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11[[quoteright:214:[[Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Parley_spidey__frighty_2286.jpg]]]]
12[[caption-width-right:214:[[WesternAnimation/SpiderMan1967 Look out! Here comes the spider, man!]]]]
13
14->''Little Miss Muffet\
15Sat on a tuffet,\
16Eating her curds and whey;\
17Then along came a spider,\
18Who sat down beside her\
19And frightened Miss Muffet away.''
20-->— "Little Miss Muffet" nursery rhyme
21
22Some people are scared of spiders. Whenever they see a spider, they will become scared, either screaming in horror or trying to swat the spider with a rolled-up newspaper or stomp it to death if it's on the floor.
23
24Essentially, this trope is when spiders are portrayed as being scary monsters in different forms of media. Sometimes, they can be [[GiantSpider giant monsters]] in horror movies, while they can be normal-sized, yet still retain the scariness that they are thought to have.
25
26They're often portrayed as extremely venomous, capable of killing or incapacitating humans. This happens occasionally in RealLife and near constantly in stories. In these instances, the sight of a creeping spider is comparable to that of an approaching cobra or tiger. If anthropomorphic, they may be portrayed as more [[SneakySpider sneaky and manipulative]]. They may be {{Evil Puppeteer}}s, due to the resemblance between a spider's webbing and a puppet's strings.
27
28In reality, while there are indeed a number of deadly spiders on Earth, most of them are more likely to be found in relatively "remote" or exotic regions, such as Australia or Brazil--and even there, most spiders are harmless, and not all areas have particularly venomous spiders.[[note]]For instance, the most dangerous spider in the Australian state of Victoria is the redback, which like its North American cousin the black widow will make your life miserable for a few days but won't kill you unless you're a child or already weakened by something else.[[/note]] In America, the most notorious deadly spiders are the black widow and the brown recluse, and the very name will have an air of death and apprehension. In reality, both of these spiders are extremely docile, and their bites are rarely serious -- most fatalities are children or people with weak immune systems.
29
30In lieu of either of these spiders, however, the spider most likely to be used to inspire fear and revulsion is one of a wide variety of tarantula species. Despite being relatively harmless to humans, their size and appearance is a grade of NightmareFuel all by themselves. Even when a spider really is dangerous to humans -- such as the Sydney funnel web or Brazilian wandering spider -- they won't aggressively attack people under normal circumstances (see AnimalAssassin for more information). The former, in fact, has [[https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/182/8/funnel-web-spider-bite-systematic-review-recorded-clinical-cases 13 total confirmed deaths to its name]] -- all prior to the introduction of antivenom in 1981.
31
32In reality, more people are killed each year by champagne corks or falling vending machines than spiders. A rather unimpressive record compared to, say, {{bears|AreBadNews}}, [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile crocodiles]], [[SnakesAreSinister venomous snakes]], or even [[SavageWolves canines]] or [[ThreateningShark sharks]]. However, those animals all have two eyes, internal skeletons, and red blood. When it comes to narrative effect, otherness is always scarier than practical threat.
33
34Sadly, this trope is TruthInTelevision, as arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias found in people of all ages, preceded only by heights and darkness. Spiders themselves are NotEvilJustMisunderstood, as they are very effective pest controllers and most species will not (and most often cannot) do anyone any harm and are docile creatures. Killing them is actually detrimental, especially if one has a large garden or a insect problem (and considered bad luck in some cultures). That unfortunately doesn't stop most people from instinctively wanting them dead or out of the house.
35
36Compare CreepyCamelSpider, GiantSpider, SpiderSwarm, SneakySpider, ScaryScorpions and WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes. Contrast FriendToBugs, for someone who might love spiders, and FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider, for the opposite depiction of these animals. Compare ''and'' contrast SeductiveSpider, which depicts spiders as attractive despite still being implicitly threatening.
37
38Not to be confused with DemonicSpiders, which is a gameplay trope, though the two can certainly overlap.
39----
40!!Examples:
41
42[[foldercontrol]]
43
44%%[[folder:Advertising]]
45%%* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp2c1jh6Feo Samsung commercial]] capitalizes on this trope.
46%%[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
49* In ''Anime/AnimalCrossingTheMovie'', Ai gets a spider on her hand and freaks out.
50* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
51** The [[Anime/DigimonAdventure first]] [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 three]] [[Anime/DigimonTamers seasons]] had Dokugumon, a monstrous spider Digimon who served either as a guard to the bad guy's lair or just as a typical spider catching other Digimon that get caught in its web.
52** The second season also had Arukenimon, an ArcVillain.
53** The first season had what's [[AllThereInTheManual named Kodokugumon]]. Those are the ''zillions and zillions of mini-Dokugumon'' that appeared with the first one.
54** You can go for an army of ''the full-sized ones!'' That's what happened in ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad''. If Gaogamon's MidSeasonUpgrade hadn't shown up then, the team would have been screwed.
55** ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' features the return of Arukenimon as a brain-eating MadScientist with an entire army of Dokugumon at her beck and call. She's easily one of the most terrifyingly effective villains in the series and [[spoiler:would have killed the entire main cast had [=GulusGammamon=] not dealt with her]]. A later episode has a new version of Kodokugumon overrun a shopping center, attacking the shoppers en masse with corrosive venom and feeding on them to grow bigger.
56* ''Anime/LittleLulu'': Mentioned, but not quite seen in fruition, but in Episode 6, Tubby is apparently scared of spiders.
57* ''Anime/MayaTheBee'': There's an episode of the anime where Maya is trapped in a sinister spider's web, which boasts about how it will eat her. However, Maya is saved thanks to intervention from Flip the Grasshopper, who destroys the web with a high-powered jump.
58* While [[SpiderPeople Rachnera]] from ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' [[DarkIsNotEvil is a decent person once you scratch under the surface]] ([[BrainsAndBondage well,]] [[AllWebbedUp mostly]]), she does get quite a bit of mileage from her potential to scare/intimidate thanks to her arachnid appearance, like the time she stopped the AttemptedRape of Centorea [[NightmareFace dead in its tracks]].
59* ''Franchise/OnePiece'', humorously example in the Jaya arc when Sanji, Nami and Usopp while hunting for the South Bird the trio discover a tarantula crawling up Nami's waist. Naturally Nami freaks out and even Sanji (the dude who stands up to [[GodGuise Enel]] in the same arc) also is terrified but hilariously [[LovableCoward Usopp]] picks the spider up and pets it saying he used to [[FluffyTamer train]] tarantulas back home.
60** Fitting for the horror-theme island of Thriller Bark, a giant [[GiantSpider fusion]] of a monkey and spider Tararan but he's more silly than scary. The spider mice are more creepy. They are mice the size of dogs that can ''silently'' wrap up the Monster Trio and drag them away.
61** Vice Admiral Onigumo has spider-Devil Fruit and can gain six more arms in addition to a huge spider abdomen, but it's unknown if he's [[{{Animorphism}} Zoan]] who can go full spider which would be terrifying.
62* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''.
63** The Johto episodes introduced Spinarak and its evolved form, Ariados, while the Unova episodes introduced Joltik and its evolved form, Galvantula. Even more frightening is that both Joltik and Galvantula have the ability, Unnerve. Likewise, Spinarak and Ariados both have the move, Scary Face.
64** The spider-type Pokémon can be considered more of an aversion to this trope due to their basic designs not being all that grotesque, especially what with Spinarak and Joltik being more cute and cuddly looking in appearance.
65** Misty is terrified of spiders but only because she's afraid of bug Pokémon in general.
66** In one episode, there was a entire ''police force'' that employed Spinarak to catch criminals.
67* ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' also [[PlayingWithATrope plays with the trope]]. Most [[GiantSpider Taratect]], especially Kumoko's titanic Mother, look exactly as creepy as you'd expect giant spider monstrosities to look, but our main protagonist Kumoko looks like the cutest thing on eight legs. [[spoiler:This turns out to be just her own view of herself - from the perspective of humans, she is just as terrifying to behold as any other Taratect, [[PoorCommunicationKills and when she tries to speak to explain herself, all that comes out is horrific screeching]]. What's more, as she is far more powerful than the average member of her kind, has a bunch of skills you would not expect a beast to have, and fights with a human mind as opposed to the instincts of a monster. Her encounter with a party that attempts to kill her results in a terrifying MookHorrorShow that earns her the title "[[RedBaron Nightmare of the Labyrinth]]". In fact, Kumoko is [[TheDreaded so damn scary]] that '''even other monsters''' start fleeing from her, causing her to completely wreck the ecosystem of the Great Elroe Labyrinth just by existing.]]
