Monster arachnaphobia folly!
By patootie
@patootie (3592)
January 17, 2007 3:15pm CST
Throughout the last year I've been getting my little red disability scooter out of it's little garage the lazy way .. just opening the doors enough to drag out the scooter and not bothering to lift back the heavy top flap ...
I have to reach quite far into the garage .. and a few days ago over the weekend I felt my fingers brush against something white and sticky ... so I thought when I get back I'd sweep the inside of the little garage out ..
When I got back ... I duly got my brush ... lifted open the heavy flap .. and half way up I saw ... a MONSTER .... and then it started dashing to and fro in it's MASSIVE web ... I was struck immovable in utter terror ... just my eyes darting to and fro watching the spider scurrying about ..
Apparently I must have screamed blue murder as my neighbour came rushing out .. dashed up .. grabbed me ... and dragged me away from the garage ... white as a sheet all I could do was point .. and whisper .. spider ... big ...
She went to get rid of the spider and then shouted ... eeeeekkkkk .... next thing her husband was there with us .. I was stammering spspspider at him .. and she was yelling .. whack it ... for goodness sakes whack it .... he walked over .. took a look and immediately turned round saying .. not so bloomin' likely .. I'm not going near that ...
By now we'd all made such a commotion that another neighbour had come out ... she ran in to fetch a long handled brush ... took aim .. and gave it a massive swipe ... dam* near flattened the garage .. she completely missed the spider which shot up into the air with the force of the rebound ... and flippin' hurtled directly towards all of us ... YIKES ...
We RAN ... all of us .... I tell you that's the fastest I'd moved for a couple of years .. the spider .. no doubt winded and disorientated started crawling in circles ... by now I'm moaning incomprehensibly ... the first neighbour is in tears of laughter .... and in amongst all that confusion a thrush shot down out of the tree and after a bit of a tussle snaffled the spider straight down it's gullet ... did a flippin' poop on my concrete and shot off again ... !!
My very kind neighbour (second one, hubby to 1st neighbour to arrive) ... brought me out a drop of Brandy ... said I'd looked shocked enough to need it ... then I was told to come in and sit down .. while they swept out the garage for me and got rid of all the web ...
Thank heavens for good neighbours ... that spider was absolutely HUGE .. without any exaggeration it would have easily covered a saucer ... and I'd been reaching into my garage literally inches from it's web for weeks and weeks ...
I now have an anti-spider spray that I swhoosh into the little scooter garage once a week .. I never want to find a monster spider that big again !
10 people like this
23 responses
@xphile777 (427)
• United States
18 Jan 07
I HATE spiders. I almost didn't move into the house where I currently live because of a spider. Not just any spider. Spiderzilla.
I'd come up to the house around 10 o'clock one night and pulled into the carport. My car lights illuminated the screen door -- and the monster from Hell that was sitting on the screen door. It was freakin' HUGE!
I backed the car out of the carport and went in through the front door, which I never used. After about a half hour of working up my nerve, I then went around to the carport door and opened it to look at the screen door. On the other side was the spawn of Satan. :P
Even though I knew it couldn't get me from the other side of the screen, I still had this feeling of the blood in my body turning to ice because I knew what I had to do. I knew no one would believe me when I'd tell them how gigantic this thing was, so I put my hand up on the screen door, opposite of the spider from Hell, so I could measure it against my hand. My hand spread is 8 inches and it was just a fraction of an inch smaller. Although, it's legs were bent and my fingers weren't, which means it had a circumference larger than 8 inches. EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
OK, now I'm looking all around me and I feel itchy. Can I borrow that thrush that ate your spider? :P
2 people like this
@xphile777 (427)
• United States
26 Jan 07
Because I was in the process of moving into the house, I didn't have any bug spray or any spray of any kind. I've killed spiders before using all different kinds of sprays -- anything I could get my hands on. :P
I certainly wasn't going to hit it with a broom cuz it could have taken the broom away from me and hit me with it! :P
Honestly, when I saw it, my blood ran cold. I even got over a lot of my fear of smaller spiders because compared to this monster they're the size of amoebas. :P
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
18 Jan 07
The common garden spider can grow to huge proportions on a steady diet of bugs. We had a few in the backyard that I was terrified of. I don't DO spiders. And here in FL the garden spiders are massive and so ugly. Ewwwwww.
