Invisible bee sting

So both my wife and infant son have been stung by what appears to be a honey bee, but there is no bee to be seen. My son in particular got stung in the ear and I witnessed the whole thing. I was looking at him from like two feet away and he suddenly grabbed his ear and started crying. There was a bee stinger in his ear but no bee, no venom sac either. I literally was looking at the side of his head where he got the sting. We have bee hives and this happened in the house. Weird.

Ghost bees. Now, that's scary.

It's actually relatively common for me as a beekeeper. I've been stung multiple times by at detached stinger. It happens if the bee stings something like fabric and flies off. The stinger remains, and when you brush or press against it with your sting it can still inject venom. I've had stings caught in my shirt then when I've sat down hours later it has stung my back.