Have you ever had that feeling that a spider is crawling on your skin?

And then you look down and there's no spider there, it was just some kind of tactile illusion, such as the air conditioning hitting your skin in just the right way to make one of the hairs on your arm move just the right way to trick you into thinking that. Or perhaps it's your clothing brushing your skin a certain way.

Or maybe you're lying in bed, and the bed sheets brush your skin just the right way to make it feel like there's a spider there. So you panic and turn on the light on the nightstand, only to discover it was nothing.

Maybe you've done this a hundred times over the course of your life, because you've got this serious squick about spiders. But every time, it's always been nothing.

But then, there's that one time when you feel that sensation while you're in bed, and you smack your hand instinctively down on the spot on your arm where you thought you felt a spider, and you turn on the light to discover that there was in fact a disgusting creepy spider crawling on you and you weren't imagining it. And now you have to wipe up the mess with a kleenex.

And now you've got a serious case of the willies, and you can't go back to sleep because now you're creeped out by every slight sensation on your skin that even remotely resembles the touch of an insect, even if it's just an ordinary itch. So you have no choice but to sit up and post mindless crap to a BBS in the middle of the night.

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

Vaguely related:

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspidereat.html

Sort of like killing a blimp?

As for my experience, back when I was a bachelor and didn't have very high standards some buddies and I were in a very low-rent apartment. What I didn't know was that they had bats living in the walls. So I had a similar experience one night, except that I turned on the light and saw/felt a bat run across my stomach. I have never come to full awareness so quickly. Anyway, the rest of the night was spent trying to figure out where the bat came from (apparently through the ventilation) and getting him outside of the apartment. Needless to say, this did raise my standards a bit for where to live.

Thanks for the article. That eased my mind a bit, or at least until the egg sac thing. I mean great, now he's put a negative connection to Charlotte's Web in my mind

But yeah, Tony. I know how you feel. I'm not looking forward to going back to my place in Williamsburg because of my old roommate. Last year, when he first moved in, I unfortunately discovered that he loved to deep fry turkeys. The bad part was that when he was done, he'd just throw the carcass in the trash without wraping it up first. Since I wasn't there for a few days, the trash didn't get taken out. As you would expect, bad smell>maggots>flies. These were enormous black flies. Absolutely disgusting. So every night I would be worried about one of them flying into my mouth or something. I would regularly see one land on my covers. Ugh. And he just left recently, and told me there was a fly problem with the trash can again. I hope they aren't in the house

We frequently get those tiny little spiders in our house (aka "money spiders" here, for some reason) and when I see them flinging themselves from things and abseiling to the ground/bed etc. I always wonder if any drop into my mouth. I don't lose sleep over it, but then again I never wake up hungry

Gareth

Yeah, there's a similar story about swallowing spiders in one of the Scott Adams books. I think it's in "The Dilbert Future".

He talks about how he always keeps a glass of water on his dresser to take drinks during the night, and he always gulps it down in a sleepy daze without thinking about it. But one night, a series of unusual coincidences happened so that the light was on when he did this and he had occasion to look at the glass, and there was a huge spider floating in it. His conclusion was that it was something more than coincidence. His SO's conclusion was that he's probably swallowed many spiders without knowing it.

I think they need to start manufacturing clear Coke cans for use outdoors, because if I leave the can for a bit I'm always wondering what's in there when I get back.

Thanks, Tony, I didn't realize I was this neurotic

I think they need to start manufacturing clear Coke cans for use outdoors

We need Scotty to come give us the formula for Transparent Aluminum again.

"Computer?... Heloooo computer?..."

Careful, it might be one of these

It wasn't, but...

1) I've always wanted to know what the Brown Recluse looked like.

2) About a month ago, a really creepy spider was crawling around my desk and I freaked out when I tried to kill it and it jumped directly at my face before I could get the kleenex on it.

3) That spider looked a whole lot like that photo.

<shudder>

I know nothing about that spider - is that bite for real?

I didn't click on the bite link, but I know that in North America, the Brown Recluse and the Black Widow are the two most poisonous spiders.

From what I understand, that looks like a pretty mild one.

I'm glad I'm in the UK - worst I've seen is a cute Zebra Spider. Mind you, with all this heat we're having, God only knows whats colonising at the bottom of the garden.

Supposedly small animals, babies included, can die from a brown recluse bite. A little bit of research turns up the fact that the skin bitten can become full-depth necrotic. That is, the skin in the area can just die completely, down to muscle and bone. In fact, one of the sites I found had a section on how to differentiate a brown recluse bite from cutaneous anthrax.

I am so sorry I started this thread now.

I just remembered that in addition to all that, about 4 months ago my roommate and I were just sitting in our kitchen, studying for an exam, when I just looked down and there was what I believe was a wolf spider. I'm not sure of the type, but it was very large, hairy, and bulky. Including legs I would guess it was about 4.5 inches in diameter. It disappeared but reappeared a bit later, and instead of killing it and leavng a giant mess on the floor, we decided to trap it in some tupperware and throw it out the door.

So yeah, I know that feeling, Tony. It puts you on edge. My house wasn't terribly well-built, and I imagine there are all types of crevices that small things (and not-so-small things) can get into.

Again, I don't know what type of spider it was (I think wolf spiders are gray, and this one wasn't), but it was pretty crazy. I'm just one of those people who hates bugs. Sorry

Wolf spiders are big and hairy and come in many colors. Very tarantula-like except that wolf spiders are much faster movers. <shudder>

What's really gross is when you see one with its babies riding on its abdomen. <double shudder>

The bite - day 10 ... maybe he should visit the doctor...

How in the world could anything like that warrant a smiley? *tripple shudder*

Hmm, now I want to find out what a wolf spider looks like. This guy was a fast mover, and my roommate was a bio major, but he was just guessing at it.

Your description makes it sound very much like a wolf spider. Very big, very hairy.

Okay, this thread is really just giving me chills. I am one of those insect-hating folk.

Let's lighten things up a bit.

As always, Google has the answer

Unfortunately, as always, there are too many answers I mean, look at the variety between the spiders there. Some of them are hairy, some are not. Some have short, thick legs, some have long, thin legs. Add that to my slightly fuzzy memory, and I can't really tell you if that's it or not. I wouldn't even know what to look for if I saw it

Some of those look like candidates, though. I'll have to see if there's a particular type that like to hang out in my region.

You're lucky it's only your imagination. It could be this

Eww. NOT good with the ladies.

Thanks, that's now one of the top ten worst things I have ever heard in my life.

Eww, eww, eww, eww. Not a good story to read while eating lunch. Yuck!

Yarr! That's gonna replace the whale in my nightmares

Yarr! That's gonna replace the whale in my nightmares

You have nightmares about whales flying out of your genitalia?

This thread has given me the heebee jeebies. I hate spiders more than anything!

About the brown recluse, though. It's really pretty rare to run across one. They usually only like to hang out in places that are rarely disturbed - hence their name. But they are somewhat common around these parts so I'm usually very cautious when exploring any damp, dark, rarely visited corners and niches around my apt. They can also be identified by what looks like an upside-down violin that runs down their back from the head.

- trs

No, silly. Whales don't fly. but that's gotta hurt.
That would sure top any birthing pains women have.