The lyrics to this witty and short song say just about everything that needs to be said about these interesting fleet-footed creatures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W3R3EElMho (or search "Centipede Song")

My daughter found one in her room tonight. I can see from other comments that others are in need of these....if so just contact me am14pender@gmail.com

These scurry around my home all the time. I would be able to catch them if anyone is interested.

I have a request for anyone. I would like to buy a few specimens of the aforementioned centipede. Please reply to this and we'll figure it out.

Thanks

Hi, My dog ate a house centipede yesterday and last night had an allergic reaction. His face swelled and he was very itchy. Could this be related to eating the centipede? Have you ever heard of this kind of reaction?
Thanks,
Linda

My cat stalked one as it ran across the living room rug the other night. After he pounced, he bit the thing's head off. I was so worried he might get sick, but he's fine.

The folks around out southern Ohio home call these 'sink bugs'. We just caught one in the basement yesterday. Usually they're so very fast, but this one took its time and let us watch it for quite some time before getting it into the jar.

I didn't know these existed until we moved to our current apartment... they kept running about everywhere when we first moved in.
But I love them.
The first time I saw one, I got excited.
I'm really glad they aren't poisonous :D

I used to be deathly afraid of them and kill them on sight until one day I found one lying dead belly-up in a pot of water in the sink in my last apartment. I scooped it out and put it on a paper towel to dry and just stared at it, amazed that I was drawn to it, and realized I found it absolutely beautiful. I still get freaked out when they scurry in random patterns in the basement and will smash them if they look at me the wrong way, but slowly coming to terms with possibly letting them live to take care of the other pests in the house now.

I've been seeing these things in my house most of my life (we live in an old farm house) and I have to say even now I still have not come to terms with them.

I've tried to accept them, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to seeing them. They just freak me out. They are about the ONLY bugs that freak me out. other centipedes I'm fine with but these guys just are creepy

these things are so gross! we've had them in my house for 7 years!! they are usually in my room because my room is in the basement so it has sucked. i always see them running across the ceiling or walls. the one morning i woke up and was getting ready for work..something caught my eye on the ceiling and it was a huge house centipede. i stood there..thinking about what to do but it fell on my bed!! it continued to crawl across my bed to my pillows and then down my bed to the floor!! i was thinking how gross it would be if i was sleeping there while it was crawling. they also like my shower..and apparently me because i was showering the one morning and i saw something fall from the ceiling but didn't think much of it until i looked down and one was on my chest! finally..i have bought powerful insecticide to kill these bastards! ha

I used to kill these guys when they would cross my path in my home. After I got bit by a brown recluse, I learned these guys eat all types of other pests, even the dangerous ones. Now, even if they skitter across my foot, which seems to be their passion in life btw, I restrain from smashing them.

Well about a week ago i moved into a basement in Clinton Twp, Mich and a few night ago i seen one of these house centipedes and was running so fast i couldnt get him. now tonight in a matter of 3-4 hours ive seen 3 of them and wow these guys really freaked me out the first one got away and the 2 others im sad to say met a timely death. But after the last one i desided to look them up and see what they were and after reading everything i have on them i feel so bad for killing 2 of them and will not kill one again.

We've found several of these in our apt in the past few weeks!! One was on the bedroom ceiling just hanging out at like 4 am. Don't think I slept much that night. A few days later I had one on my towel when I got out of the shower. And just this morning one came running from the bathtub, so I went to squish it and it ran, so I moved the laundry hampers in the bathroom, and found another one!! Ewww!! Ewww!! Ewww!! I know you say they are beneficial, and on a bright note I can say that we haven't had nearly as many ladybugs lately, but I would much prefer ladybugs to these alien looking creatures from hell. Anyone know how I can get rid of these things?

I happened upon one of these lounging in my bathtub. I have seen these many times, but this particular one was bright purple. Does anyone know if they can indeed have this coloration or is this a different species entirely? Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to photograph it, being of the squash-now-ask-questions-later mindset. Does anyone have any pictures of a purple house centipede?

