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Arachnids of Unusual Size · Journey to the Fringe

0:22
Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, most
0:29
thoroughly enjoyed in a north -facing manner.
0:33
We are your podcast hosts, Taylor and Chelsea,
0:35
here today in the spookiest of seasons of October.
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The best season. Talking about something that
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is very, you know what? I think this Halloween
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we're hitting on classics that we should have
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talked about way before, but here we are talking
0:49
about them now and you guys will be happy because
0:51
you're going to learn more about these things.
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We have a theme. Coincidental theme a little
0:55
bit. Yes I'm very worried about what you're about
0:58
to be talking about by the way Just given the
1:02
slips and the warning that I got I think I need
1:05
to start this off with a very simple There are
1:07
some animals who might not consider them animals
1:10
But I consider everything living an animal that
1:12
are more associated with Halloween than others
1:15
Yeah, and there is one of these animals that
1:19
has an inherent fear built into all humans spiders
1:23
The mere sight of it, for most of us, puts us
1:25
into a panic. Fish. And that animal is the spider.
1:29
It's not bats? It's not bats, surprisingly, from
1:32
what the name of the script is. I'm not sure
1:35
why you named it that, but that's for another
1:37
episode. I knew it. I said it first. Spiders
1:40
are. They've been a thing that have been worrying
1:42
us since the dawn of humanity. They are something
1:46
that can take us down that is barely even noticeable
1:49
sometimes to the seeing eye. Some of them are
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downright terrifying. The world's largest spider
1:55
is the Goliath Birdeater. It has a 12 inch diameter,
1:59
which is about 20 % bigger than a soccer ball.
2:04
No! Where is this from? Australia. Actually,
2:07
neither of the two biggest spiders come from
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Australia. The biggest one is in South America.
2:12
The second biggest, the Giant Huntsman Spider,
2:15
is in Laos. Goliath what? Goliath Birdeater.
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No, I don't even know that I want a teenager
2:22
on this. No! Oh no, he's a thick boy. Oh, I gotta
2:27
get it out of here. And yes, Chelsea, these spiders,
2:30
arachnids, are terrifying enough in themselves.
2:33
But what if I told you there were sightings of
2:36
spiders out there that are even more terrifying
2:38
than the things on record? Is it because they're
2:41
not supposed to be there? They're ghost spiders?
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Weirdly enough, I did not pick the one that would
2:47
have been a ghost spider. I'm confused. What
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if I told you we are talking about things bigger
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and different than you would expect a spider
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to be? That makes me real nervous. You don't
2:58
even know how nervous. I've caught a very very
3:00
big spider in my house before and so this is
3:04
making me even more nervous that we could be
3:06
talking about my house. Chelsea we're talking
3:09
at least dog size in all of these stories. Where
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is it so I can never go there? Is it South America
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again? Oh it is everywhere Chelsea. It is everywhere.
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It's not my house, is it? Like that last fucker.
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Yes, I have actually several stories from your
3:24
specific house. I gotta move. You shouldn't exaggerate
3:28
the size of the spiders you kill. I'm just saying.
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No! This can't... Okay, tell me the specifics.
3:34
I need to know where and when and how to avoid
3:36
this. I assume you've included in your episode
3:38
how to avoid this. I am just talking about the
3:41
spiders that are too scary to ignore. from lore
3:45
of old, mostly coming from Lon Strickler, but
3:47
a few other places too. Nice, Lon. I hate that.
3:51
Today, set yourselves in for stories of the spiders
3:55
you just do not want to encounter. This is going
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to be hard on me mentally. We're going to start
4:00
off with a story entitled Spider Monster in Paris
4:03
Catacombs, 1894. Paris can't go there, eh? I
4:08
always wanted to go there, but... I don't know
4:09
if they're above the catacombs, and this one
4:11
is actually real interesting. This comes from
4:15
the Piqua Daily Call on August 18th, 1894. Found
4:19
by Lon Strickler, but it's a news article. For
4:21
many years it has been undeniably stated that
4:24
in the 14th arrondissement of Paris called the
4:27
Catacombs of Isoir, several persons living in
4:30
that quarter had mysteriously and periodically
4:32
disappeared. The most careful research, the most
4:35
minute inquiries, the most skillful agents of
4:37
the police had failed to discover the least trace
4:41
of them. Every year, successively, some inhabitants
4:44
of this quarter would suddenly disappear, leaving
4:46
their friends overwhelmed with grief and anxiety.