68* ''Manga/SoulEater'' Arachne is a major villain with a spider theme organization.
69[[/folder]]
70
71[[folder:Comic Books]]
72* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative:'' Armory is scared of spiders. This turns out to be a bad mix with a guy who turns into whatever anyone near him is afraid of and no control over it, and a girl with a weapon that responds to her thoughts. Armory has a FreakOut, and accidentally blows out another recruit's brains.
73* Vera in ''ComicBook/BePrepared'', after her first night in camp, goes to the "Hollywood" (outdoor toilet) to poop, and while doing her business looks up to see the ceiling ''covered'' in spiders, with one coming down towards her. She takes off running and [[NatureTinkling finishes outside]].
74* ''ComicBook/IceCreamMan'': Issue 1 gets a lot of mileage out of this trope with a species of deadly venomous spider that a boy is keeping as a pet. It manages to gruesomely kill several people with its bite before the story is over.
75* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'': Zig-zagged in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue85 No Fear!... Except One]]" with the wolf fly-der. It's huge, tries to eat the main characters, and its spaces is supposed to be trapped in Tartarus, but it is first easily scared off by Applejack and later talked into returning to Tartarus by Apple Bloom.
76* ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'': Twisted and played with with Tarantula. The original was a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] hero. The current day one was an AntiHero who raped Nightwing while he was having a mental breakdown after encouraging him to kill.
77* ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': Tim finds himself fighting a cabal of bloodthirsty killers who go by spider-themed code-names and call themselves the Council of Spiders. Some of them take the creepy spider theme further, like "Sac" who controls what [[TheWormThatWalks appears to be a swarm of thousands of little spiders]] that eat their way into people so he can [[SeeingThroughAnothersEyes see through the victim's eyes]] and when he's done he has them tear and eat their way out of the victim fatally.
78* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'': Sonic has a fear of spiders.
79* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': While averted by the heroic Spider-man himself, this is played straight by his spider-motif enemies [[Characters/MarvelComicsVenom Venom]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarnage Carnage]]. Sort of.
80** Even then, Spider-Man is ''supposed'' to be creepy. [[MookHorrorShow When shown from the villains' point of view]], we're shown a guy who moves and stands nothing like a human being, can come out of freaking nowhere, and no matter how far you run or how sneaky you think you're being, you ''will'' find him hanging upside down in front of you with the giant bug-eyed eyepieces staring into your soul.
81** Subverted in the Six-Arms Saga, where Peter accidentally sprouts four extra appendages after taking a serum meant to nullify his spider powers and goes into hiding, reasoning that the public and many if not all of the people he cares about will react this way upon seeing him like that.
82** In issue 1 of ''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2019)'', Spider-Man rescues a little girl, and when he returns the girl to her dad, the girl sees the giant spider symbol on Spider-Man's chest, and smacks it. Her dad goes up to Spidey and apologizes to him, saying that his daughter is scared of spiders.
83** An alternate universe that [[Characters/MarvelComicsDeadpool Deadpool]] encounters plays this horrifically straight. Not only has Spider-Man chosen to keep his extra arms, along with sporting fangs and engaging in [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]], but he has become a Horseman of [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]], specifically Pestilence.
84** According to Creator/StanLee, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman almost [[{{pun}} squashed]] the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' idea for the reason that "people don't like spiders." This is why Spidey made his debut in the last issue of the cancelled ''Amazing Fantasy''.
85** In one of the [[IntercontinuityCrossover Avengers/Justice League crossovers]], Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} describes Spider-Man as "creepy" and tells him that it's his own fault people are suspicious of him.
86* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'':
87** ''[[Recap/TintinTheShootingStar The Shooting Star]]'', Tintin sees a meteorite through a telescope and nearly has a heart attack when he sees a spider covering the entire thing. It turns out it was just a spider through the telescope, which causes Snowy to laugh at him... until he sees it himself and jumps three feet in the air (which blossoms a running gag through the series). Later, Tintin ends up fighting a spider as large as him.
88** ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland The Black Island]]'': Snowy is shown being frightened by a spider.
89* ''ComicBook/TransformersSinsOfTheWreckers'' introduces its version of Tarantulas, who is generally ''less'' creepy than his cannibalistic ''Beast Wars'' counterpart, but is a morally unhinged lunatic who turns into a giant-even-by-Cybertronian-standards spider, and has an unhealthy fixation with Prowl.
90* ''ComicBook/TransformersWindblade'': Subverted by Blackarachnia. She seems sinister when she's first introduced, but she's actually a CreepyGood hermit and seer who's only interest is helping Windblade and Cybertron.
91[[/folder]]
92
93%%[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
94%%* ''Little Miss Muffet'' is probably the UrExample.
95%%[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Fan Works]]
98* ''Fanfic/CaseySteele'': Betsy's so afraid of them that she uses plasma cannon and still doesn't think it's enough:
99--> "Maybe the plasma cannon is a bit over-kill with spiders Bets?"\
100Betsy gave him a 'you must be nuts' look, "You think?" she asked not sounding convinced otherwise.
101* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndThePrinceOfSlytherin'': [[spoiler:Diary!Tom Riddle]] repeatedly tortures [[spoiler: Ron Weasley]] into obedience by exploiting his severe arachnophobia.
102* ''Fanfic/TheNightmareHouse'': Leni Loud's nightmare in features giant, talking spiders, which she describes as looking terrifying, especially their eyes.
103* ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReimagined'': While generally prone to feeling nervous around multiple different types of invertebrates during the earliest seasons of the story, and also someone who generally loves all animals as a whole, Leon Gilbertson is also not ashamed to admit that spiders are one of the few animals that he [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes is truly unambiguously terrified of]]. Quite notably, even after gaining the courage to work with several other potentially unnerving prehistoric invertebrates such as [[ScaryScorpions pulmonoscorpius]], he ''still'' shows himself to be more than willing to try to put off trying to work with the newly discovered prehistoric spider genus [[GiantSpider megalorachne]].
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
107* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bionicle}}: Web of Shadows'' shows off the Visorak horde, which are essentially extremely intelligent [[GiantSpider man-sized spiders]] with massive mandibles who have [[TheHorde conquered and enslaved entire islands]] and want to keep doing that. Best part, in their tongue, their name means "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast stealers of life]]".
108* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dreambuilders}}'': Jenny certainly thinks so. Minna capitalizes on this by using spiders in Jenny's nightmare.
109* ''WesternAnimation/HoodwinkedTooHoodVersusEvil'' had a [[GiantSpider giant black widow spider]] attempt to attack and devour Red Riding Hood and her grandma before the timely arrival of the Woodsman and his team of yodelers. Subverted in the end where the spider is befriended by Granny's redeemed rival.
110* Alex from ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' is spooked by a large spider on his shoulder, after it gives him a friendly "Well, howdy do." [[spoiler:Thankfully the sounds of his horrified roars scare off the fossa, saving Mort's life in the process.]]
111* After all of his {{Death Trap}}s fail to impress Roxanne, WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} notices a spider dangling in front of her face and pretends it was intended. Then Roxanne nonchalantly blows on it and it lands on his face. Cue freak out.
112* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'': A spider stalked Mrs. Brisby without her knowing it before it got squashed by the Great Owl.
113* The opening scene of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekFourD'' at Ride/UniversalStudios has Donkey reacting in terror towards a spider that came down in front of him.
114* In ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', Scroop, one of the main antagonists, resembles a giant spider. He is the one that acts the most threatening of all the pirates.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
118* ''Film/TheABCsOfDeath'': The whole point of the "E" segment is about a man being menaced by a spider.
119* ''Film/AnnieHall'' -- Annie calls Alvy (Creator/WoodyAllen) over late at night claiming an emergency (some months after they broke up, as an excuse to see him again) -- when he finds out it's for a spider in the tub, he gets peevish and exasperated at her...he enters the bathroom and comes right out, saying "''Very'' big spider. Lotta trouble, there's ''two'' of them!"
120* ''Film/{{Arachnophobia}}'' was a film about a group of hybridized spiders that invaded a California town and began killing the inhabitants that lived there.
121* In ''Film/TheBelievers'', the female lead has the egg of a parasitic spider placed on her cheek by the voodoo cultists so tiny baby spiders eventually hatch from her face.
122* In ''Film/BigAssSpider'', a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages the city of Los Angeles.
123* In the 2006 adaptation of ''Film/CharlottesWeb'', it's averted, obviously. However, as far as Ike the horse is concerned though, it's played straight, but PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler:He mostly grows out of it at the end when Charlotte's babies hatch]]
124** When Ike sees Charlotte for the first time, he starts shrieking ''SPIDER! GET IT AWAY FROM ME! GET IT AWAY!"
