Joywave Drummer Orders Clothes Online, Receives Live Scorpions

Paul Brenner opened a package from an online retailer in Hawaii only to find nine scorpions in the box along with his order

Photo: Paul Brenner

BY Kaelen BellPublished Oct 26, 2021

Getting stuff in the mail is fun, but it's probably a little less fun when "stuff" includes a bunch of scorpions that you didn't order. 

Paul Brenner — drummer for Rochester trio Joywave — knows this timeless aphorism better than most. Brenner had ordered some clothing from an internet seller in Hawaii recently, but when his package arrived at his home in Rochester, he realized that a handful of scorpions had tagged along for the ride, including "eight little ones and one really, really big one."

Talking to local news station WROC, Brenner said, "At first I thought it was like a tick or something. I mean, they were really small. That's when I realized, 'No, that's a scorpion.' That's when my shirt left my hands and went into the box."

Luckily, Brenner wasn't stung, and he called 311 to have someone come handle the stowaways. 

"The cops seemed to love it," he said. "More kept showing up, they had their phones out, some of them were saying 'I've never even seen a scorpion.'"

Brenner notes that while nothing bad came of the scorpion buddies, it's the thought of what might have happened had they escaped that scared him the most.

"I have a cat. My roommate was home all weekend. And to know that there were live scorpions, feet from my sleeping cat, and I wasn't there, that's just creepy," he said. "'Tis the season, I suppose."

Watch Brenner talk about the scorpion delivery with WROC below. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Joywave (@joywave)

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