From Mark G. in Tokyo-

Summers were full of  lightning bugs where I grew up in West Virginia. When the first ones  came out at dusk, we’d catch them easily with our hands. But it got a lot harder to catch the ones that came out later after dark. So then my sister and I would take to whacking the fireflies out of the air with our Fun-go baseball bats.

Once our bats were good and gooey with lightning bugs, we’d swirl them around to trace glowing figures in the dark, until Mom finally called us in to bed.

Editor’s note: This apparently uniquely American pastime of bashing lightningbugs is confirmed here and here and here.