Why are we scared of spiders?

Spiders have never bothered me as much as snakes. I've actually had quite a few pet spiders in my life. I got to where I enjoyed them crawling up my arms. Since I got married... no more pet spiders

I've got a friend though that turns into a 2 year old little girl if he even sees a spider. He's a tough guy until he sees those little boogers.

[edit on 22-8-2009 by Strictsum]

it is commonly reported from shamans and psychonauts that behind the curtain of reality are spider-like creatures which carry out the construction of reality as we know it.

physical forms are held together by harmonic resonances within the ether. the emotional reaction to the physical form of the spider is actually an extra-sensory reaction to the psycho-spiritual entity "spider". it is a reminder of something deep and powerful inside the unexplored depths of our collective unconscious.

there is a thread somewhere on ATS that discusses the psychological study of primitive shapes. i have been unable to find it, but it is a fascinating topic.

Spiders are terrifying, and i dont know why.

I was at my ex's house and I decided to have a smoke, i was walking around the property just for fun (beats standing in 1 spot) and i walked inbetween 2 trees. Web right across my face, i swear my nose had to hit directly in the middle of it, the noise of the web breaking and feeling it all over my face, it made my knees go out, and i fell on the ground tearing at my face cause i knew a spider was on me somewhere, i ripped off my hoodie and couldnt stop rubbing my head for 20 minutes or so.

I can deal with spiders as long as they are not within 2 feet of me. Whenever i feel something crawl on me, i can never look, i just have to swat it away.

2 summers ago I was working in a greenhouse full of prennials, annnd i encountered the largest jumping (wolf) spider of my life. It was black and white and furry as hell. I only saw it out of the corner of my eye. I picked up a 24 cm pot and was looking through the dirt for weeds and mold when I saw a huge spider on my forearm. it was about the size of...you know those fake hallowe'en black plastic spiders? but it was meaty and thick and it was looking right at me. needless to say i instantly dropped the plant and swated at my arm, it was gone before i could hit it. oh laaaaaawd was it a beastly creature.

jumping spiders I hate the most, because they watch you. if you dont believe me, next time you see one, walk at it and see if it turns around and watches you, or put you hand down near it and it'll watch your hand.

weeeeeeird.

reply to post by KRISKALI777


OMG warning sign next time please Im only kidding, but that pic really did make me jump....

I have been terrified of spiders my entire life! If I see one I immediately freeze and yell. I have left laundry laying in the stairwell to our garage because I thought one was going to jump at me and attack. I have come out of the bathroom full force yelling in just a pair of shorts. (My roommate was in stitches) They always seem to attack me in the bathroom!! I had a really big brown spider crawl over my feet and I freaked!! I dont know what it is about them but I do not like them. I dont want to kill them I just want them to not be around me. I love snakes and scorpions though, which most people find weird since I dont like spiders....My so called best friend freaked me out once at her parents when she came out of her brothers room and stuck a HUGE tarantula in my face. I NEVER went back there! I thought it was really messed up of her to do that knowing how I feel about them. I swear they are the only things that freak me out and it's the legs! I dont care for centipedes either. Nothing should have that many legs! LOL!

I always joke around with my friends about aliens and say the ones I would freak out over would be big huge spider types. Give me a reptilian any day!

reply to post by epitaph.one


See they do jump! My friends tell me I make it up but there are ones that DO! I vaguely remember when I was about 5 a big fat furry spider in the house we just moved into that jumped on me. IDK maybe that is why I dont like them. I mean the moving guy ran out the room screaming so it wasnt just me! It was on the wall and when they moved the bed it jumped on ME!

Wow I am never going to be able to sleep tonight..lol

Wow. You guys are lucky you don't live in Australia. We have the top 10 deadliest of all the worlds spiders and here, and most of the worlds deadliest snakes. Snakes don't bother me. I grew up in the country and we were taught to stomp our feet in the bush if there was thick undergrowth. Snakes get scared of the noise and slide way or juts hide

Spiders are part of life here - but I am very afraid of them. I don't looking at them (even in books) but i don't have the urge to destroy or kill them. I know they have their place in nature...I just want them away from me!

My fear of them is being bitten and dying. Not all spiders are poisonous I know,and we have no deadly Funnel Web spiders here in Western Australia but man, I just hate them. I had one in my face as a 4 year old and I think that scarred me for life.

In the north of Australia are giant orb spiders. Now, their webs are HUGE and if a small bird like a finch flew in it may not be able to get out. The webs are massive and even appear on oil rigs! My ex used to tell me that they scared the bejeesus out of him when he worked on rigs for a while. Said their webs were really strong and would take alot of pressure to break if you walked into one.

I love camping and the outdoors...but i am pretty vigilant about zipping my flyscreens up tight at night on the tent and checking shoes and things in the morning. Spiders wont stop me enjoying nature, but a, very wary of them....bleh.

I do what I call the spider dance when I see one. You know, jump all around screaming "Kill it! Kill it!!

Me who loves snakes and lizards, but spiders freak me out.

[edit on 22-8-2009 by Night Star]

Am I the only one that likes spiders? I think they are extremely cool. If I find them in my house I leave them where they are unless it turns out to be a brown recluse. I squash those.

