I made myself feel better this weekend by lugging around big 40-pound bags of mulch in the yard, and I bought one of those rubber-grip jar openers. 
I don’t even hate or fear normal roaches. It was the surprise of the giant size of this particular one that freaked me out. We haven’t seen him again – I suspect the combination of my screaming and my husband swatting at him made him decide to seek alternate lodging.
I grew up in Florida - roaches the size of Lincoln Continentals don’t bother me in the least. 
However, the first time I ever saw a mouse in my basement when I moved to NJ, I jumped on a chair like that maid in that Tom & Jerry cartoon. :eek:
VCNJ~
This thread is reminding me of happy times of my dorm room at my first university (in HI,) where the staff kept cans of roach spray in the maintence closets for the residents to use. The roaches were never big, but there were a lot of them and we would trade stories and tips about favorite hiding spots for the little buggers. It kind of skeeved me out the day I learned they liked to hide in the itty bitty gap between the wall and the drawer of my desk. I will refrain from telling how I learned this.
But hey, the beaches made up for the bugs. 
Look at it this way. You, a woman, were exactly as effective at getting rid of that bug as your husband, a man, was. What’s more feminist than that?
Such a thread is not complete without a mention of the Madgascan Giant Hissing Roach:
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/CT/roach.html
(up to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide) According to the linked article, they would make great pets!
Or if you prefer, try raising Blaberus giganteus, can go up to 3.5 inches
http://www.easyinsects.co.uk/site/content/view/28/1/
I’ve tried to read this thread but I can’t get through it, I keep getting a bad case of the willies.
Are you sure thats not the Wile E’s?
Mere trifles. For your consideration: Lethocerus americanus, also known variously as “the Giant Water Bug,” “the Giant Toe-Biter,” “the Electric Light Bug,” and “AAAAUUGGHHHH!!!”
They are called “the Giant Water Bug” because they get up to 3 inches long and live in and around water, since they are big enough to eat fish.
They are called “the Toe-Biter” because if you step on one, they will latch on with their giant hooked claws and bite savagely with their venomous proboscis.
They are called “the Electric Light Bug” because, unlike cockroaches, they are *attracted * to bright lights.
Note also that, unlike both the Madagascan and Giant Cockroach, Lethocerus has wings. So when you step out on the porch at night and turn on the light, their attraction to bright lights brings them swooping out of the darkness straight at you. This is where the “AAAAUUGGHHHH!!!” part comes in.
Ugh, Terrifel, I am not a squeamish type of girl but halfway through that page of Giant Water Bugs and Toe Biters and Water Scorpions (!) I started feeling creepy crawly and had to shut it down.
:::shudder:::
-foxy
I thought it was funny that I hadn’t seen a roach yet this year.
Then the night before last, I hear that awful sound - somewhere there is a cat about to throw up. I hunted around and found Dewey crouched next to a little pile of the component parts of a huge flying cockroach.
I could be a feminist icon. I regularly rescue the guys around my office from the spiders. Several of them are totally freaked by spider. I’m not.
No, the Wile E’s are usually clever plans that result in serious injury, these were just uncontrollable shudders.