125** Then when Charlotte reveals to Wilbur that she drinks flies' blood, Ike faints to the ground with a loud THUD. Then as Charlotte climbs down next to the fallen horse.
126--->'''Ike''': Please don't hurt me.
127--->'''Charlotte''': Well, since you said "please." (chuckles)
128** Also this dialogue when Charlotte is trying to get him involved to a meeting involving Wilbur
129--->'''Charlotte''': Ike, this meeting involves every one of us.
130--->'''Ike''': I just have...trouble looking at you. That's all.
131--->'''Charlotte''': Well, this isn't about me, this is about Wilbur. And for the record, my view of you is not exactly a treat, either.
132* In ''Film/DrNo'', a {{mook|s}} plants [[AnimalAssassin a tarantula]] in Bond's hotel room at night, clearly the most terrifying thing in the world. In [[Literature/DrNo the book]] it was a centipede known by Bond to be deadly -- guess he hadn't read up on all the arthropods...
133* The 1950s sci-fi film ''Film/EarthVsTheSpider'' was about a giant mutant spider that invaded a nearby city. No relation to a [[SimilarlyNamedWorks similarly-titled]] 2001 movie about a lowly comic book fan who injects himself with a serum in order to become [[ComicBook/SpiderMan a superhero with spider-like powers,]] but although it causes him to gain the powers of a human-sized spider, it also gives him the ''appearance'' of a human-sized spider and an endless hunger for human flesh.
134* ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, but it plays the whole thing for laughs with the spiders' silly voices and antics.
135* ''Film/{{Enemy}}'': This film is '''not''' for arachnophobes.
136* The ending scene from ''Film/TheFly1958''. The sight of that otherwise normal spider slowly approaching the helpless fly-human...
137-->'''HEEEELP MEEEE! HEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEE!'''
138* In ''Film/HangmansCurse'', it's revealed that the attacks are the result of planted pheromones causing an African Spotted wolf spider to bite the victims. Then, they breed with a brown recluse spider and infest the school...
139* ''Film/TheHauntedMansion2003'' had one of a pair of siblings who suffers from crippling arachnophobia. Predictably, he's forced to overcome his phobia to save his mom from an arranged marriage with a misguided ghost by opening a door crawling with giant spiders.
140* ''Film/HauntedMansion2023'': When Travis lifts up Alistair's hat, a ScareChord can be heard when there turns out to be a big spider underneath it.
141* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BykZI8mnS_o Invoked]] in ''Film/HomeAlone1'' when Kevin escapes from Marv by putting his brother's escaped tarantula on Marv's face. Marv freaks out and ScreamsLikeALittleGirl.
142* In ''Film/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' (1959) a tarantula is left in the shoe belonging to Henry Baskerville, which promptly crawls up his arm to his shoulder, poised to deliver a deadly bite before Holmes sweeps it off with a walking stick and kills it. Partially justified later, when Holmes remarks that a tarantula’s bite is not always deadly, but Baskerville’s heart condition would have made it so.
143* ''Film/ItsyBitsy'' focuses on a family menaced by an ancient entity that takes the form of a GiantSpider and plays a lot of spider horror tropes to the hilt.
144* [[EverythingTryingToKillYou One of the things trying to kill you]] in ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''.
145-->''Need a hand? Well, just you wait. [[FalseReassurance We'll help you out]]. We each have eight.''
146* John Cardos' 1977 epic ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders'' featuring Creator/WilliamShatner was about a Southwestern town of Verde Valley that was overrun by a bunch of killer spiders after a pesticide kills off all the other bugs.
147* ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'' features [[spoiler: a GiantSpider that works at the docks. It attacks Bletch, Trevor, and Barry, killing the latter by [[OffWithHisHead eating his head off]]. It ends up getting killed by having its face smashed against a hanging cargo. Regardless, it ''is'' pretty terrifying to look at! Bletch even reveals a fear of spiders when the arachnid tries to kill him]].
148* ''Film/TheNewDaughter'': A spider pops out of a container hidden in the straw doll Louisa gets from the mound-walkers.
149* ''Film/{{Nightwish|1989}}'': A character hallucinates having her head placed inside a glass box full of tarantulas.
150* ''Film/OnTheBuses'': After seeing how terrified a spider makes Olive, Stan decides to use spiders in his plot to get rid of the women bus drivers. He dumps a few in Vera's cab, which terrifies her when she discovers them, causing her to collide with a lorry.
151* After brushing aside an enormous web, Franchise/IndianaJones and his guide Satipo in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' find dozens of tarantulas crawling on them, but calmly brush them off. Tarantulas, of course, do not build webs.
152* The duology of horror films: ''Film/{{Spiders}}'' & ''Film/SpidersIIBreedingGround''.
153* The more recent ''Film/Spiders3D''. Pity any arachnophobes who dare to see this film in its original format.
154* In ''Film/{{Tarantula}}'', a giant spider killed in the end by Creator/ClintEastwood.
155* ''Film/{{Vermines}}'' is about an abnormal invasion of small venomous spiders in a French ''banlieue''.
156* [[SpiderTank The giant mechanical spider]] from the Creator/WillSmith movie ''Film/WildWildWest''. Earlier in the film, Gordon is terrified of the desert tarantula that is crawling up Jim's arm. Jim, unfazed, comments "he's just trying to get warm."
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:Literature]]
160* ''Literature/AnimalInn'': Mrs. Racer and Erin certainly think so in book 6, as they have minor panic attacks when Teddy brings home Herman the tarantula, a class pet, for a short while.
161* The first couple of times wolf spider is used as a morph in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. Played straight in ''The Android'', when Marco has to morph a wolf spider. He really, really doesn't want to.
162* Both played straight and subverted in ''The Ashtown Burials'': the Whip Spiders are terrifying creatures which hunt in packs, with one or two stings being enough to kill a normal person while a swarm puts even immortal Nolan in agony. [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Arachne]], however, despite controlling armies of spiders and being generally slightly creepy, is helpful, friendly and firmly on the side of the heroes.
163* Legs the Tarantula in ''Literature/TheBadGuys'' quickly terrifies the others (save for Mr. Wolf, who he's already on good terms with) purely out of being a spider. Despite this, he's a good guy with simply a bad reputation, an amazing hacker and inventor for the team, and an all-around nice guy. A major arc in the book "Mission Unpluckable", his debut book in the series, is him teaming up with Mr. Shark, who has to learn how to shake his fear of him to help the others.
164* Averted in ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'', where Charlotte is kind and sympathetic towards Wilbur. That said, she is very frank about what her species does to survive, at one point casually mentioning how delicious the blood of insects is, which {{Squick}}s Wilbur pretty hard.
165* In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'', Mordred is described as a sort of were-spider. Fitting, given who one of his fathers is. [[spoiler: The Crimson King, who is sometimes called the "Lord of Spiders," and is somewhat were-spider-like in the comic adaptations.]]
166* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg has serious arachnophobia as shown in ''The Getaway''. He is completely panicked when he meets a tarantula.
167* The title character in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' is a self-styled rationalist who always takes time to figure out the most logical action. This is momentarily abandoned as soon as she learns that the needle monsters invading her town can take the form of a nineteen-legged spider the size of a basketball.
168* In ''Forever After'' by Creator/CatherineAnderson, [[DomesticAbuse Dan]] would punish his wife [[DamselInDistress Meredith]] by putting spiders in her clothes and bedding, and would have them [[CreepyCrawlyTorture crawl over her skin]] while he raped her. Even years after his death she feels the compulsion to check her bed for spiders every time before she gets in, and the sight of a chinese takeout box (which Dan used to transport the spiders) kills her appetite.
169* They are robots, each fitted with a BrainInAJar, but the brain spiders in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' unsettle and frighten Zak, especially since they seem to be stalking him. When they finally corner him, [[GoodAllAlong they turn out to be on his side]] and trying to tell him something, which is hard to do when you're a meter-tall metal spider that can't talk. He's also alarmed later in the series when there are knobby white spiders around on Dagobah. [[spoiler: Yoda]] tests him by forcing him to be near one that's pacified.
170* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
171** Averted with Harry, who has lived in a cupboard long enough not to be bothered by normal spiders.
172** His best friend Ron however is terrified of spiders, stemming from a childhood incident where Fred [[KidsAreCruel cruelly turned his teddy bear into a spider]]. It's a fear that's shared by his actor in the films, Creator/RupertGrint. This fear is made much worse when, in the second book, he and Harry have to brave an entire colony of Acromantula; while they got out okay, Ron spent a few minutes afterwards vomiting into Hagrid's garden.
