Hi,
Lol, we all have strange things that happen. I know from experience that tomatillos left outside on top of potting soil all winter will sprout lots of plants in the spring. I'm not sure how being in a moist and then frozen pepper will affect the pepper seed if you try and bring them in. Humm...you could do both leave some out and take some in.
Just so you know, peppers cross pollinate fairly easily, so your plants next year might not come true to type.
Remy

Oh man! Thank you so much! I'm really going to have to look out for the tomatillo sprouts!
Smart! I will definitely try doing a little bit of both. I have enough peppers that it should work.
And that explains why my cayenne peppers aren't all hot. d'oh!

emmakitty,

unless u used saved seeds from a previous years crop that doesn't explain why your cayennes aren't hot. as remy stated cross pollination only affects subsequent crops.

it's possible that mild cayennes could be from improperly watering.

wildlifeman