Aliens do exist, wait that's a cicada molting

(CBS) - I remember when I would visit my grandparents in Long Island as a child, I would run around to all of the trees on their block and collect these "freaky looking bugs" (as I called them). I later learned I was actually just collecting their molted skins, which explains why my grandmother always hated my pockets full of cicada shells.

This video, which compresses the over two-hour molting process into less than three minutes, is absolutely stunning to view (watch the shadow throughout the video to see the length this process really takes).

The slow emergence of the adult cicada from its nymph body is fascinating, yet their appearance is completely creepy, forcing me to wonder what I ever found appealing about their split alien looking skins as a child (the cicada itself is far more interesting).

Fun fact, the cicada lives underground for about 17 years digging around using their strong front legs and feeding off of root juices, emerging at last to molt and emerge as adults, a wild and unexpected life cycle.