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
17 Jan 07
Sorry Toots forgive for what I am about to say. I howled with laughter picturing you and this gigantic spider that came out of a horror movie. Poor spider! I don't know Toots any excuse to get a drop of brandy eh! Why didn't you ask I would have bought you a bottle!!
1 person likes this
@patootie (3592)
•
17 Jan 07
'ere .. what you mean laughing at my terror .. fat lot of help you'd have been if you'd been here .. you'd have been rolling around on the floor giggling away ... you rotter hahahahahah!!!
It really was big ... 'orrible black thing it was ... you should have seen the bird struggling with it .. bet it made the birdie a great feast ...
Anyway .. I know what you mean .. no offense meant and none taken hahahaha !!
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
17 Jan 07
Oh my goodness! That must have been a huge spider to scare that many people!
LOL I am glad to hear that you got some help! If it were my neighbors, they would not have done anything to help. :( It is nice to have neighbors like that!
Too bad you didn't get a picture of it. But a good thing that bird ate it! LOL
Hooray for the bird to the rescue! :)
1 person likes this
@Robertt81 (37)
• Australia
18 Jan 07
I'm a brave man. Spiders make me pee my pants.
1 person likes this
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
18 Jan 07
I'm still giggling but jealous. All I ever got was a spiderweb mark all over the right side of my face once when I walked into a spider web in Tennessee. Then i had to walk around with the thing for a week, adn theworst part was i was travellingby bus, and at every stop, it just looked worse. by the time I got to the Canadian Border the customs guy called for a doctor to make sure I wasn't contageous. and when i got home, My doctor laughed and called me the Spider woman for years afterwards but he did give me some cream that took the itch and swelling down in 2 days. By the way, he didtests on the stuff coming out of the blisters and the lab said it was a black widow, so I'm lucky it was just theweb I ran into!
1 person likes this
@annieroos (1845)
• United States
18 Jan 07
Omg.. I am so scared of spiders also.. i think if i saw one that big i would pass out. or maybe even have a heart attack.. When i was reading this i was looking around to make sure there was nothing there.. and i was getting the creeps..Thank God they came to help you.. There were no babies laid were there.. you should have a person come and check and spray.. And was this in the U.S... they only spiders i can handel is daddy longlegs.. thats it.. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww Well Good luck and take care.. Keep your scooter inside the house.. take it out of the Garage..
@scorpius (1792)
• India
18 Jan 07
well thank god that i do not have a spider phobia or anything like that.but i shyould also sayhere that any fear can be overcome.yeah i know it is very easy to say that but truth be told theres no easy guide in overcoming your fear except by facing it.hope that at least one day you are able to face this spider head on adn take it out.wiah you the best LOL!
http://www.phobia-fear-release.com/fear-of-spider.html
http://www.phobiascured.com/arachnophobia.htm
http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/problem_detail.asp?SDID=773:1382
@ausnikki (4054)
• Brisbane, Australia
27 Jan 07
Omg,I think I would have had heart failure!I am terrified of spiders.When I first moved to Australia I had a huge huntsman in my letter box.It was a monster, and whenever I told anyone and they went to look it was gone.So I used to go and get the mail with rubber gloves on and kitchen tongs lol.Anyway one day a friend of mine was over,he's a big guy well over six foot and I told him about the spider, and my husband (ex now) told him it's imaginary as he had never seen it.My friend decided to make fun of me and then went to check the letter box.Well,imagine his suprise when he opened the letter box and it was there! He went white as a ghost and ran lmao.
@patootie (3592)
•
27 Jan 07
Ohh myyy I have seen pictures of the Huntsmen spiders .. they are MASSIVE ... my post would have stayed in the flippin' letter box ... I would not have been able to put my hand in even with gloves on ... ohh YUK !!
