You guys were not kidding - They're HUGE!!!

I guess I shouldn't mention that wonderful saying about "If you see one, then there are a 100 you don't!"
 
No, I don't think I mention it.
 

When I was a kid, the cockroaches would swarm up out of the manholes in the street every night.  The massive herd (pack, hive, infestation, Senate) would flow across every yard in the neighborhood.  In the summer, the ground would be a flowing carpet by about 10 PM.  Kids were not normally allowed indoors until then, so I was out there with them every evening.  Every single step in any direction was accompanied by a loud crunching noise.  There were many times when I really wished that I had shoes.
 
In the spring, the cicadas would emerge, covering every surface.  I thought I had Tinnitus for a while, but it turned out to be just the constant roar of cicadas 24 hours a day.  In the winter, there weren't as many insects to crush.  The silence was rather creepy.
 
Crossbow...  I wanted a flamethrower.

A few years ago I had a hole in my bathroom ceiling for a while. I'd never had roaches in the apartment up until that point, but one day I came home from work, turned on the light in the bathroom and was confronted by a roach the size of a rat (that's how I remember it anyway) sitting on the edge of my sink. I felt like I'd been zapped by a car battery. The thing was so big it had a personality, and seemed to be saying "This my bathroom now. You go." 
 
I am terrified of roaches, always have been. Didn't have any spray or anything so had to go back in there with a broom and fight it to the death. The thing started running up the wall, up the heating pipe, on the shelf, everywhere. I whacked the living crap out of it and it just wouldn't die. Eventually I got it on the floor and finished it off, but it was a good 30 minutes before I had the balls to go back in there and scoop up the corpse. 
 
But my worst experience was in my first apartment in New York many years ago - just as I was falling asleep I felt a tickling sensation across my bare chest. Turned the light on quickly to see a large roach running away and disappearing down the side of the bed. Don't think I ever slept well in that apartment again. 

  I absolutely hate those things. When I was growing up in the south I would lay in bed at night and watch them crawl along my curtain rods and fly across the room. They are mostly nocturnal and they like moist cool places. I remember my great grandmother had a well out back. The old kind with a bucket. You could shine a light down in it and see hundreds of them.Can't say as I blame them for looking for a cool place to live but the thought of drinking that water was gross.
 
 They  really creep me out.

My first post-college apartment was "economical".  I shared the place with a friend.  The big selling feature was the enticement of "First Month Free".  It was a third floor walkup in an Entropy Enriched neighborhood.  Local groups of helpful youths often came together to beautify the area with colorful artwork.  They were very eager to assist the community by creatively redistributing wealth.
 
Anyway, the apartment came with pets.  My roommate tried to name the largest roaches, but there were too many to track.  We grew accustomed to them after a while.  A friend of mine was hanging out with us one day.  He made a sandwich and sat at our table to eat it.  Jeeves (I had recently made my roommate watch some Jeeves and Wooster) heaved his massive bulk up to the opposite end of the table.  Jeeves stretched his forelegs, cracked a few knuckles, and marched towards my friend and his sandwich.  Startled, my friend seized his sandwich, and stood up, backing about three feet away from the table.
 
Jeeves was furious.  I might have heard a rumbling, "Oh no you di'n't!"  The floor shook as Jeeves thundered foward, hurling himself across the table.  My friend screamed in stark terror as Jeeves hit the table's edge, launched himself in mid-air, and tore the sandwich from my friend's trembling hands.
 
It's too bad we didn't have youtube in those days.

 
you could feed the world with these things.
if anyone would eat them.

I was stationed for a time at Camp Lejeune in NC. Rumor at the time was that the largest cockroach had been found there.
 
It was almost believable. The squad bays were infested. I used to spray my locker every day. I would find dead ones in it all the time.  Coming into the head (military term for rest room) at night and flipping the lights on would be certain to find dozens of the largest ones out and about on the floors and walls. They were so big you could hear them scurrying back to cover.
The mess halls were the worst. They hung under the chow line near the heat of the steam lines. The bread locker was a living nightmare.  First person in was greeted my thousands of them crawling on the bags of bread. On the rare occasion that they did spray the mess hall...... the following morning, there would be dead and dying roaches on every square foot of the floor. As you got to the food handling area, it was impossible to not step on them.
 
Each marine on mess duty started the first week in the pot shack scrubbing pots and dishes. The second week was out of the pot shack and being a goffer. The third week was filling the pans on the line and working on the line as a replacement...the last week before rotation out was light duty as a server. So the military health inspector came through while I was serving. I pointed out the roaches under the line..... that was at lunch..... for some reason I was asked to fill a sudden opening in the pot shack at dinner...... I still think there was a connection. Needless to say, mess hall duty was seen as a punishment....and I served 3 months.... the maximum allowed under Marine corps orders in any given 24 month period.  I was such a squared away marine that the only thing that kept me from finding a permanent home at the mess hall was that little 3 month rule.
 
One day on refill duty..... they had some sort of vegetable soup. made in steam caldrons which held 50 gallons or more in the galley. My job was to scoop it out to a large pan and refill the serving line. So I see this cock roach on the hood above the caldron..... I swiped at it to knock it off to the floor but it jumped...... straight into the soup. I tried.... I really did try, to find that bug in the soup and scoop it out.... but it went under really quick. It got served to someone that day.
 
After having worked in the mess hall and seeing the true story of how infested that place was, I started skipping the prepared food and ate in town or only ate fruit in the mess hall and orange juice. I never, never ate any of the soup from that place again.