Very Unpleasant London Visitors

According to my research, in the past, bedbugs were far less prevalent in the country than in the towns.

At the Bell Savage Inn in London, in May, 1782, Parson Woodforde recorded that in 1782, when he stayed at the Bell Savage Inn in London,  "I was terribly bitten by the buggs last night, but did not wake me." In 1786 while staying at the place he wrote that buggs pestered him so much that he slept all night in a chair fully clad.

Moving onto a much later period my great-grandmother stood the legs of her beds in bowls of paraffin to prevent bedbugs getting into the beds, and she swept underneath the beds every day.

And people talk about the good old days.

Horror of horrors, I've heard that in modern times bedbugs brought into the country from overseas have infested some London hotels. The thought of staying in one literally makes my skin crawl.