4:49
It is also stated that these strange, inexplicable
4:51
facts always occurred in the early spring, from
4:54
the 20th to the last of March and without regard
4:57
to age or sex. First, a notary disappeared. It
5:00
was thought he had used his client's funds and
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fled to parts unknown. Then an old woman returning
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late one night from market was the next victim.
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Then a laborer going home from work. The last
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victim had been a young girl, a flower maker,
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out late delivering her goods. From that time
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she had completely disappeared as if the earth
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had opened and swallowed her up. Strange to say,
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no children had been among the victims. The peculiar
5:23
fact was accounted for in this way. These mysterious
5:25
disappearances always occurred late at night
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when the children were at home asleep. As the
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time was drawing near for one of these periodical
5:32
mysteries, the chief of police came very anxious.
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It instituted a strict surveillance confiding
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the matter to a number of the most skillful of
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his assistants, hoping the combined efforts of
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so many zealous agents would surely be crowned
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with success. You will now see the result. One
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night, this fact could be verified by applying
5:51
to the prefecture office. A policeman at about
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3 a .m. heard a distant musical song that seemed
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to come from the bowels of the earth. He listened
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and fancied. The sounds came from an opening
6:01
in the center of the street at the foot of an
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enormous rock called the Tomb of Iswar or the
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Giant's Cave. It may be interesting to note that
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this rock derived its name from a legend that
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a great giant had been buried there many years
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before the Christian era and that it had been
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placed there to mark the tomb. Surprised at this
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strange discovery for the opening had never been
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noticed before, the policeman waited. Listening
6:25
to this peculiar song when he suddenly saw a
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young man approaching, he knew from his costume
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that he was a countryman lately arrived in the
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city. This young man also seemed to hear the
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subterranean sound. first walking slowly with
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a peculiar wavering step, as if in cadence with
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his musical chant. Then, faster and faster as
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he drew near the fatal rock, until he ran with
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such velocity that despite the warning cries
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of the policeman, He was swallowed up in this
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mysterious opening. Without taking a moment to
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consider, the policeman recklessly followed,
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first firing his revolver and giving one or two
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vigorous blasts on his whistle. At this signal,
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several of his comrades quickly arrived. The
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musical chanting had ceased, but they could hear
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in the dark cavernous depths the muffled sounds
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of a desperate struggle. By the aid of ropes
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and ladders, they succeeded in entering this
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mysterious chasm. The light of their lamps revealed
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a sickening sight. Countrymen was lying in the
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grass of an unknown monster whose horrible aspect
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throws the agents of police with terror. It was
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as large as a full -grown terrier. Covered in
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wart -like protuberances and bristling with coarse
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brownish hair, eight jointed legs, terminated
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by formidable claws, were buried in the body
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of an unfortunate victim. The face had already
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disappeared, nothing could be seen but the top
7:40
of the head, and the monster was now engaged
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in tearing and sucking the blood from his throat.
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As soon as they recovered from their horror and
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surprise, a dozen balls struck the body of the
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sanguinary beast. He rose on his legs, a greenish
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liquid flowing from his wounds and, with a frightful
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cry, expired. The first policeman who had given
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the alarm was lying unconscious in one corner
8:02
of the cavern where he had fallen a distance
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of 30 feet. It was with great difficulty that
8:07
they succeeded in removing the two bodies and
8:09
the unknown monster from the cavern. Poor countrymen
8:12
was dead, but the policeman was soon restored
8:15
to life. The agents immediately sent the commissioner
8:18
of police who summoned a naturalist in great
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haste. The first established the victim's identity.
