Via Huffington Post:
TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container.
The spider was given to University of Tulsa Animal Facilities director Terry Childs who said this type of spider kills more people than any other.
Childs said a bite will kill a person in about 25 minutes and while there is an antidote he doesn’t know of any in the Tulsa area.
Spiders often are found in imported produce, and a manager at Whole Foods says the store regularly checks its goods and that’s how the spider was found.
Now, I’m not afraid of spiders, but I am interested in the phobia itself. I watch the movie Arachnophobia quite often. Of course it’s very serious to have such predators brought into the country. This particular spider is a nasty customer (see this YouTube piece, but beware: not for the faint of heart). In addition to hanging out in bananas in Tulsa, it has been found in England, Holland and Denmark. So who’s to say how many more have made it in undetected? Cue the creepy music.
I’m not afraid of spiders, but I’m no fool, either. If I ever see a spider in the bananas, I will squash it with the nearest deadly vegetable. I think a watermelon would do the trick. Even a musk melon. Or maybe I’d just run. That sounds like a plan, actually.
Cue the scene from Annie Hall where Diane Keaton calls Woody in the middle of the night because there’s a spider in her bathroom. He comes over, grumbling, goes into the bathroom, and then comes out with his hair standing on end. He says something like, you got a spider the size of a ’57 Buick in there.
I think there might be some kind of book in all of this. Modern Lore of the Spider. Or maybe a murder mystery. A produce manager’s revenge.
Oh my GOD! I hate spiders! HATE THEM! I will beat them with whatever is handy if and when I see their creepy little legs! But, I’m a single mother, so, when there is a spider present, I must man-up…or woman-up and pretend not to be jumping out of my skin inside. My son has a serious bug phobia, he’s two and won’t even go near lady bugs or worms for that matter so I’m trying to teach him about good bugs…spiders-not good bugs!
Please, please, please don’t write a book about spiders, because I won’t be able to read it!!
Fodder for a mockumentary, in my opinion. Or a Ripley’s Believe it or Not episode: produce manager payback?
ACK! I’m terrified of spiders!!! I simply cannot follow that link. I don’t know what it looks like, but the more hairy, the higher my stress levels go. UGH!
Yikes. That will put you off bananas. I’m not afraid of spiders but prefer not to share my residence with them. We practice catch and release in our house and try to deposit them outside. Not like I’m some huge spider-pacifist, but they didn’t come into my house to inflict deadly harm on me, so I will try not to do that to them. Too much Charlotte’s Web in childhood for me to kill them. Plus aren’t spiders supposed to be good luck? You can tell I’m a gardener at heart.
I can see some kind of book following the spider, all the close calls for people along the way until some unsuspecting shmuck gets it (and maybe deserves it?)… I just read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks so I’ve kind of got that following a journey theme on my mind.
I am completely spider-phobic, so didn’t take the you-tube link opportunity, thanks anyway! I was born and grew up in Scotland, where spiders, – indeed, all bugs – are quite innocuous, and emmigrated to Australia, where the spiders are often very big, scary and dangerous! And some of them jump! What was I thinking?
Whenever something is brought out of my garden shed someone has to “de-spiderise” it before I will go near it.
However, what a great idea for a book, or even a great scene, there are so many ways to use this to tell or enhance a wonderful story.