173** In the third book when facing a Bogart -- a shapeshifting creature that turns itself into a person's phobia -- Ron naturally has his turn into a huge spider. The narration says "quite a few people screamed", showing he's far from the only arachnophobe in class.
174** The series feature Acromantula -- which are {{Giant Spider}}s capable of human speech. They're also incredibly vicious and will happily eat humans. Hagrid's pet Aragog does not harm him out of [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loyalty]] -- but he's happy to let his family eat Harry and Ron.
175* Much like Lewis's ''The Spiders'' is ''The Hatching'' by Ezekiel Boone. Spiders act more like army ants and have no respect for humans' role as being the top of the food chain.
176* Subverted in ''Literature/HildaAndTheMadScientist''. Dr. Weinerstein tries to scare Hilda away by dropping a spider onto a pie she's preparing. Hilda coos over it and puts it safely outside.
177* In ''Literature/{{It}}'', Pennywise turns into a demonic GiantSpider. It's said that Its true form [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm is incomprehensible to humans]] but they saw it as a spider because that was the closest thing their minds could associate it with.
178* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Team Four has to fight a knee-jerk reaction when Sathel's spiders crawl over them. They're [[UpliftedAnimal intelligent field medic spiders]] but they still give the kids the creeps.
179* In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', the land of Fourecks is filled with extremely venomous spiders. One victim dies instantly, ''then'' starts turning purple, and when the same spider bites a stick, the stick starts to dissolve. They are also known to use their webs as trampolines to go for the face.
180* Taken in a BadPowersGoodPeople sense in ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin'' books, where the Grand Elusa is a white spider. A talking, ancient, size-shifting, teleporting, deeply magical, endlessly hungry white spider rightly seen as terrifying. She also patiently endures the main character's whining, has "love as strong as her hunger", and restricts her diet to evil things, even if she talks a lot about eating any visitors who show up. A serious case of CreepyGood, the Grand Elusa is [[FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider really quite heroic]] as long as you only enter her home when she invites you in.
181* A NoodleIncident in ''Literature/LukeSkywalkerAndTheShadowsOfMindor'' has Han Solo mentioning being uncomfortable when Leia was negotiating with a species which looked like giant human-headed spiders.
182* Averted in the ''Miss Spider'' books, where Miss Spider is a kindly MaidenAunt to a [[MouseWorld town of bugs]]. Adorable, albeit subject to CarnivoreConfusion. Spiderus, the resident CrankyNeighbor, seems like this at first, but the animated series mellows him out greatly, eventually even making him a BumblingDad.
183* In ''Literature/MorganvilleVampires'' mad-scientist vampire, Myrnin, takes a pet house-spider and calls him Bob and gives him another spider as a friend. This is greatly to Claire's dislike, being an arachnophobe herself. Ada used the other spider as a weapon as [[spoiler:she blew said other spider up to be the size of a stool and set him to attack Claire]] all because she was jealous of her. [[spoiler:Eventually, the other spider just exploded, unable to cope with the dramatic resizing]].
184* ''Literature/{{Once}}'' by Creator/JamesHerbert uses this trope [[BlackMagic to]] [[TheSwarm horrifying]] [[YourMindMakesItReal effect]].
185* Annabeth, and all children of Athena, fear spiders in the ''Literature/PercyJackson'' and ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' book series. With good reason, as Athena created the original spider by cursing a human woman named Arachne for her hubris, and since that time her descendants have all sought revenge. It's mentioned in the books that spiders can sense Athena's offspring and ''will'' seek them out to attack them. [[spoiler: The climax of ''The Mark of Athena'' involved Annabeth versus Arachne herself, a half-woman half-spider immortal who is so powerful that ''the immortal giants are afraid of her even though she cannot possibly kill them.'']]
186* The fire-spiders in ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned''. Not only are they giant foot-long spiders that shoot strands of [[IncendiaryExponent flaming ]][[YouHaveToBurnTheWeb web]], they also attack in swarms of five hundred or more and tend to inhabit caves where the spilt web on the walls can cook their victims alive via a notable aversion of ConvectionShmonvection. The scene where Alaric and Laeshana have to cut their way through a swarm of these things is one of the book's tenser moments.
187* The ''Literature/{{Relativity}}'' character Ravenswood is afraid of spiders. One of the bad guys has the ability to control spiders... You can guess where this is going.
188* Double-subverted in ''Literature/SadakoAndTheThousandPaperCranes''. Sadako is happy to find a spider in the first chapter and claims they bring good luck, which her brother doesn't believe. Given what ends up happening to her, the trope is being played straight.
189* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': Sirenspiders are an arachnid variety of magical monster that likes to strike from ambush and enthralling its victims for leisurely consumption.
190* Subverted in ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}''. The Weavers ''look'' terrifying because they're human-sized spiders and protagonist Jon Tom is an arachnophobe, but they're actually peaceful and have no interest in joining the Plated Folk's [[BugWar war against the warm-blooded species]]- in fact they prefer staying as far away from mammals as they can, because they find the appearance of [[HumansAreCthulhu mammals such as humans to be utterly terrifying]]. They actually end up pulling a BigDamnHeroes moment in the climax, arriving in time to blunt a major attack by the Plated Folk.
191* Played to the absolute maximum in Richard Lewis's novel ''The Spiders''. Imagine a spider as big as a Goliath bird-eater with masticating jaws, venom that first paralyzes and then kills, a hard crabshell-like exoskeleton, and two evil eyes that you can see looking at you. Now imagine that's just the drone in a social system similar to an ant or bee colony -- its job is to find food and bring it back to the hive, which consists of some even larger spiders and an enormous queen. This is what the protagonists of the book have to deal with in order to save England, where the spiders are slowly advancing from the country into the cities.
192* ''Literature/TolkiensLegendarium'': Ungoliant from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', who's less "GiantSpider" and more "[[AnimalisticAbomination vaguely spider-shaped]] EldritchAbomination." ''[[{{Satan}} Morgoth]]'' himself became frightened of her once she got a little boost. Her mortal descendants include Shelob from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and the Mirkwood Spiders in ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and while they're far less powerful than her, they're still pretty scary.
193* Creator/DaveBarry's column "The Web Badge of Courage" tells the story of bravely setting out, on his 41st birthday, to subdue what he calls "a spider the size of Harold C. Crittenden Junior High School" (or "Bernice" for short) that had set up a large web outside his front door, using a wooden stick and a peanut butter jar.
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
197* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': Played with in an episode where Angel visits the goddess of lost things trying to find a way to locate Cordelia. She's big and spider-like and covered in webbing.
198* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'': "The Fear Merchants" involves a group of people who find out their targets' worst fears and phobias and use them to devastating effect. Guess what one of those phobias is?
199* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': The Hawaii trilogy had one ep with a spider sneaking into the hotel room beds and scaring some of the kids. It was crawling on one of the boys.
200* One episode of ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'' had someone try to assassinate Brittas by sending over a mating pair of extremely (as in, the poison kills in minutes) venomous spiders to the centre. The female ate the male in transit and eventually bit Colin in an unmentionable area, leading to Brittas having to SuckOutThePoison in order to save his life.
201* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Subverted, as a student has a waking nightmare of a swarm of spiders attacking him...it turns out he loves them, and this is a manifestation of his guilt at his pet spiders dying under the neglectful eye of his brother. Played straight by Willow, who ''is'' afraid of them. ("Why do they need all those legs anyway?")
202* ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'': Averted with Aunt Hilda, whose pet spiders are her familiars. But Sabrina uses these spiders to traumatise her principal when he turns a blind eye to her friend being bullied.
203* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
204** The Eight-Legs of Metebelis III in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders "Planet of the Spiders"]]. Mutated by blue Metebelis crystals from Earth spiders that stowed aboard a colony ship, they eventually grew to several inches across and gained mental powers that allowed them to dominate (and occasionally eat) humans. Their supreme ruler the Great One became a true GiantSpider, many yards across, and attempted to take over the universe. You can probably guess how that turned out for her.
205** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK "Arachnids in the UK"]] involves the Doctor and company having to deal with very large spiders, the largest being the size of a van. Pretty much everyone involved feels this way about them, especially the arachnophobic Ryan and Robertson.
206* ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'': In the episode "Finding Eight-Legged Tights Isn't Easy", Ruff gets a panic attack when Chet plays ballet music to help him exercise to get ready to find the Lost Helmet of Victory. He recalls the time when he participated in ballet that involved using fake spiders. But Spot Spotnik replaced the fake spiders with real spiders, ruining the ballet and causing Ruff to have a fear of spiders and ballet ever since. Not only that, but Bethany Owens also has a fear of spiders. Later on in the episode, They both overcame their fears, with Bethany earning points for getting over her Arachnophobia.
