Low-Tech Method to Keep Flies Away
After hiking Old Rag Mountain last Friday with my wife, we stopped in Sperryville for a late lunch at Burgers and Things. I noticed that some zip-lock plastic bags full of water were attached high on the walls of the cafe. When I inquired about the water bags, an employee said that they keep the flies out. She continued to explain that flies have compound eyes and that when they see the bags full of water, they think it’s raining and therefore keep clear of the area. The idea sounded a bit far-fetched to me; however, not a single fly could be found in the cafe.
What do you think of the science behind this theory? Feel free to post your opinions and/or results of any experiments.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I live in the south and have seen many a bag of water hanging from porches while I swat at shit munchers…I think this prolly has a better chance of being a badge for KKK sympathizers than pest control. If it were this easy to scare a fly wouldn’t a glass of water, or anything clear containing water do the exact same thing? And interestingly enough I have never seen this on anybody’s wall that wasn’t a stereotypical redneck. I have asked many other people who live here and were born here about the story behind the bag and if they’re not a redneck they have no idea what I’m talking about. Seems like if this worked even remotely poor black people in the south would have heard about it as well as anyone else from the south, but I have yet to meet one.
October 18th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Sounds a bit strange to me too. I think a ‘no flies’ sign would probably work better.
October 18th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Tony, thanks fora lot your comment. Very funny!