The buzz in this Marblehead neighborhood? Angry bees

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

MARBLEHEAD – Stephanie Scogland's eyes opened wide today as she described how people reacted to more than 1,000 angry honey bees that took over her neighborhood after escaping from a local beekeeper's hive.

“We saw all my neighbors around here acting kind of crazy,’’ she said as she pantomimed people running down Rockaway Avenue while furiously swatting at bees gathering around their heads Sunday morning. "We definitely could not be outside at all.’’

Around the corner from Scogland’s house, beekeeper Paul Price stood on his front lawn, patiently explaining how the expensive hobby of his retirement years suddenly went awry. Price said he has kept two hives in his Warren Road backyard for a decade without incident until last weekend.

Several people and pets were stung by the angry bees, which Price estimated numbered at least 1,000, and residents had to stay inside until nightfall when the bees finally gathered at Price's home. He captured the flying creatures and destroyed them in his basement, he said.

"There were bees flying everywhere,'' Price said. "There was real pandemonium.''

Natalie Brown, who lives across the street from Price's home, said people moved faster than usual while walking through the neighborhood -- popular among dog walkers -- and kept their hands moving all the time, too. "It was nuts,'' she said. "People were swatting like crazy.''

During the past three weeks, Price said his bees had become aggressively angry. He decided to move his two hives to a farm in Essex about 10 a.m. Sunday. The 74-year-old keeper closed off the bee entrance to the hive with screen mesh and was loading the hive onto the truck when the mesh gave way.

“Suddenly, we were getting bees pouring out,’’ Price said. He said he donned protective gear as fast as possible and restored the mesh. But the furious bees had already fled.

He said he started driving to Essex and some bees followed the truck onto Rockaway Avenue. “There was nothing further we could do. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak,’’ he said.

Robert O. Picariello, the town police chief, and Wayne O. Attridge, the executive director of the town board of health, said neither agency had gotten a complaint about Price and his bees before the incident. Police called in the town animal control officer to help handle the bees, the chief said.

Attridge said he does not believe beekeeping is regulated by state law or town code. He said the town once forced a negligent beekeeper to move hives out of town, but nobody has officially complained about Price since the incident.

Price said he discovered after lifting up the hives that there was some signs that a beetle that preys on bees apparently had moved in, which might explain why they became aggressive.

"My concern is that people are really getting afraid of bees,'' he said. "This was really an anomaly."

Price said he has harvested upwards of 125 pounds of honey a year and sold some along with participating in educational bee displays with an Essex County beekeepers group.

Price said he will not be bringing his bees back any time soon.

"Not yet, not yet," he said. "Obviously, I want to do what I can to ease the situation with the neighbors.''

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