I really hate these freaky things. My fear of them became worst when I one day got out of my shower. Like any other time I grabbed a towel and dried my face first. only my suprise there was a (as I call them) "creepy crawly" on the towel and he/she ended up on my face next to my mouth!!!!!!! I screamed so loud my husband came flying in the bathroom just as I began to hit myself in the face trying to get it of. At first he had no clue what was going on and after I took off running out of the room I finally got the chance to tell him and he got a good laugh out of it. Believe me now when I get out of the shower I shake the towle. anti-creepy crawlies

Scutigera coleoptrata (L., 1758). This is believed to be a European species that has been introduced into North America by man and now occurs throughout the continent. It is often found inside houses in damp, cool spots, like in bathtubs, sinks & drains, and cellars. Note the long legs and the very long last pair of legs; note also the very long antennae.

The common house centipede eats lots and lots of roaches, silverfish, and any other bugs it can catch. They won't hurt you-they keep your house pest population down. And they're not monsters, they're quite benign to creatures larger than themselves (you, for instance)--also NOT poisonous.

If you want to see a TRULY scary-looking centipede, go here: http://bugguide.net/bgimage/user/9863
That one was in my gig bag for 3 days, and it NEVER attacked me..even when I was digging around in there blindly.

I didn't know these bugs existed until we moved to West Virginia into a very old house on a ridge. These bugs were everywhere. They certainly freaked us out and are nightmarish, so the name bugs from hell was adopted to these strange bugs. I didn't know they were really considered centipedes until I started researching a spider I found in our front yard. This is a great guide for identifying bugs.

About an hour ago I got a glass of water for myself. I took it out of the cabinet in my dark kitchen and filled it with water from the sink. As I walked back to my bedroom (where the only light in my place was on) I took two normal drinks from my water. I then sat my water down on my desk to check something online quickly before bed. As the webpage was loading I picked up my glass for a third drink. When I did this something moving in my water caught my eye. When I looked I saw a reddish one of THESE THINGS swimming for its life in my water. This is unnerving to me because it had most likely been swimming like that as I drank twice from the glass and may have even brushed up against my lips. If things went a tad worse it may have crawled up my face or gotten into my mouth. Regardless, I will be storing my glasses in the cabinet upsidown from now on and will be on the lookout for these scary little guys....

Oh!!! geez.... I finally found the site ... I see these things crawling up on our ceiling .. we live in Glendale, Ca we haven't seen these bugs before and it's really freaking us out. They come out during spring. I'd been trying to research about these bugs. It's nice to know that these bugs are not poisonous but yet they look freaky and scary. My kids and my husband get so jumpy whenever these things appear. I don't know if i can share them to our household. And oh! boy they really run fast!

Yuck! I've seen these things run up and down my wall during early spring through mid summer for a couple of years now....repulsive I agree!!! Does anyone know if they're poisonous or anything to worry about? I've had a few different colors of blood come out of some that i've killed, ranging in dark blue/purple to red. Weird...

I have lived in a 250 year-old-house with these SCARY ASS things for years! They are honestly the most repulsive things I have ever seen. There's been times when they've come running full speed at my hands while I've been typing at the computer, and I've killed enormous ones that gushed red blood, uggghhh!!!!!!!!! The babies can be almost microscopic in size, while adults can get up to 3 inches long I've seen. They're horrific looking and fast as hell!! I sometimes have nightmares they're in my bed and pray to God they don't come out of the sink as I'm brushing my teeth!!

I was just getting ready for bed when I spotted one of these things taking it's time as it marched accross the wall of my dorm room. It was at least 2 inches in length. I think I squashed it when it went behind a cardboard box I had leaning against the wall, but I am not sure. A moment of panic, having never seen one before. No offense to bug lovers out there, I just didn't know what it was and certainly didn't want to go to sleep with it in my room. Of course with something of this size I'm sure all I did was p*ss it off.

Anyway, I went onto the web right after that and found this site. Now that I've found it I don't think I'll ever squish an unknown bug without checking on here first to see what the heck it is. Of course now I can't sleep knowing what it was but oh well. LOL...

I just had one of these crawl across my living room floor, boy was it fast! It was huge! Yuck! Millbury Massachusetts

You are not gonna believe this but maybe you might. I found the same excat bug.. I came to this site hoping i could find what was and i did.. I took a few pics of it.. I mean they are so much alike it isnt funny. I am going to try to upload them if I can..