Invasion of the... Cicadas

Do you remember the Langoliers?  It is a Steven King short story which was turned into a much-hyped TV mini-series.  I remember watching the show, seeing the effects of the scary Langoliers, but never actually seeing the creatures.

There is a scene where a grown man grabs a little boy and screams at him, "THEY.  WILL EAT YOU.  ALIVE!"

I think of that wonderful show when I hear the cicadas in the woods.  Their noise is so loud, so disconcerting.  With the trees so close to our house, it is sometimes like having an inner-ear problem.  I can hear them even while driving the lawnmower.  

I am coping as well as I can.  I play the music a little louder.  And I eat chocolate.

It is time for them to go home.

While I was out taking a picture of cicadas I came across this chain and pulley hanging on a tree limb.

Who put it there?  And why?  And why leave it there?  Maybe Steven King can work it into his next alien story about cicadas...