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The second declared that the creature lying before
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him was a gigantic spider. The species have been
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considered extinct for centuries, ever since
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the days before the deluge. It was called Arachna
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Gigans and was said to have the power of enticing
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its victims with a peculiar musical song. None
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had seen or heard of it for ages, but it is now
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believed some of these sanguinary beasts still
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exist in the deepest galleries of the catacombs.
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The dead body of the spider was conveyed to the
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Museum of Natural History where it was carefully
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prepared and stuffed and is now on exhibition.
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And this is a note from Lon on this. This account
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reads like an egg around po allegory. Is it fact
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or fiction? The monster was carefully prepared
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and stuffed and is now on exhibition. Well, I'm
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not sure of that. If so, does anyone have an
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image of the exhibit? It's kind of weird. It's
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like is it like a portal kind of time warp kind
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of ghost spider type thing? It would have to
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be. Obviously, it's like a paranormal thing.
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Is it or is it just not taking enough victims
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to actually like be noticeable? You think it
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might be a real thing? I always jump to ghost
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something obviously is the way that my thought
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goes but perhaps you're right. You know, it's
9:30
a real shame. I really wanted to visit the catacombs
9:33
if I ever went to Paris. No, giant spiders are
9:36
gonna be in there. Yeah, no, this is enough to...
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deter me, I think. Not the dead bodies, the,
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you know, under groundedness or confinement of
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it. Well, this does explain all the dead bodies
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down there. It's probably been down there for
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centuries, obviously. Alright Chelsea, this next
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story comes from the World News in 1928, October
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24th, article titled The Maneating Spider. When
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Madame Marion first described the loathsome spider
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monster, the scientific world ridiculed it. Captain
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Steadman, however, subsequently secured a living
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specimen. This spider, he wrote, is so hideous
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that the very sight of it is so sufficient to
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occasion a tremor of abhorrence, even in persons
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most accustomed to inspect the deformities of
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nature. The spider monster are sometimes of gigantic
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size and great muscular power. The body is dark
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green or black in color and clothed in short
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hairs, mingled with bristles. The lower surfaces
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of the feet are covered with a thick pad of silky
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hair, furnished with adhesive power so that they
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are able to climb vertical sheets of glass. Guiana,
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the abode of the spider monsters, an extensive
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region of the northeast part of South America.
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It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and is north
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of Brazil. Mysterious disappearances take place
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which are attributed to unknown monsters which
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dwell in the hidden solitudes of the impenetrable
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forests. While spending the winter in the West
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Indies, some years ago, I first came in contact
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with Miguel Avecuilera and heard many reports
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of this fatal attack upon man. The worst of them
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referred to a monster which dwelt in a cavern
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half hidden by moss, shrubbed near Primusas and
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unstruck Dutch Guiana. Some of the oldest inhabitants
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remember the strange disappearance of a young
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girl named Luisa Muller, who lived with her grandmother
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in a cottage near the cavern. She had gone out
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one morning to gather herbs and was never seen
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or heard of again, but her apron had been found
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a few days later near the mouth of the cavern.
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The superstitious Mountaineers believe the devil
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inhabited this dark, gloomy place and terror
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spread throughout the district. One evening,
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Tee with a friend stood within a hundred paces
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of the stranded cavern of Spindron. The shrubs
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around the entrance were remarkably green. The
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water as it flowed from the cavern passed over
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the top of the rock, which was slightly hollowed
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and there formed a small lake from which it again
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burst forth and descended into the valley below.
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T decided to bathe while his friends gathered
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wild strawberries in the neighboring forest of
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Rothalps. An hour afterwards, the sun was going
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down and the shadows were lengthening. He climbed
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onto the rocks above the cavern and looked around
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all sides. There was nobody to be seen. He called.