207* Q from ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'' is terrified of spiders. Naturally, the other Jokers take advantage of this by covering him with tarantulas during a punishment.
208* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and all other {{Toku}} series have a spider MonsterOfTheWeek every so often. ''Franchise/KamenRider'' makes a ''point'' of it, as {{Homage}}. The first two Monster of the Weeks in the original series were a spider and a bat in that order, so many a modern KR will have a spider and a bat as the first monsters, or recurring enemies, or paired, or important to the story, or something. Spiders are really the ones they use to ramp up the creepy, though, so this trope is in effect whether homaging or not. Most KR monsters are PeopleInRubberSuits, but the spider in ''Film/KamenRiderZO'' was a huge horrific {{Claymation}} drider with blood-red eyes and unhingeable jaws on its otherwise human face (looks like a GlasgowSmile, then opens its mouth, and... uh, you should run at that point.) ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' gave us a giant ''CGI'' spider that revived as a giant CGI drider. ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has a Spider Dopant in the team-up with ''Series/KamenRiderOOO,'' and its design wasn't too scary but its effect was pretty horrible.
209%%* ''Series/SaluteYourShorts'': The one thing that scares Budnick.
210* ''Series/StargateUniverse'': "Human" and "Lost" have a spider-like alien animal encountered by the group. They're about the size of a small dog and have a huge mouth filled with needle-like fangs. They don't actually do anything besides hiss menacingly but are scary enough for Greer to shoot on sight.
211-->'''Col. Young''': Why exactly was Greer "forced" to fire his weapon?\
212'''Lt. Scott''': There was... a spider, sir.\
213'''Col. Young''': A spider.\
214'''Lt. Scott''': It was a ''sizeable'' spider, sir.
215* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
216** Averted when Chief O'Brien tells Lieutenant Barclay at the end of "Realm of Fear" about how he overcame his own fear of spiders to work a repair in a spider-infested crawlspace. The episode ended with O'Brien's pet tarantula crawling on Barclay's arm.
217** The seventh-season episode "Genesis" had Barclay [[DevolutionDevice devolve into one]] for a JumpScare.
218* The ''Fearnot'' episode of ''Series/TheStoryteller'' begins with the dog cowering in fear after seeing a spider, shot from the spider's point of view. The Storyteller is ''not'' afraid of said spider (which he then promptly kills), and in fact teases him about fearing such a thing.
219* ''Series/SweetHome2020'': One of the monsters is a giant spider with a human head. It chases Yi-kyung through the air-vents, and later attacks Du-sik and Su-yeong.
220* In ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' episode "The Night of the Poisonous Posey" one of the bad guys uses tarantulas as murder weapons. West kills one when he sees it next to Gordon while he is taking a nap. Later, Gordon plants one in another bad guy’s glove. This bad guy spots it before it bites him, and he predictably thinks the spider guy is trying to kill him.
221* ''Literature/TheWorstWitch'': In the 1998 tv series, this is surprisingly averted by Mildred. She's terrified of heights and the dark but pretends to Miss Cackle that it's spiders she's afraid of -- when asking if fear can be magicked away. Miss Cackle says it can't and one must just get used to their phobias -- and conjures up a spider to make her point. Afterwards, Mildred reveals she loves them and has a pet spider at home.
222[[/folder]]
223
224[[folder:Music]]
225* Referred to metaphorically in the Creator/JerryCantrell song "Spiderbite", which compares a cocaine addiction to a spider stalking its victim in the shadows.
226* "The Spider" by Music/FlandersAndSwann is from the perspective of a man who has defeated all manner of large predators, but is petrified by "the spider in the bath."
227* The Creator/{{Hipgnosis}} cover of the 1970 Probe Records sampler ''[[http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/handlewithcare.html Handle With Care]]'' is a closeup of a tarantula crawling on a leaf.
228* "Spiders & Snakes" by Jim Stafford.
229* "Boris the Spider" by Music/TheWho -- though the narrator has the last laugh after crushing the little critter under a heavy book.
230[[/folder]]
231
232[[folder:Mythology]]
233* In Japanese mythology, their exists a creature called the ''[[https://kimurakami.com/blogs/japan-blog/jorogumo#:~:text=The%20Jorogumo%20have%20the%20ability,the%20bones%20of%20their%20victims jorogumo]]'', a spider demon. It's a ''yokai'' with the upper body of a beautiful woman and the deadly limbs of a spider (a sort of spider centaur). Almost always female, the ''jorogumo'' lures men to her nest, then turns into an enormous spider and eats them alive.
234[[/folder]]
235
236[[folder:Pinball]]
237* The "Devil's Island" table of ''VideoGame/BallsOfSteel'' has spiders scurrying around the playfield, as well as a black widow's web at the top of the table.
238* The playfield for ''Pinball/{{Metallica}}'' has black spiders with red guitar silhouettes all over the place.
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder:Podcasts]]
242* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' has an episode about an arachnophobe who is plagued by one particular spider. Even though it's not particularly big, there's something horrible about it. He eventually realises that [[spoiler:it's somehow the same spider that started his arachnophobia when he was a child]].
243* In the ''Podcast/Wolf359''-episode ''Extreme Danger Bug'', Eiffel is exposed as an arachnophobe... By being the one who spends a big portion of the episode with a huge, hairy, [[{{Squick}} slimy]] and VERY venomous spider ''in his shirt''.
244-->'''Minkowski:''' Eiffel, don't worry. Everything is going to be alright. This thing is probably more scared of you than you are of him!\
245'''Eiffel:''' ''(whimpering)'' While I normally could get on board with that train, I assure you that in this case I am ''definitely'' the more terrified party... [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I. Hate. Spiders!]]
246[[/folder]]
247
248[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
249* [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron Tara]]'s arrival in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] revealed Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople were afraid of spiders, at least when they were big hairy tarantulas. Poison, as the spider was revealed to be named, only showed up when Tara was a [[{{face}} babyface]], suggesting no-one expected the audience to fear spiders. She did however use Poison to good effect when feuding with the Beautiful People -- releasing her to crawl all over poor Wrestling/VelvetSky. Likewise, Madison Rayne eventually found Poison in a box and was left terrified.
250[[/folder]]
251
252[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
253* ''Series/SesameStreet'': In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHMyYP0Lt9E an extended version of "Little Miss Muffet"]] told by Gina, the titular characters has a WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes-type of fear of spiders, and keeps running away screaming loudly from the spider [[StalkerWithoutACrush that keeps following her everywhere]]. It isn't until Miss Muffet comes to Gina for advice, [[InteractiveNarrator whom tells Miss Muffet that the spider might really be nice]], and it turns out the spider just wants to be friends.
254[[/folder]]
255
256[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
257* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
258** Lolth, Demon Queen (later goddess) of Spiders, is one of the game's most long-standing epic BigBad villains. Adventures featuring Lolth or her drow minions typically revel in this trope.
259** In ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', the leader of the Nightmare Court takes the form of an aged monk wearing robes made of cobwebs, with live spiders crawling all over him.
260%%** Fully 10% of ''D&D'' monsters are spider-based.
261* ''TabletopGame/{{Talislanta}}'' has the Crag Spider, which is 15' long, 300+ pounds, and has 12 legs.
262* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', the goblin armies can use giant spiders, including the massive Arachnorok spider which is bigger than some warmachines.
263[[/folder]]
264
265[[folder:Video Games]]
266* ''VideoGame/AfterTheWar'': Certain Aliens seems to be modeled after spiders, and usually they're the creepier ones.
267* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': The tarantula, which is the closest thing to an actual enemy you'll ever encounter alongside the {{sc|aryScorpions}}orpion and the {{w|ickedWasps}}asp. It makes an unnerving scratching noise as it moves, and villagers will sweat nervously and make some unsettled remarks if one is nearby. If it spots you it'll simply stare at you for a moment, then run off. However, if you have a bug net equipped when this happens, it'll instead hiss and start chasing you. If it catches you, its bite will knock you out, after which you'll wake up in front of your house no worse for wear. They only appear in autumn and winter, but that doesn't mean a break for the rest of the year, because the scorpion takes its place in spring and summer.
268* ''VideoGame/ArenaXlsm'': Spiders are a possible early-game enemy.
