11 Surreal Pictures of Giant Icicles in Massachusetts

They may be beautiful and are certainly a bit scary, but the huge icicles hanging from roofs, doors and windows of many homes and businesses in Massachusetts are definitely dangerous.

There have been 74 roof collapses reported in Massachusetts since Feb. 9, according to CBS Boston, including one that nearly damaged a $500,000 Liberace piano in Rockland.

• Also read: Clean the Snow Off Those Roofs to Avoid Ice Dams, Collapse

And winter roof collapses often happen due to the weight of built up ice, snow and icicles.

Ice hanging like shiny daggers from your roof isn’t all there is to icicles. The base of an icicle, called an ice dam, has to form first. And ice dams can tear off gutters, cause water damage, make your roof collapse and cause a host of other problems with your home.

Clearing the snow and ice from your roof is just another addition to a seeming endless, but also essential, list of chores that has come along with this brutal, record-breaking winter.

Patch readers across Massachusetts submitted the following pictures of large and beautiful, but dangerous, icicles forming on their homes and businesses.

• Tell us: How does your house compare?

These roof-to-ground icicles in Westford.

Photo via Westford Nails on Westford Patch

This whopper in Belmont.

Photo via Gloria Yvette Cervantes on Waltham Patch

These nearly identical formations in Waltham.

Photo via John Sullivan on Waltham Patch

These icicles that grew several inches overnight. “Yesterday the longest was 5 panels down from the light. Today it’s 18 panels down,” according to the homeowner.

Photo via Liz Paradise Cuneo on Woburn Patch

These indoor icicles ... and water damage.

Photo via Darryl Fleming on Salem Patch

This my-size icicle that luckily is no longer hanging on a home.

Photo via Joyce Manning Sweet on Milford Patch

These menacing icicles that have caused a roof to leak in Malden.

Photo via Connie O. Raunaidh on Malden Patch

This ice-covered bay window.

Photo via Amy Green Adams on Peabody Patch

These icicles blocking access to a door in Chelmsford.

Photo via Becca Houle on Chelmsford Patch

These giant ice daggers threatening the roof of a business in Marblehead.

Photo via Katherine Keyes Millett on Marblehead Patch

And this home loaded with huge icicles in Arlington.

Photo via Ram Subramanian on Arlington Patch