7 Spider Myths Debunked

Ask people what their biggest fears are, and chances are many of the answers will be spiders. But why are people so afraid of these eight-legged arachnids? Spiders are actually quite beneficial in many instances, and can even help you control your household pests.

While people aren’t born afraid of spiders, the fear does develop early. The Association for Psychological Science suggests that inherent fears of spiders or snakes is due in part to our evolutionary development – since so many spiders are poisonous, we are hard-wired to avoid them. Children also tend to learn that spiders are to be feared by observing their parents, who often react to spiders in a fearful or negative way.

Some scientists and psychologist also attribute people’s fear of spiders to the way spiders look – we are very visual creatures, and their dark colors and angular legs can strike a fearful chord in the brain. We also tend to dislike things that move in a fast or unpredictable manner.

Add to that the cultural depiction of spiders, and it’s no wonder why humans tend to avoid them. Greek mythology tells the story of Arachne, a prideful weaver who angered Athena and later hanged herself. Athena brought her back as a spider that retained Arachne’s weaving abilities. In African and Native American folklore, spiders are often depicted as malicious tricksters. In the Dark Ages, spiders were considered a source of poison in food or water. Spiders have also been a staple in literature, and have often been included in horror movies since the early days of the genre.

Because of our natural tendency to fear spiders, pop culture is overrun with spider myths and hoaxes, from giant spiders who eat cats to spiders who climb inside your mouth while you’re sleeping. We tackle some of the most popular ones below.

Myth No. 1: The daddy longlegs is the world’s most poisonous creature – but its mouth is too small to bite us.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence that daddy longlegs spiders, also known as “long-legged cellar spiders,” pose any danger to humans. According to the University of California, no studies have been done to test the toxic effect of their venom, so this claim is unfounded.

Source: University of California, Riverside Spiders Website

Myth No. 2: A woman got bitten by a spider bite while on vacation, and when she scratched the boil, hundreds of baby spiders came out.

Verdict: False

This tale has been around since the mid-1960’s, but similar folklore tales have surfaced in the 1800s. The victim is nearly always female. The truth is that spiders would never lay their eggs in a human host, though some other insects do.

Source: Snopes.com

Myth No. 3: Someone took a cactus home from Arizona. After they planted it, the cactus exploded, spewing tarantulas everywhere.

Verdict: False

Who knew we had such a threat right here in Arizona? In most of these tales, the transplanted cactus moves or shakes on its own, and moments later, it bursts open when hundreds of tarantulas escape. While tarantulas may lay eggs or build webs on cacti, they would never lay their eggs inside. Even if a misguided tarantula laid eggs in a hole in a cactus, it would never explode when they hatched, for it takes several years for tarantulas to reach their full size.

Source: Snopes.com

Myth No. 4: A woman died of a mysterious disease – which was later discovered to have been bites from the nest of spiders living in her hair.

Verdict: False

This myth became popular in the 1950s when big bouffant hairstyles were popular. As the tale goes, a woman who had a huge and hairsprayed bouffant and never washed it was inadvertently playing host to a nest of black widows. Since bouffants have gone out of style, the victim of this story is now often portrayed as a man with dreadlocks. Spiders would almost certainly not take up residence in a hairdo – it’s simply not a safe place for them to live, and there isn’t a food source!

Source: Snopes.com

Myth No. 5: The average person swallows eight spiders per year, usually while sleeping.

Verdict: False

Normal, neatly made beds rarely have spiders in them, because people tend to move in their sleep. Spiders don’t enjoy being around large, living, moving objects, so they tend to avoid our sleeping areas. You’d also have to sleep with your mouth open, and a spider would have to crawl directly over your face and decide to investigate your mouth – very unlikely, since spiders don’t even like it when you blow on them from a distance. You’d also have to swallow it down automatically while still asleep – a very unlikely circumstance.

Source: MentalFloss.com

Myth No. 6: You should always check under the toilet seat for spiders – a poisonous spider may bite your buttocks.

Verdict: False

This hoax got started in 1999, and included a very humorous species of spider: the Arachnius gluteus. Not only does this spider not exist, it’s highly unlikely that a spider would come out from under a toilet seat to bite you unprovoked. The spread of this myth was probably related to people’s fears of brown recluse spiders.

Source: University of California, Riverside Spiders Website

Myth No. 7: The Angolan Witch Spider will eat your pets.

Verdict: False

A giant spider from South America, about as big as a picture window, that eats cats and dogs and can only be killed by multiple gunshots? Not on our watch. This widely-circulated image is just some clever Photoshop magic done on an ordinary wolf spider, and the Angolan Witch Spider does not exist. One of the largest recorded spider species, the Goliath spider, can have a leg span of about 12 inches – not nearly the size of half a house.

Source: LiveScience.com