people would be like, I don't know this person, but oh my gosh, that's hysterical. Yeah.

Yeah. Right? Like. Always be remembered for that. You just, you put up something really wild over the top in Gaudi and everybody's going to like, they'll bring their kids by to see it. Look what they did at Fenway Park. What?

The Green Monster. Right. Right? I mean, that's... We talked about that in one of our earlier episodes. That was a very early episode. How was that named, the Green Monster? Was that the Red Sox? Or did fans start just calling that... It could have been opponents. Oh, yeah. There you go. That's a monster of a wall right there. And it's green. Green Monster. No baseball stadium in the country has an outfield wall that high. Right. Right? So what would be a home run at another field...

is off the wall and playable in Fenway because that wall was there. As you know, if you go on the pike, you're up against a train tracks and then the pike. There's nowhere to go. There's no land. You couldn't move that thing back an inch if you wanted to. So yeah, you've got this thing that's big, but now it's an icon. And it's ours. Just like the big blue bug. It's ours. It's our green monster. It's our big blue bug.

And I remember seeing it in Dumb and Dumber. Yeah. Anytime I see it on TV. You're giddy, right? You're giddy. I don't know why. It's a big blue bug on the top of a building. But you see it like, oh, my God, that's right down the street, basically. I drive by that for going to the beach down in Narragansett or whatever. You drive by it if you're cruising down to like, you know, the Connecticut coast or whatever. Like, yeah, if you if you're on I-95, you don't not see it. And then you got to wonder what other people think seeing that movie.

that have no idea what that is. Like they just see it quickly and like, why is there a big blue bug on that building? I don't know.

rhode island's weird man they yeah they don't know the story they don't know that it's an icon and yeah it's been sitting there for years part of a business it's just a big blue bug on top of a building for others i know uh one of the fun parts and maybe someone's listening to this right now who's like i commute this every day and i didn't really know the story behind it but i see it but i see it every single day and and it's and yeah you you know it's it's worth a smirk at the very least it's like a friend waving to you on the side of the highway you're like oh

There he is. Safe travels. See you next time.

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Time is precious, and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24-7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.