Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Featured Fear: Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)

“For the rest of her life Arachne was to hang from a thread and to be a great weaver and the descendents of Arachne still weave their magic webs all over the earth today. ”   - The Story of Arachne

So goes a classic myth of (arguably) the most disturbing creatures in the world, equally beautiful and deadly. Though, not always. Much like snakes, there are plenty of breeds of harmless spiders. Still, I'm hard-pressed to remember a time I saw a spider in a public setting and the next nearest person didn't break into a shrieking fit before sentencing poor little thing to a squishy death.

As a small child, I dug through my recently deceased great grandfather's things, and in the very back of his closet I found a strange leather container with a black strap. I pulled it out and looked inside, but it was too dark to see what the recesses of the case held. I reached inside and recoiled in pain. A little black spider crawled out over my arm and skittered down to the ground before disappearing back into the closet. But you know what? I still wasn't afraid of spiders. Then again, the bite didn't turn out to be poisonous.

Perhaps it's the way they walk with their many legs, disturbingly fast and far in such short spaces of time. Perhaps it's the invisible silks they weave from over-hanging branches which catch in the hair of innocent passersby. Or even the tendency of the humble spider to select locations that are already pretty creepy...dark places. Disused places...porch swings...They make for sufficiently creepy nightmare bait.

Desensitization seems to be the only real cure for this phobia, which I find a little difficult. How often do people take trips to spider-filled caves and basements? Luckily I found a music video that might help those of you with arachnophobia issues...


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