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There was no answer. Only the sound of his voice
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was repeated by the echoes, which filled him
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with horror. Night was coming. Suddenly, he remembered
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the disappearance of Louisa Muller and hurried
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down to the front of the cavern. There he stopped
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in a fright and glancing toward the entrance
12:26
saw two red motionless points. Then some dark
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objects moved farther back. Farther perhaps than
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human eyes had ever penetrated and terrified
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beyond control, the man bounded over rooks and
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shrubs to a place of safety. T had entered the
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water and commenced to bathe. The spider monster
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saw his bare back from his loathsome den. He
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had been fasting for some time and was hungry.
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Then the white arm on the water attracted him.
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All of a sudden it rushed out and put its filthy
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claws around the man's neck and it stung him
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and went back. Soon the poor sufferer fell into
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the water and died. Then the spider returned,
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spun its web, round him and swam slowly, gently
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back to the extremity of the cavern, drawing
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tea after it by the thread attached to its own
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body. This was assumed by those who knew to be
13:12
the terrible story of tea's fate. That night,
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the frenzied Haventons approached the cavern,
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armed with axes and two immense carts laden with
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wood, which they piled before the opening of
13:22
the cavern and placed stakes against them to
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prevent their being carried away by the water.
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Then with lighted torches, the whole pile was
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fired. Thick volumes of smoke proceeded from
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the cavern and in about a quarter of an hour
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a black object with long crooked claws suddenly
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appeared in the shadows and then threw itself
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forward at the opening. One of the men, fearing
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that it would leap over the fire, threw his hatchet
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aimed at the creature so well that for an instant
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the blood which flowed from its wound half quenched
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the fire. But soon the flame revived and the
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horrible insect was consumed. Driven by heat,
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the spider had taken refuge in its den and then
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suffocated from the smoke. It had returned to
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the charge and rushed into the middle of the
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flames. The body of the horrible creature was
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as large as a man's, most repulsive in appearance.
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Probably other such loathsome monsters dwell
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in the untrodden, darksome waters of the Amazon,
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but this may have been the last of the giant
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species. End of story there. That's fucked up.
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You gotta love the old stories. A lot of them
14:21
are so fake, it's hilarious. I don't even want
14:24
to pretend like that could be something that's
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a real possibility. Especially in South America,
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where I think anything could happen based on
14:32
what I've heard. Especially the Amazon. Yep.
14:35
It's a magical place in the western high. I would
14:37
say that it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility,
14:39
being a real creature, not just a spider ghost.
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Alright, this one comes directly from somebody
14:46
who was talking to Lon. We don't know what we
14:56
saw. In the summer of 2014 we were in the Dominican
14:58
Republic staying in a locally owned hotel. It
15:01
was a nice hotel but nothing lux and a very open
15:04
air sort of spot. We had gone out for dinner
15:06
and enjoyed a bottle of wine but weren't drunk
15:08
or anything. I'm reading in bed and my husband
15:10
comes out of the bathroom completely white faced
15:12
in shock. There's a spider in the bathroom. I
15:15
look at him and laugh. Spiders in the Dominican
15:18
Republic are big, but nothing to freak over.
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He looked like he had seen Satan himself by his
15:23
expression, so I go to the bathroom. All I see
15:25
is four thick, hairy orange and black legs coming
15:29
out of the sink basin. They were at least 10
15:32
inches long and at least as thick as pencils.
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Very hairy from about five feet away, I could
15:38
see the separate orange and black hairs. I'm
15:40
short so I could see the whole thing over the
15:42
sink from the distance I was at. There was a
15:44
towel blocking direct view plus the sink basin.
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But just by the legs I saw, I knew I was looking
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at almost a two foot long spider. I calmly walked
15:54
back to my husband. Did you see it? Did you see
15:56
it? I nod, and we leave the room and go get help
15:59
from the desk. Our broken Spanish had the staffers
16:02
in hysterical laughter, not to mention that they
16:04
took as overreacting to Tuera's scared of a little
16:06
spider. One staffer, Jose, came to look and it
16:09
was gone. Jose tells us he has at least three
16:12
in his home, which is when I realized these people
16:14
either don't believe me or don't understand what
16:16
I'm saying. I've lived in tropical climates before.
