Zombie Cicadas Are Emerging… and They're Hornier Than Ever

They’ve been sleeping underground for 17 years, and now they’re back — billions of red-eyed cicadas with one thing on their tiny bug brains: mating.

But this time around, there’s a horror-movie twist. Thanks to a freaky fungus infection, many of these insects are real-life “zombies.”

Nature’s Wildest Comeback Tour

This summer, two massive broods of cicadas are crawling out of the dirt at the same time in parts of the U.S., something that hasn’t happened since 1803. More than a trillion bugs are expected to make their grand (and very loud) entrance across 13 states.

Here’s the deal: the cicadas spend nearly two decades maturing underground. Then, over four to six weeks, they emerge to sing, mate, lay eggs, and die. It’s their one shot at love — and they go all in. So much so that their mating call is loud enough to prompt 911 calls. (No joke.)

Enter the Zombie Fungus

Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, a mind-controlling parasite crashes the party. A fungus called Massospora cicadina infects some cicadas and replaces their genitals with a white, chalky plug of spores. Gross? Yes. But that’s not all — it also makes them extra horny and more likely to try to mate… even though they physically can’t.

Entomologists are comparing it to a bug version of The Last of Us — these "zombified" cicadas wander around spreading the fungus to others, like the world’s creepiest STD.

RELATED: The Weird Way CICADAS Can Become Zombies

Don’t Worry, Canada

If you're in Ontario, don’t expect a cicada invasion of this scale. Most of the buzz (pun fully intended) is happening in the U.S. While a few periodical cicadas might pop up in southwestern Ontario, the ones you’ll likely hear later in summer are annual cicadas, and they’re way less dramatic — no fungus, no zombie behaviour, just some harmless buzzing.

TL;DR:

• 2025 is a rare double brood cicada year in parts of the U.S.
• Some cicadas are infected with a fungus that turns them into sex-obsessed zombies.
• They don’t bite or sting, so you’re safe — but your ears? Maybe not so much.
• Canadians can breathe easy — the real bug madness is staying south of the border.

And remember: when nature bugs out, it does not mess around.