269* ''VideoGame/BugFables'':
270** A ([[MouseWorld relatively]]) GiantSpider is the first boss of the game. It is a seemingly-immortal vicious predator that was known for being the reason every journey to Snakemouth Den ended up being the final one for many unfortunate explorers. It also ensnared Leif in its cobweb for decades, [[spoiler:killing him and leaving his husk behind to be possessed by Cordyceps fungus.]] Ultimately, Team Snakemouth, [[TheDogBitesBack together with Leif]], finally manages to vanquish it, yet the tales of many explorers who fell in its hands still continue to haunt bugs.
271** Smaller spiders also appear as regular enemies, but the really creepy example has to be Mimic Spiders encountered in Forsaken Lands, who take the guise of ants to lure the team into a sense of security, only to reveal their true forms to attack and eat them.
272** Peacock Spider, another GiantSpider boss and one of the [[OptionalBoss Bounty bosses]], is a giant, vicious beast that basically acts as a Bugarian version of a siren, playing alluring beat to bring unfortunate travelers into its den on the Peacock Island, only to ambush and devour them. It also commands armies of Diving Spiders and can empower them in battle.
273* ''VideoGame/BornUnderTheRain'': A possible enemy, as seen in an [[https://rpgmaker.net/games/7360/images/55009/ official screenshot]].
274* ''VideoGame/CheeseCatAstrophe Starring WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales'': Spiders serve as common enemies. They scuttle back and forth, attempting to harm Speedy with CollisionDamage.
275* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has the recurring threat of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Arachnos]], and their leader, [[BigBad Lord Recluse]]. In ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'', you can work for them, if you want.
276* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' features the Duke's Dear Freja, a massive, eight-legged abomination that nests on a hollowed-out dragon's corpse, and is accompanied by man-sized spiders. Her introductory cutscene makes a nightmarish close-up on one of [[AHeadAtEachEnd her two heads]], and she's none too happy about your intrusion on her territory. In fact, the ''other spiders'' react in fear to her as well; after her death, they will even run away if her head(s) is kicked anywhere near them, like they would with fire. On NewGamePlus, [[spoiler:she'll even scare the crap out of seasoned players by making an appearance outside of her boss area]].
277* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Phantom is a giant spider demon that is covered by rock and magma. He is a recurring boss in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first game]] and makes a brief cameo boss fight in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 second]].
278* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'': There's a level where spiders chase you down for disturbing their nest. Should the player get caught they are dragged into the swarm in true NightmareFuel fashion.
279* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
280** In the first game's Mage Origin there is a GiantSpider JumpScare in the underground tunnels. When going down one of the tunnels a spider will drop down from the ceiling behind the player. That is, '''''it jumps right over the camera and fills the entire screen.'''''
281** The series has had giant spiders since the first game and regularly has them appear to fight the player in a JumpScare. But in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition,'' during a sequence taking place in a nightmare realm, the Inquisitor and party have to fight off spider-like creatures sent by a creature called Nightmare. In-universe, each character is seeing something personalized, but the [[PlayerCharacter Inquisitor]] [[FandomNod and]] [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo Hawke]] are seeing spiders.
282** The spiders are named for various fears, Death, Abandonment, Senility, etc.; amusingly, at one point, one of them is given the title "Ironically, Spiders."
283** The Nightmare itself also looks like a horrifying giant spider to the Inquisitor. Seems like the Inquisitor is a bit of an arachnophobe.
284* ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'' lampshades the idea that spiders are particularly scary, as the spiders that you fight are called Arachnid!s and Arachnid!!!s.
285* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
286** Throughout the series, {{Giant Spider}}s are a frequent enemy. They tend to pop up in dark places that already instill an air of fear, such as ruins and caves. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', Farkas, a member of the [[AdventureGuild Companions]] inner circle and a {{BFS}}-wielding ''[[spoiler:[[OurWereWolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]'']], becomes terrified of Frostbite Spiders to the point where he won't accompany you through a spider nest during a critically important mission. Have a companion with you in these areas and they will voice their concerns, and custom voiced follower mods are nine times out of ten are even more fearful (a notable exception being Inigo, who actually finds spiders very fun to fight and kill).
287** Mephala is a [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] whose sphere is "obscured to mortals", but who is associated with [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation, lies, sex, and secrets]]. She is referred to as "[[RedBaron the Webspinner]]" and is associated with spiders, often with ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire. Her [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]] servants are the Spider Daedra, which take the appearance of mutated, [[SpiderPeople humanoid]] {{Giant Spider}}s.
288* ''VideoGame/EternalSenia1'': Forest Spiders are an enemy that exists, and are {{Giant Spider}}s due to being about half of Senia's height, much bigger than normal.
289* Baels in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' are giant spider monsters, and most notable in one stage where you have to keep some defenseless {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs safe from being killed by one, either by clearing the map before it reaches them or by rescuing them.
290* ''VideoGame/FlightRising'' has a few spider food items, some of which have descriptions that reference this trope.
291-->'''Diving Aranea''': To some, true terror is a spider that can swim.\
292'''Harvestman''': You are more afraid of it than it is of you.\
293'''Black Iron Spider''': The only thing more terrifying than a spider is a squish-proof armored spider.\
294'''Grey River Jumper''': [[NoJustNoReaction Nope.]]
295* ''VideoGame/FreshMintyAdventure'': One-eyed, fire spitting spiders are an enemy.
296* In ''VideoGame/GemSmashers'', a spider serves as the boss of [[TheLostWoods Goug Tree]].
297* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'' game ''Infiltrating the Airship''. Henry tries to scare a Toppat Clan member with a spider on a stick, but he isn't afraid of spiders, so just gives it a friendly greeting. Henry knocks him out with the stick instead.
298* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Deepnest, a giant nest of spiders and centipedes, is portrayed as the horror area of the game.
299* In the ''[[VideoGame/HomeAloneSega Home Alone]]'' LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, in the Mansion, Buzz's pet spider crawls along the ceiling, occasionally knocking down either Kevin, Harry, or Marv if they get near him.
300* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' has a section in the Tomb of Mar where Daxter, after having escaped from being crushed by a boulder, encounters a GiantSpider and must run from it.
301* In ''VideoGame/KittyPowersMatchmaker'', Methodical candidates are afraid of spiders, and their date must squish them before they reach them. {{Inverted|Trope}} with Carefree candidates, though, where they'll hate it if their date does so.
302* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': In both ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'' and ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', there is the enemy Mariel who looks like a black ball from far away but get too close and eight long legs sprout out of it. What makes it even more creepy is the fact that it's the only enemy in the entire series that hurts Kirby if he swallows it.
303* The spiders in ''VideoGame/{{Kolibri}}'' are some of the less threatening enemies since they're stuck in one spot, but they still act as hazards in a few stages.
304* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'': The main species of recurring spiders are the "Long Legs" type of enemy, which are gigantic boss fights relative to the player characters who stomp Pikmin with their four legs. Other spider-like enemies are usually hostile, with the four smaller "elemental" Dweevils being the exceptions, only attacking in self-defense.
305* Spider monsters are a staple of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games. When people were used to the tarantula and huntsman style GiantSpider they were given several redesigns to be made scarier, and included even when they weren't needed (''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' had realistic, normal but still huge ones in the background, and the Lost in Nightmares DLC had some bigger than Jill's ass.)
306* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': Spiders that fire pellets at Shantae are a common enemy:
307** ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge''
308** ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': Spiders that hang from the ceiling and shoot {{Energy Ball}}s at Shantae are a common enemy.
309* In ''VideoGame/SimAnt'', the spider is especially scary from your ant's point of view and is one of the biggest threats to your existence.
310* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
311** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' has Grabber, a robotic spider that inhabits [[EternalEngine Chemical Plant Zone]]. Grabber grabs the player in his legs and explodes if they don't escape him in time.
312** ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' has Kumo-Kumo, a robotic spider that inhabits [[CrystalLandscape Quartz Quadrant Zone]]. Kumo-Kumo fires sticky webs at the player, slowing them down for a few seconds.
313** ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland Sonic 3D Blast]]'' has Spider, a robotic spider who inhabits [[AmusementPark Spring Stadium Zone]]. He shuffles back and forth along a straight diagonal line and can only harm Sonic if the hedgehog walks straight into him.
314** The UsefulNotes/WiiU version of ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' has Tarantula, a robotic spider that inhabits [[TheLostWoods Silent Forest Zone]]. He hangs down from a web and cannot be destroyed by simple homing attacks at first; a flying kick is required to knock him off his web sting. Once knocked off his web, then he can be destroyed by a homing attack, but must be done so quickly before he gets back up and returns to his midair position.
315** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'': The second half of Red Mountain in Sonic's Story has near the end of the stage, Sonic zooming pass a hallway filled with giant spiders.