16:19
There's no way in hell you'd share a home with
16:21
the spider we saw. A day later we had a normal
16:23
spider infestation. I go to the desk and ask
16:25
for bug spray. The staffers are still having
16:27
a laugh at our expense, but the same guy Jose
16:29
comes up with me with the spray. We're cleaning
16:32
up the spiders, which are about five inches or
16:34
so, daddy long -legged types. He is surprised
16:36
that I'm suddenly not scared by these spiders.
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He asks why I inform him that these spiders aren't
16:42
what we saw the other night and I use my hands
16:44
to show him the size of what we saw. His mouth
16:47
dropped. I've never heard of anything like that
16:49
in my entire life in the Dominican Republic,
16:51
but who knows what comes out of the jungle. It
16:54
wasn't until a little while later that my husband
16:57
while discussing Harry, our pet name for the
16:59
spider, realized that I had only seen half of
17:02
it. My estimate of a 10 inch leg plus 10 inch
17:05
leg for a total of 20 inches two feet was severely
17:09
off. He saw the whole body and the body minus
17:12
legs was as wide as his entire hand, a grown
17:15
man's hand, so it's likely it was way bigger
17:18
than two feet in diameter. He also said that
17:21
there were multiple big black eyes. I have since
17:23
gone on numerous arachnid websites and have even
17:26
contacted arachnologists to try and identify
17:29
what we saw. Most came back suggesting a Mexican
17:32
spider, I forget the name of it now. That might
17:34
have somehow gotten to the Dominican Republic
17:37
in someone's luggage, but that spider is not
17:39
what we saw. What we saw was basically a spidersaurus
17:43
rex. End of story. That's terrifying. I can't
17:49
imagine not leaving that hotel room forever and
17:53
the Dominican Republic and never looking back.
17:55
You would not stay at that same hotel. No. That
17:57
spider would eat you when you're asleep. Or island.
18:00
You'd want off the island at that point. Yeah.
18:02
Next story comes from Lon again on January 1st
18:05
of 2025. Hi. When I was 13 years old, my friend
18:08
and I were out adventuring near a big factory
18:11
in our city of Des Moines, Iowa. That was surrounded
18:13
by tons and tons of trees that weren't cared
18:15
for. My friend wanted to go to the tree grounds
18:17
to look for lizards and cicadas, and I followed
18:20
him around. We shuffled through the trees and
18:22
bushes and after a while he said he noticed something
18:24
inside a gap in a tree. So I picked up a stick
18:27
to poke at the gap I was on the other side of
18:30
the tree all of a sudden I just heard him yell
18:31
super huge spider I Turned around to face the
18:37
tree and along came this massive quick as hell
18:40
greenish brown spider the size and Morphology
18:42
just like a face hugger from the alien movies
18:45
that crawled in a spiral downwards the tree Having
18:49
never witnessed anything like that in my whole
18:51
life I yelped at the sight of it and took off
18:53
running as fast as I could my friends right behind
18:56
me. After a few seconds, he said, wait, let's
18:59
go back to get a good look at it. But there's
19:02
no way in hell I'd want to go anywhere near that
19:05
thing. However, after much convincing, I'd agreed
19:07
to go back, but only if we stayed away at a good
19:10
distance. So we found our way back to that tree
19:12
and that cursed thing is still hanging out there,
19:15
unmoving, not even small movements. We tried
19:17
to get the best look at it as we could while
19:19
trying to stay at a safe distance. I remember
19:22
that it had long legs, just like the face hugger,
19:24
just minus the tail. One strange thing about
19:27
it was that it had a whitish and pinkish looking
19:30
disc of flesh under its body that was wider than
19:33
the body itself. My friend got a longer stick
19:36
to poke at the thing and made it move a bit.
