Strange Pods Found In New York Barn

These mysterious pods were found in a barn in New York.  What are they, and what should you do if you find some around your house?

While digging through some wood in my barn yesterday, I stumbled across these two strange pods stuck to a board. They look like something out of an alien movie.  All they are missing is the slime and a hissing alien.

The pods aren't what they seem in the picture

When you look at these pictures, they appear almost slimy and soft, but they're pretty hard and bone dry.  They're attached to the board almost the same way as you'd find a wasp's nest attached to the side of your house.  While they look like they're big enough to transport an entire alien population, they're each only about an inch long

Strange Pods Found In New York Barn

What are they?  I had to look them up myself.  Although I've seen these things before, I never really knew what they were.  I always assumed they came from some type of spider or bee but I've never really looked into them until yesterday.

Thanks to the help of Google Lens, I found out that they're not alien pods at all.  They're egg sacks from a praying mantis called an ootheca.

That one sack could contain hundreds of baby praying mantises and the cool thing is that when they're hatched, they come out looking almost exactly like an adult praying mantis, only much smaller.

Are praying mantises dangerous?

Praying mantises look pretty scary.  They've got huge eyes and long front legs that look like they've been designed to pick a car engine apart.  You may have even heard stories about how they're cannibals that will eat each other. They are very dangerous to other bugs, but they aren't dangerous to humans.  They could bite if they're mishandled, but it's uncommon, and even if they did, their bite is non-venomous and only causes minor discomfort.

They're good to have around your house because they will keep the bugs in check.  So if you see some of these pods this spring, just leave them where they are for now.  The mantises will hatch in a few short weeks, and you might find a couple protecting your garden this summer.