Saw a cute little hunting spider scittattering around the bathroom to find a home for the night.
It was adorable.
It was poking its body under whatever objects and bits of cover it could find, but it very clearly did not like having any part of itself visible or poking out. There were a few times I thought it found something, but then after a few more seconds it was like “mmmmnope not enough cover” and kept searching.
Eventually it found a gap where some tile mortar had come loose and settled in.
Clean, visible, well-lit, or CGI spiders don’t scare me. But I still can panic under the right circumstances. The thing that sets me off is usually an uncanny-valley indeterminate tangle of hairy legs and mouthparts that don’t seem to connect correctly - especially if part of the spider is concealed or in the dark and I can’t see actually how big it is.
A couple of movies have capitalized on this unique flavor of spider-horror.
[!warning]- Potentially triggering (fake) spider images Possum involves a spider puppet with a human head kept in a bag.
(While searching this image, I learned that an Australian Huntsman spider can grow big enough to capture and eat an actual possum and other small mammals. Didn’t need that taking up a brain synapse forever.)
Also Enemy - haven’t seen it but the trailer hits the nope button.
And there you are, a reformed aracnophobe, freaking out at the same things I freak out but also not freaking out at things I do freak out at (little jumping spiders, for instance).
I don’t like anything that jumps unexpectedly and potentially in odd directions - grasshoppers, frogs, my cousin’s hamster…
The jumping spiders, though are usually so small that it just registers as a random bug. I gotta see hairy legs and quivering unexplainable mouthparts (chelicerae, pedipalps ) to be triggered.
Some other bugs can at some times trigger this - cockroaches, the non-pretty parts of butterflies. The Xenomorph in Alien used to be scary until I saw the entire thing in the light and it was just humanoid with legs. The Alien queen is scarier with extra limbs and detachable egg-sac.
This talk reminds me of when I went to watch Harry Potter 2 on the cinemas with a couple of friends at the theatre. Hardly a spoiler, I think. I don’t mind spiders as much on screen (though that blender scene in “The Giant Spider Invasion” I could have done without) * , but one of my friends did. A lot. And I don’t think she knew about the spider, or if she did, she was perpetually in terror at the moment when it would arrive.
Long story short, this is the sequence of events as they transpired:
Spider appears on screen.
Friend screams (as others do) and jumps in her seat.
In the process, she gives the seat in front of her a mighty kick.
I see a bucket of popcorn flying from the seat in front me towards me.
The bucket lands on my lap. The right way up. No, or negligible, spillage.
After a beat, I lean forward, popcorn in hand, and tell the girls in front, who clearly had also had reactions of their own to the sudden multi-legged appearence on the screen, “Excuse me, I think this might be yours.”
Don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
* Then again, the blended gremlin in, duh, Gremlins, also freaked me out a bit. Maybe I have a thing about blenders.
The giant spiders in the ride at Universal are even worse since the vehicle is on a robotic arm that shoves you right up close to everything scary. I’ve not ridden it, but have seen videos and my cousin has fully narrated the entire experience.
(With apologies to @inventor200 who meant this as a pleasant spider thread - I didn’t wanna post spider pictures in the “Introducing Ourselves” topic!)
…I’m staying weeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllll away from there.
BTW, in fairness now, I do realise that, since I don’t have an actual phobia, I’m certainly talking about a whole different level of reactions compared to yours. So, we’re having fun in the conversation and all, but am aware that I almost certainly can’t compare what I feel when I see a spider with what you do, or did. Just to have that out there. I do know that getting over a phobia is heroic, so, you is a hero.
Many years ago I lived somewhat near to a shop that had a stuffed tarantula in the window. (I don’t know why it did.) I was sufficiently arachnophobic that I would cross the street to avoid going near the shop.
I think Texas mostly burned the arachnophobia out of me. I don’t like spiders, and I don’t want them crawling on me, but as long as they don’t surprise me I’m no longer likely to scream or recoil in horror.
We used to get these weird little spiders that look like they have shells:
Today I found out that I don’t really mind (photos of) long lean spiders, even if I very much freak out at the sight of the furry kind (even in photos).
Thank you for assisting me in this road of self-descovery.
Oo, that reminds me, came home to find this very tiny guy on the front door. Craned his little head to look right at me. Very cute! (Spoilering for those who dislike furry spiders.)
Spider: “Dearie dearie me, you think I can’t handle those many sleeves? Whatever do you take me for? Here, dearie, let me show you some of my best work. Come closer… yes… much, much closer…”
And now I’m imagining a fantasy world where giant spiders or spider people are the most celebrated weavers, knitters, tailors, etc.(is there a catch all term for crafts related to textiles) in all the lands… and one gets a commission for a fine, silk jacket for a snooty noble who happens to be a giant milipede, and insince its a fantasy world, centipedes and milipedes literally have 100 and 1000 limbs respectively.
Though, for a challenge on a different dimension, a sentient, but normal sized spider who weaves entirely with her own silk, is commissioned to make royal robes for the blue whale king of the sea and is too proud to try an Emperor’s New Clothes ploy.
Though, forget making such extreme clothes, imagine being in charge of the coat room at a formal event, there are several centipedes and millipedes in attendance, and like in real life, their limb numbers are highly variable, but perhaps because there’s only one Weaver spider in the kingdom skilled enough to make garments for the many legged, all their coats are the exact same style, only distinguishable by sleeve count, and they get all mixed up and any tags get lost, perhaps because the coats are long enough to act like tangled cables.
And I’m sure there are all other kinds of clothing hijinks to be have in a world where non-primate, non-anthropomorphic animals wear clothes adapted to their anatomy.
Also, I’m reminded of the Spider animal buddy, I think his name was Squitter, from Donkey Kong Country/Land 3(I never got that far in 1 or 2 of either trilogy, so no idea if he appeared in the earlier games), who wears four pairs of sneakers.
Um, bugs are the intellectual property of Taterbug Games; our lawyers are issuing a C&D now. Just kidding, though I do want to say that next game (in development as of last month) heavily features spiders and the use of spider silk. (I don’t mind unavoidably reminding people of Team Cherry games, but “they got this from that forum thread from a while back” would actually bum me out.) We don’t have any spider people or tailors or bug nobles, though; there’s still time, make this game and we’ll turn IFComp 2026 into the Year of the Spider!
I’ve always said fibercrafts or textile arts, though that always feels very vague and lacks a certain zip.
) to be triggered.
I do know that getting over a phobia is heroic, so, you is a hero.