316* The Ilwrath from the ''VideoGame/StarControl'' are evil spider-like aliens who are famous for their fanatical devotion to their dark gods Dogar and Kazon.
317* There's a scripted event in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'' where you'll go in and find Margot and Jonas arguing over what to do with a spider that was in their house. Margot saw one and chased it with a broom trying to crush it and shoo it out, while Jonas believes that it would have left on its own so there was no need to harm it (and it could have been scooped up and taken out gently). You can agree with one or the other for a friendship boost with the one you agree with, but [[TakeAThirdOption trying to agree with both]] upsets them both with your non-answer and makes you appear wishy-washy.
318* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Spider enemies are first seen in Martel Temple.
319* Averted in ''VideoGame/TinkerQuarry'' with Skid, a plastic spider who is quite adorable and innocent.
320* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', this attitude drives Muffet's grudge against humans (and your character by extension). If you prove her wrong by buying one of her ridiculously overpriced items right before her fight, she won't even challenge you. Alternatively, eating one of the items from the spider bake sale in the Ruins during the battle itself will prompt her to spare you on the spot. Muffet herself is a major aversion of this trope, being a six-armed CuteMonsterGirl who isn't scary at all.
321* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Vectorman}} 2'' is the Spider Queen, an oversized black widow spider with [[BrainMonster an exposed brain]] in her thorax. In the same game, many smaller spiders appear as common enemies.
322[[/folder]]
323
324[[folder:Web Animation]]
325* In ''WebAnimation/{{Brackenwood}}'', Bitey ''really'' doesn't like spiders, although it seems to be as much disgust as outright fear. The scene where this appears pokes some fun at his excessive arachnophobia. The view shifts between the spider, which is just sitting in its web and not doing anything, and Bitey, who is approaching the spider with a stick like it's a volatile explosive. This goes on until a leaf lands on Bitey and he freaks out, hitting himself on the head with the stick by mistake before running away. The spider then gives an AsideGlance to the camera, as if saying "really?"
326* Inverted by WebAnimation/LucasTheSpider, who's instead quite cute given his large eyes, anthropomorphized movements, and sweet child's voice.
327[[/folder]]
328
329[[folder:Webcomics]]
330* In earlier installments of ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'', the characters are sometimes attacked by swarms of red spiders. They even attack Rob and Megan while they're in a hot air balloon, talking about how the timing is off for a romantic relationship.
331* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this is {{conversed}} by [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/teddgameopinions-011 talking]] about how the prevalence of arachnophobia is a reason videogames shouldn't have spiders in them unless there is a good reason for it.
332* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the one thing that Gil and Agatha hesitate to fight is a spider the size of one's face. Gil in all seriousness claims that handling a small ''army'' of Clanks is easier than handling one really big spider.
333* Allie, of ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf'', is here to let you know that [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/spiders-are-scary-its-okay-to-be-afraid.html Spiders are Scary.]] It's okay to be afraid of them.
334* ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'': Mentioned in one strip, in which Pixie finds a spider and compliments it on a pretty web. The spider first becomes confused and then [[TearsOfJoy tearful]] when she doesn't freak out about it.
335* Happens quite often in ''Webcomic/PrincessChroma''. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Spiders, who is actually a white rabbit nicknamed Spiders.
336* 'WebAnimation/TheOdd1sOut'': In the comic "Spider Comic", a person calls the police just by noticing a spider in his house. The police ends up comprehending.
337* ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'': Eastwood has a massive phobia of spiders, despite being an Inquisitor who faces down demonic horrors on a near-daily basis, and while he doesn't exactly do so fearlessly, he can do so without being reduced to a blubbering mess, which is exactly what he does when faced with a common house spider. This is a problem because The Patterner, one of the settings BigBad quartet of evil gods, has the spider as one of his symbols, and his demons and servants occasionally takes the form as gigantic, demonic spider creatures.
338[[/folder]]
339
340[[folder:Web Original]]
341* A common joke on the Internet involves someone [[KillItWithFire burning their house down]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill just to kill a single spider]].
342* Website/{{Cracked}}.com is known for their gross exaggeration of [[http://www.cracked.com/funny-1934-spiders/ the threats posed by spiders.]]
343-->1. Spiders are not technically insects, but actually skeletons made of congealed hate.\
3442. Men are slightly less terrified of spiders than women are, and are therefore easier prey.\
3453. Spiders have 8 legs. Every one can kill you. Simultaneously.
346* ''WebVideo/JackValeFilms'' has a prank involving using a fake spider to scare people with.
347* MemeticMutation:
348** The Internet meme [[http://www.quickmeme.com/Misunderstood-Spider/ Misunderstood Spider]] makes fun of this stereotype, by portraying an innocent, helpful, and friendly spider who is attacked by humans out of irrational fear.
349** The [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nope NOPE meme]] in regards to creepy crawlies.
350** Inverted, however, by a gif of a tumbleweed spider, which runs away by curling into a ball and rolling. The ''spider'' is the one going NOPE.
351* ''Website/TheOnion'': The otherwise [[TheStoic stoic]] narrator ''[[NotSoStoic loses it]]'' in the piece [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcR9af_akCw Spiders: Christ, Fucking Spiders -- Horrifying Planet]].
352* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': As revealed during the HalloweenEpisode, the evil wizards Nocturnus and Eclipsa's backstory states that the the monsters of the nightmare realm have managed to escape into the real world through their cursed magic, especially in the form of spiders.
353-->The once resplendent Golden Isles began to warp under the unchecked influence of the rampant nightmare magic. […] The worst transformation, however, was the spiders. Emerging from the very nightmares the wizards had sought to control, these grotesque creatures roamed freely, their silken webs covering buildings and ensnaring the unfortunate.
354* ''WebVideo/StampysLovelyWorld'': There is a dungeon under HitTheTarget's current fortress with a spider spawner. The residents of the fortress proceed to exploit this by using the spiders spawned from the place as guards.
355[[/folder]]
356
357[[folder:Web Videos]]
358* In ''20 Haunting Halloween Facts'' by [[WebVideo/MatthewSantoro Matt Santoro]], Matt says, "If you see a spider on Halloween, that's the spirit of a loved one watching over you. But reincarnated loved one or not, I still squash that son of a bitch. Those things are fucking nasty!"
359* ''WebVideo/FiveSecondFilms'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU4L8NyTm9c Inverted,]] every spider fears Creator/JulietteLewis.
360* On the ''WebVideo/OutsideXbox'' crew, Ellen is notoriously arachnophobic, a fact which is sometimes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5gcum9Pl4 exploited for entertainment value.]] Jane typically keeps more of a StiffUpperLip, but the spider from ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'' was a bridge too far for her.
361-->'''Jane:''' Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope ''[unclips her microphone and walks off camera]''
362* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': In the evil wizards Nocturnus and Eclipsa's backstory, the monsters of the nightmare realm have managed to escape into the real world through their cursed magic, especially in the form of spiders. The Golden Isle, warped by their magic, has also changed its form to look like a grotesque GiantSpider.
363-->The once resplendent Golden Isles began to warp under the unchecked influence of the rampant nightmare magic. […] The worst transformation, however, was the spiders. Emerging from the very nightmares the wizards had sought to control, these grotesque creatures roamed freely, their silken webs covering buildings and ensnaring the unfortunate.
364[[/folder]]
365
366[[folder:Western Animation]]
367* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' also featured a MonsterOfTheWeek GiantSpider called the Spinster who captures the Gummis for dinner. Fortunately, they escape in the end.
368* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' features two Predacons who [[TransformingMecha Transform into]] oversized spiders. Blackarachnia usually isn't particularly creepy, not to mention she eventually has a HeelFaceTurn, but Tarantulas tends to be creepy enough for three Predacons, so it balances out.
369* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'' reveals that [=McGee=] is really scared of spiders and he thinks that they are gross in the episode, "Arachnattack".
370* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': "[[Recap/CourageTheCowardlyDogS1E1ANightAtTheKatzMotelCajunGrannyStew A Night at the Katz Motel]]" features several scary spiders.
371** Six which are the pets of Katz.
372** One that is released from a box by Katz in an attempt to kill Courage.
373** One that tries to bite Muriel while she's in the bathtub.
374** A giant collection of spiders in jars located in a room that Courage enters.
375** And finally, one that Katz tries to kill Courage with, only for him to be bashed over the head by a tennis racquet from Muriel, dropping the spider in the process.
376* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': Penfold, the timid hamster sidekick, is scared of spiders. This is ramped up in "AIAAGGG! Spiders!" when Greenback's growth ray causes spiders to grow huge and entangle London in a network of spider webs. Even DM seems intimidated by the spider that infiltrated the pillar box.
377* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': Played straight and then subverted in "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E21Aduckyphobia Aduckyphobia]]" where the giant spider who gives Darkwing spider powers actually has [[ManChild the mind of a child]] and is being manipulated by the bad guy into doing his bidding.
378* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': Bloo uses a fake spider to scare Eduardo so that he'll freak out and scare people away.
379* ''Literature/{{Franklin}}'': Bear is badly afraid of spiders, as seen in "Franklin and the Thunderstorm." Franklin, who doesn't mind them, moves one out of the way for him.
380* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': "[[Recap/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandyS7E11 Wrath of the Spider Queen]]" has the titular duo facing off against giant killer spiders sent by the eponymous BigBad herself. There's also Jeff, who Billy is absolutely terrified of, but he's really a nice guy, and just wants his dad to love him.
381* "WesternAnimation/TheItsyBitsySpider": While the titular spider isn't scary, Adrienne, the teacher at the school Leslie [=McRoraty=] (Itsy's human friend) attends, practically soils herself whenever she sees him.
382* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kerwhizz}}'': In one episode, Twist is really scared of meeting Kaboodle's pet spider Cynthia, but being a boy he unconvincingly pretends not to be. Averted in the end when he actually meets Cynthia and discovers that she's cute and friendly.
383* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In "Itsy Bitsy Gopher", Bugs is trying to get an especially large African sand spider out of his house. Lola reacts by throwing a lamp at it and leaving (Daffy tags along because he doesn't want to go near it either), and even ''Taz'' flees as soon as he sees it.
384* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Various episodes reveal that [[DumbBlonde Leni Loud]], [[BumblingDad Lynn Loud Sr.]], and [[KindheartedSimpleton Bobby Santiago]] are all afraid of spiders.
385* ''WesternAnimation/MerrieMelodies'':
386** The spider in the 1944 short "Meatless Flyday" was a slap-happy chap who sought to catch and eat a housefly. Never once did it dawn on him to spin a web to catch him; he just goes through the cartoon antagonist HumiliationConga. At the end, it appears he would succeed until he finds out it's Meatless Tuesday.
387** Subverted in 1940's "A Gander At Mother Goose". In reciting "Little Miss Muffet", the scene goes all according to plan until Miss Muffet faces the spider... ''she'' scares ''it'' with her ghastly pallor.
388* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'': In "Goofy's Grandma", Goofy tries to stay at Mickey's place (disguised as his grandmother) because there's a big spider in his house. When Mickey goes to his house to kill it, he opens the door to find a gigantic, ''live-action'' spider behind it, prompting them both to stay at Donald's.
389* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'': Normon is a millennia-old warrior who acts as Max's bodyguard. He fights all manner of horrific creatures, but nothing ever scares him. That is, until he fights a spider. Specifically a giant spider the size of a school bus. In the final episodes, we find out precisely why he's afraid: [[spoiler:there's an ancient prophecy that says he will finally die by being eaten by a giant spider]].
390* ''WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg'': A few episodes show that Mike is afraid of spiders.
391* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In an episode, the pipes in Molly's bathroom leak causing her to resort to using the outhouse that houses many spiders, which Molly responds to with "But there's a million spiders in there." with a disgusted and hesitant expression.
392* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
393** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Luna Eclipsed]]": Princess Luna -- [[HeelFaceTurn formerly]] [[SealedEvilInACan Nightmare Moon]] -- in a rather misguided attempt to make the ponies of Ponyville no longer afraid of her, brings several large beanie baby-esque spider toys to life. This, as the resulting spiders are large, menacing balls of hair with glowing, slitted red eyes, doesn't really calm anyone down.
394** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E3CastleManeia Castle Mane-ia]]": While the star spiders found crawling all over the ruined castle don't do any harm to anyone, Spike finds them intimidating and is very unnerved at the thought of having to be close to them.
395** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E18MaudPie Maud Pie]]": Subverted with a spider who looks menacing... up until it pulls out a flower and offers it up as a gesture of friendship. Said spider does this to Fluttershy -- showing she is indeed A FriendToAllLivingThings.
396** The flyders. They're spiders with insect wings, meaning they can fly, and move in swarms. They can shoot webbing with enough accuracy to tangle a fleeing pony's legs and at one point completely cover a campsite with webbing in a matter of minutes. They're also highly aggressive and seem to consider ponies to be food. When a huge swarm attacks during a camping trip in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E16CampfireTales Campfire Tales]]", the characters are visibly -- and admittedly justifiably -- terrified of them.
397** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E22WhatLiesBeneath What Lies Beneath]]": Yona, an arachnophobe, finds the SpiderSwarm she encounters in the caves absolutely terrifying. Subverted by the episode itself, as the spiders turn out to be friendly and harmless creatures who help Yona find her friends.
398* ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'': This is what Buttercup fears in "[[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode Power-Noia.]]"
399* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': a "Bullwinkle's Corner" installment had the moose reciting "Little Miss Muffet" as well as playing the role of Muffet. Rocky fills in as the spider (who is indisposed) but Bullwinkle says he's not scary. So Rocky puts on a monster mask.
400* ''WesternAnimation/RosePetalPlace'': Nastina the spider is the villain and constantly attempts to destroy or take over the garden.
401* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In one episode, [=SpongeBob=] is sleeping over at Patrick's. Unfortunately for [=SpongeBob=], Patrick starts having a nightmare about spiders and uses his house to start smashing the ground where [=SpongeBob=] is sleeping. How does Patrick know about spiders? [[ParanoiaFuel Some spiders can breathe underwater.]]
402* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': Subverted by Anansi, who was a {{Franchise/Zorro}}-type superhero who emulates Anansi the spider from African folk tales.
403* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Fang shoots paralysis-inflicting venom beams. His design is a doozy. Picture a giant spider... with a human body dangling from it and sorta swaying in the wind as the spider body does... stuff. He basically has a spider five times his size ''for a head''.
404* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Optimus Prime apparently has a fear of spiders ever since the day both he and [[JerkAss Sentinel]] accidentally left [[PsychoExGirlfriend Blackarachnia]] behind on a spider-infested planet.
405* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' features Airachnid, a black widow-based Decepticon huntress who rules the Insecticons and delights in adding new species to the Endangered list, humans included. [[spoiler: She was also responsible for the death of Arcee's first partner, as well as [[TheWorfEffect Breakdown]] and [[MercyKill Silas]].]] As if that weren't creepy enough she [[spoiler: gets transformed into a Vampire-Terrorcon hybrid mid-series and is last seen feeding on her own subjects]].
406* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' parodied ''Film/DrNo'' when henchmen of The Monarch and Baron Underbeit both deposit a tarantula and a scorpion into Dr. Venture's bedroom, unseen by each other. When the two creatures meet on Dr. V's bed, they square off against each other, as he screams in terror.
407* ''WesternAnimation/{{Visionaries}}'' has Cravex's Spider of Fear which, when summoned, bites its victim and causes him or her to suffer terrifying hallucinations.
408[[/folder]]
409
410[[folder:Real Life]]
411* Arachnophobia: the irrational fear of spiders[[note]]Okay well, maybe not necessarily irrational, but as stated above, a spiders' attributes are often exaggerated in media[[/note]]. It's actually one of the most common phobias out there, which might justify this trope's existence. Could be that this fear exists is due to a healthy fear of poisonous and venomous animals for most of our existence since mankind had little to no way of treating venom/poison. This also helps explain our natural fear of snakes and other "creepy crawlies".
412* A common counterargument that you can use towards people who kill harmless spiders for no other reason [[DisproportionateRetribution than them being there]] -- besides it being needless animal cruelty, damaging to the environment, and encouraging pests to get inside your home -- is that by immediately killing spiders they see, [[GoneHorriblyRight the killers are now the selection pressure that will encourage spiders to get better at hiding and become more stealthy over time]]. If they think spiders are scary now, just wait until one even better at hiding in the shadows comes around!
413* In 2015, Australian police [[https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/26/asia/spider-mistake-domestic-violence-australia/ were called]] after a neighbor heard screaming, death threats and the sounds of furniture being thrown around in the flat next door. It turned out to be a man trying to kill a spider.
414* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneutria Brazilian wandering spider]]. It can grow to be as much as seven inches wide, its bite is reportedly more toxic than the black widow spider, and it tends to hide in dark places like [[ParanoiaFuel houses and shoes]]. As icing on the cake, its scientific name, ''Phoneutria'', is Greek for '''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast murderess]]'''.
415[[/folder]]

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