19:39
Before it moved around to the other side of the
19:42
tree where we couldn't see it anymore. We would
19:44
have gotten closer to the tree to get to the
19:46
other side of it and frankly at that point we
19:48
were both too freaked out to do that so we just
19:51
booked it out there. Later on we told our friends
19:53
about it and no one believed us. end of story.
19:59
I'm a little sad those guys didn't give us an
20:01
actual description of the size, that could have
20:03
just been a normal spider. Who puts together
20:05
these stories of giant spiders? Lawn does, and
20:09
then I did. Not all of them are lawns too, I
20:13
found a few extra. Next one was sent to Lawn
20:17
on April 8th of 2025. Hi Lawn, this occurred
20:20
in July 1975 in Windsor, Ontario, in Canada.
20:24
just in case anybody needed that. It was early
20:27
afternoon. I know that something very strange
20:30
happened and I have a feeling that my brother,
20:32
myself and our two friends were abducted back
20:34
when I was the age of 12. I know that something
20:37
happened on that day. We were sitting in the
20:39
backyard of one of the friends houses at a picnic
20:42
table. Behind their house is a small field with
20:44
a path that runs behind the house all the way
20:46
down to the street and into the park at the end.
20:48
After the field was a four -foot wire fence separating
20:51
the houses from the Braille Way property. After
20:53
the fence is a small hill built as a noise buffer
20:56
from the train tracks. We were just talking and
20:58
messing around when along the path in the backyard
21:01
came a kid about our age. To this day I can swear
21:04
that I knew who this person was and we all knew
21:07
him at the time of the story but I can't remember
21:09
his name or who he was. He came up to us asked
21:11
us if we wanted to see a giant spider. Being
21:14
kids of course we all did. So we followed this
21:17
kid down the path almost all the way to the park.
21:19
About 2 -3 houses before the park he stopped
21:21
in the path and pointed the 4 foot wire fence.
21:24
There on the fence was a giant spider. At least
21:26
I remember it being a spider. And when I say
21:28
a giant spider I mean this thing was almost the
21:31
size of the whole fence. So it had to be at least
21:33
three feet tall. Now you may think I'm crazy
21:36
or making this up but I remember the spider clear
21:38
as day and I'll remember it till the day I die.
21:41
It was colored tan and black. The legs of this
21:44
thing were very long probably about 20 to 24
21:46
inches long each and they were skinny. Now you
21:50
can say someone was probably playing a joke,
21:52
but the year was 1975 so I doubt you could find
21:55
anything this realistic to play a joke. I remember
21:57
it moving, very slowly. That's about all I remember
22:00
about the incident. I don't remember going home
22:02
that day. I don't remember ever seeing that kid
22:04
again. ever but that's not all. I don't think
22:07
any of us talked about this incident to each
22:09
other or to anyone else but when we did start
22:12
telling people about this my brother's friend
22:14
and I always remember the spider being three
22:16
feet tall but my brother and my friends always
22:19
remember the spider being four or five inches
22:21
tall. Big spider, but not a giant spider. I think
22:24
this agreement is what caused us to stop talking
22:26
about this incident altogether. Now years later,
22:30
I started remembering this incident again and
22:31
I asked my brother about it, but he doesn't remember
22:33
anything about it. Not the kid or even seeing
22:36
a small spider. But something else must have
22:39
happened because I occasionally get flashbacks
22:41
of the four of us being taken to another location.
22:44
This happens when I'm daydreaming or relaxing
22:46
and the events suddenly appear to me. I truly
22:48
feel that it has affected our lives to some degree.
22:51
Our two friends both suddenly left our neighborhood
22:54
a few months later and we have never been able
22:56
to contact them. My brother and I each suffered
22:59
strange autoimmune illnesses and allergies since
23:02
that day. I heard your show on phantoms and monsters
23:04
a month or so ago in the discussion about abductees
23:07
having flashbacks. I thought I'd contact you.
