After believing a monster was responsible for the strange noises coming from the wall near her closet for the past eight months, a North Carolina toddler finally knows what all the buzz was about.
The little girl's mother, Ashley Class, told NBC News this week that she called in beekeeper Curtis Collins after she discovered bees in the attic of her century-old farmhouse.
Using a thermal camera in the 3-year-old's room a few weeks ago, Collins would uncover a beehive weighing more than 100 pounds.
"I kid you not, it lit up like Christmas in the wall right next to my daughter's closet," Class recalled about seeing the thermal imaging. "When I first thought it was like, a man in the wall, I was really startled."
Following the discovery, Collins would begin extraction efforts, which came in three waves over the course of several days. He said the hive, which housed more than 50,000 bees, was twice the size of any other hive he's removed.
“It was like an apocalypse, is all I can think about,” Class said. “It’s just all these bees started flying out.”
In the midst of clearing out the toddler's room of bees, Collins also worked to save the swarm.
"It's all a process to try to save the bees, and keep the hive going," Collins told NBC News.
Class chronicled the situation on TikTok, where her videos showed dead bees lacing the ground, honey oozing from the ceiling as well as a slew of other damages to the home. Those videos would soar to more than 9 million views.
Unfortunately, insurance isn't covering the estimated cost of the damages, which will sting Class for more than $20,000 dollars.
"That's good that we saved all of those bees," she said. "But I'm ready for them to be evicted."
As for her daughter, who once complained of hearing monsters in her wall at night, she has a new nickname for Collins, according to Ashley.
"She looks straight at him and said, 'He's not a beekeeper. He's a monster hunter.'"