There are all kinds of spiders. There are communal spiders that jointly spin large webs that will span several bushes with hundreds of spiders sharing the space. There are "hobo" spiders that will mooch off other spiders webs. There are water spiders that, although water is not a natural habitat for them, will build air bubbles in the water and fish for the small bugs that come by.

They do feel creepy when crawling on you but are usually harmless. I was going down the highway several months ago about 65mph when I had a spider land on my shoulder. No place to pull over and I could see that it wasn't a harmful spider so I just let it crawl all over me until I got to a place where I could pull over and put it outside on the ground.

Black widows are not usually aggressive but I capture and release or kill those on principle. Brown recluse spiders too. They are wild creatures, don't have any politics, you can't reason with them and they can do severe harm. The rest of them I just view as quick and able little predators; the ultimate survivalist.

When I was a kid, I loved the show Gilligans Island...that is until the episode where Gilligan goes off and finds himself a cave to live in...thing is the cave is the home of a giant spider. That episode traumatized me!!!

Once while working in the yard, I picked up a landscaping brick and there was a black widow under it...I crushed it out of fear then ran like it was chasing me!

[edit on 22-8-2009 by Greenize]

What a silly question.

People are scared of spiders because many of them can kill you! Even non-deadly spider bites can hurt. I was once bitten and my arm swelled up - it was very painful.

Plus they kill by wrapping insects up alive and then slowing eating them.

Seems like a very rational fear to me.

I hate spider. Yesterday, while I was relaxing near the pool, one big evil spider overlord decided to hike on my leg... I jumped in the pool.

I hate them.

Next time im relaxing outside, I'll bring a wd40 can and a lighter.

Originally posted by LordBucket

Why are we scared of spiders?

Childhood trauma may be a factor. Imagine being a two month old baby and a spider crawling on your face in the middle of the night and biting you. You wake up and cry, and mommy comes, but by then the spider is gone.

Until the next night. And the next.

Night after night the spider makes a meal of you. Hurting you. But you don't have enough control over your arms yet to make it go away, and mommy never seems to show up in time to make it go away.

Helplessness...pain...mommy can't protect you...this is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

I believe you may have something here. They are stealthy. Also it may be an evolutionary thing. They've been around a lot longer than us. Back when everything was competing for survival.

When I was younger, even into adulthood, I screamed like a child at the sight of an arachnid on me. I had a friend that worked at a pet shop and he MADE me handle a tarantula. It broke my fear. Familiarity breads acceptance. I no longer have this fear.

WARNING: Lots of spiders:



It's funny though. You have to confront your fears to beat them. My wife, scared as hell of snakes(sight of them = passing out), has been getting better with exposure to images of them. Hopefully one day she will be able to handle one, breaking the fear once and for all.

tgidkp
it is commonly reported from shamans and psychonauts that behind the curtain of reality
are spider-like creatures which carry out the construction of reality as we know it.

Hence, the fates who spin, apportion, weave and cut the allotment of thread to each man in the tapestry of life.

I won't even watch that video that Intrepid posted as i hate seing them too. When i had kids, i always tried to be brave and not make a big deal out of killing them, because i didn't want them to be scared. And i could kill them, as long as they weren't too big.
The other night, as it happens, we were watching a movie, me and the kids, it ended, and we got up to go in the kitchen to talk about it.

All of a sudden, my daughter says..."there's a spider on you."

I honestly don't recall the next few seconds, but apparently, i went out of the kitchen, twirling, screaming, bumped into my son, making the cat and dog panic, rubbing frantically at my clothes, until finally they yelled "It's ok! It came off!"

When i looked down, it was fricking huge and for the next half hour, in between laughing, i could not stop imagining it on me. Ugh.

Some of them i don't mind, the ones with big legs but tiny bodies are ok, i'll let them live. But big black ones. Makes me shudder.

edit to add....even now, after recalling that episode, i keep getting itches, like there's one on me.



[edit on Sun Aug 23rd 2009 by geek101]

because they can put you in the hospital, and they are extremely aliien life forms to us bideds.

i will gladly donate a drop of blood to a neighborhood family of mosquito larva. Seriously, i don't kill mosquitos. But yesterday i flushed a spider down the toilet simply because i couldn't tell if he was poisonous or not.

reply to post by Yossarian


I love spiders (except for when they bite me). My daughter and I catch some every year so we can watch them eat. We name them and make little environments for them. Sometimes when we get bored we have gladitorial events with them
The short legged jumping spiders are fun, but the long legged web dwellers are the most interesting to watch because they take the time to wrap their food.

Maybe its because they are small and poisonous....

how much thought did that take?

O nevermind logic and reason... lets all fly off the handle and introduce the concept of spider shamans who create reality. *smacks head on desk*

Anyone remember the lyrics to Alice Coopers song :The Black Widow?
A cool opening narated by the late great Vincent Price too!
I loved that album when I was a kid; and still like it.
Maybe that helped a generation to develop a healthy dislike to the spider.

i hate spiders probably more than anything. im constantly watching out for them.