# Creepy Crawlers! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-crawlers/786133 "2017-05-08T15:37:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-crawlers/786133/1 "2017-05-08T15:37:19Z")
I think most of us have seen the pictures of the tiny organisms we all have creeping around in out eyebrows, skin, etc. My question is… When you suddenly get an itchy spot somewhere on your body and you know it isn’t a rash, mosquito bite or picky clothing what causes it? Is it possibly these “bugs” and we can suddenly feel them? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-crawlers/786133/2 "2017-05-08T15:57:42Z")
Itching has multiple causes and creepy-crawlies are just one of them > [@](#): > > The definition [of an itch] still accepted by most doctors and researchers today was put forth some 350 years ago by a German physician named Samuel Hafenreffer. He wrote in somewhat circular manner than an itch is any “unpleasant sensation that elicits the desire or reflex to scratch”. If you scratch, then the sensation that provoked it is by definition an itch. It’s a definition that may be reliable, but it’s probably not all that useful. [This](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160226-why-its-feels-so-good-to-scratch-an-itch) BBC piece gives a good oversight of the phenomenon Caution - reading it will probably make you itch. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-crawlers/786133/3 "2017-05-08T21:56:45Z")
Now I itch all over just thinking about it. Thanks for that.