I am now using an anti spider spray ... it contains natural chestnut extracts and clover leaf oil .. it's working a treat .. it really works .. I have a spider free garage .. and spray it near a spider and they head off in the other direction immediately ...
@jal1948 (1359)
• India
18 Jan 07
Phobias are really bad when they become unmanageable, we must either live with it or expose ourselves gradually to the phobia a spider in this case to get over the fear and bring it to controlable levels. After all they cant cause us any major harm
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
18 Jan 07
Great story! Reminded me of my own spider scare I was in a hotel room alone, my husband was at work, and I saw this huge gigantic black spider running across the floor so I whacked it with a shoe and to my horror millions (slight exaggeration) of tiny little black things were scuttling in all directions...I screamed bloody murder pushed the fire alarm bell (the only thing I could think of in my panic). When I was "rescued" and the total panic in the hotel calmed down I was told that little black creatures were the spider's babies she was carrying them on her back.
@sigma77 (5383)
• United States
18 Jan 07
That is another great story. How do you manage to have so much fun all the time? You see a monster spider, get your garaged cleaned out for free, have a near heart attack, and then get a shot of brandy. This is great entertainment!
I dated a woman who used a power chair to get around town. No I know why she keeps it in the house...Maybe next week you'll be telling us that the spider was a newborn and you just met mommy and daddy spider and they were driving around on your cart. I can't wait.
1 person likes this
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
18 Jan 07
*uprights fallen chair and crawls back into chair* That was hilarious. I'm right there with you on the arachnaphobia. I would rather stumble upon a snake than a spider any day. Now I do understand that they kill other insects, but I still can't stand them. There is something about all those legs. I recall one night when my husband and I were getting into bed, I glanced up to see one on the ceiling. There was no way I was going to sleep with that spider above me. He tried to tell me all the wonderful things about spiders...but I wasn't having it. I asked him to please kill it. He compromised and said he would retrieve it and take it outside. He goes to get a tissue, and the darned spider scurries away and FALLS TO THE FLOOR!!! We never did find that spider, and I never did go to sleep that night!!
1 person likes this
@96vidalias (344)
• United States
18 Jan 07
I really enjoyed reading your discussion and all the responses.It's the funniest thing I have seen on this site. It's amazing to me how many people are terrified of spiders.
When the film Arachnaphobia was playing, one of my friends wanted to go see it because a spider was scarier than any film monster. And another friend said he didn't even want to go near the theatre while the movie was playing.
I think you do need to find a way to keep that bird around.It sounds like a perfect friend for you.
1 person likes this
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
18 Jan 07
Now that was one good story! Spiders are really scary when you are not expecting them.
My oldest daughter is scared of spiders. I once gave her a can of spray to use because she had seen a spider in her bedroom. When I asked for the can another day she said it was empty. She had unloaded the entire can on an itty bitty spider. Her second year at the university she rented a house. She was standing out in the yard with her sister and friends laughing and having a good time. Suddenly she dropped her pants and was dancing around. A grass spider had crawled up her leg and bit her. That girl is so funny because she loves reptiles and has two snakes.
I guess we all have our dragons to deal with. Good luck with the anti-spider spray!
@Trace86 (5030)
• United States
18 Jan 07
That made me laugh so hard! So I must apologize for giggling at and enjoying your story of terror. I don't like spiders very much either. Unfortunately, at my house I am the designated spider, insect and varmint killer. Why do I have a cat? She just plays with the aforementioned creatures until I come and dispatch and dispose. Of course, she does weaken them some so my job is easier. Have you considered getting a cat for your scooter shed?
@bigpinkmomma (449)
• Canada
18 Jan 07
If I ever came across a spider like that I would have been screaming too .
I dislike spiders, as a kid I was terrified of them.(would stay awake for hours watching them, hoping they would stay away from me) Even now if they are the size of a quarter I get my husband to remove them . I couldn't even begin to imagine a spider the size of one you were talking about.As far as I know we don't have anything close to that size in Canada . I enjoying reading your story and I thought you told it in such and interesting way .I can see that spider in my mind and gives me the willies just thinking about it .
