.webp){kind=logo}
What’s the most common phobia in America? Acrophobia – the fear of heights? Claustrophobia – the fear of enclosed spaces? Or perhaps Coulrophobia – the fear of clowns (astoundingly common, affecting 12 percent of Americans)? Based on statistics, the most common specific phobia in the United States appears to be arachnophobia: the fear of spiders. In western society, as much as 55 percent of women and 18 percent of men admit to a fear of spiders. The phenomena is so common, Hollywood even made a movie named after it: 1990’s Arachnophobia.
The truth is, many spiders are pretty harmless. In fact, some of them are actually kind of useful. Having spiders in the home can help keep other insects out, and if their web is located in some out of the way corner, they really aren’t much of a hindrance or cause for concern.
However, this is not the case for all spiders. There are some dangerous, poisonous spiders you absolutely don’t want sharing your home with you. Here are some crazy, creepy, unnerving facts about common household spiders:
- Spiders can be dirty thieves – some spiders will sneak over to another spider’s web, steal their food, and then kill the spider! Talk about rude houseguests.
- They have giant brains – Apparently it takes some smarts to make webs, because spiders have very large brains. In fact, some spiders have brains that spill over into their legs because they’re so big. Ew.
- All spiders molt – They essentially shed their entire skin on a regular basis. Like a snake.
- Deaths from spider bites are very uncommon – It’s hard to find statistics on deaths caused by spiders, but the Daily Mail reports that between 2001-05, only TWO people died from spider bites in the United States.
- You’re probably more likely to win the lottery – To put the number of spider deaths in perspective, on an annual basis, more people die from malaria, whooping cough, bee stings, electric shock and serial killers. And according to WebMD, no one has died from a black widow bite in more than a decade.
- Their webs are incredibly strong – You may have heard this common spider factoid before, but based on respective weight, spider silk is stronger than steel.