23:10
End of story. Do you think they're suggesting
23:11
that it was like a screen memory like owls like
23:15
we talked about in a recent episode? Potentially,
23:18
but yeah, he doesn't quite seem to know what
23:19
he's thinking it is. Yeah, it seems to me that
23:23
that's implied that it kind of had to do with
23:26
something more which would imply to me that it
23:28
was a screen memory or such. Interesting. I don't
23:32
like that really at all. Pretty unsettling. I
23:35
knew spiders were up to something is what I'm
23:38
trying to say. Chelsea, I have one more story
23:40
for you and this one I found it really interesting
23:43
because a blogger got this story from an army
23:46
person and I just found it really interesting.
23:49
So we're gonna have to hear this story. Below
23:51
is my detailed account from 2005. I will send
23:54
more information on the 2007 sightings later.
23:57
Recalling this matter was difficult and stressful,
24:00
but I need to get it off my chest as the events
24:02
have haunted me for over a decade. I reach out
24:05
to you in hopes that this helps you research
24:07
and maybe someday lead to enlightening the world
24:10
to the existence of these creatures. In the meantime,
24:12
I prefer to remain anonymous but give you full
24:15
rights to use my story. In 2005, I was a U .S.
24:17
Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky
24:20
with the D Company, 1st Battalion 101 Aviation.
24:24
Sometime in early 2005, 101st Airborne Division
24:27
traveled to Fort Polk, Louisiana's Joint Readiness
24:30
Training Center for several weeks of complex
24:32
field training. In the early evening, I was asked
24:35
to escort a female soldier For her privacy, I'll
24:38
call her Sergeant Becky. From our company tents
24:40
to our motor pool, walking on dirt road between
24:44
two wooded areas, both of us holding flashlights.
24:47
She was roughly five paces, 10 to 15 feet in
24:49
front of me. When she tripped, stumbling down
24:52
and started screaming high pitched shrieks. As
24:54
I ran up checking on her, I saw a large hairy
24:57
thing about four feet away from her on the wood
25:00
line at the right side of the road. At the time
25:02
I was not wearing glasses and being nearsighted,
25:04
it was mostly blurry. until I closed the distance
25:07
next to Sergeant Becky where I froze in place
25:09
about 5 feet from the hairy thing. As I focused
25:12
on it for a few seconds I could see the creature
25:14
had whitish grey or beige bristles all over it
25:18
in mottled color variations. The head was rectangular
25:20
shaped with curved corners and small bumps trailing
25:24
down into ridges along the sides. The creature
25:26
had two large black eyes about two inches around
25:29
and several smaller black eyes on spots on its
25:32
head. At its first approach its head was about
25:35
three feet from the ground with two long thin
25:38
legs raised up in front reaching five feet up
25:41
in the air with several long thin stick -like
25:44
legs supporting behind it each about one inch
25:46
around as I was running up I unknowingly kicked
25:49
rocks and dirt right at the thing and it reacted
25:52
by instantaneously backing up and pulling its
25:54
head and legs down and back to about two feet
25:57
from the ground and balled up roughly two feet
25:59
round I could see it perfectly still for a second
26:03
while I froze in place then it popped its head
26:05
up briskly to three feet again and splayed its
26:08
legs about to about four or five feet wide and
26:11
opened its mouth like it was going to pounce.
26:14
The mouth hole was about two or three inches
26:15
wide and fangs were about four to five inches.
26:19
Ruddy reddish brown colored with fuzzy bristles
26:21
all over the mouth. Both Sergeant Becky and I
26:24
fired our M4 carbines at it. We only had blank
26:27
rounds for training. With the flash of noise
26:29
it scurried back into the trees and was gone
26:31
in a split second. Sergeant Becky was still screaming
26:34
trying to crawl away and was stuck on something
26:36
on the ground and looked like a rope. I stepped
26:38
on it too and it was stuck to my boot and I had
26:40
to cut her loose with my knife. We were both
26:43
uninjured save for Sergeant Becky being severely
26:45
traumatized by the incident requiring her removal
26:48
from training and commanders referral to mental
26:50
health. Later, when our senior leadership inspected
26:53
the area, we found long, sticky spiderwebs like
26:56
strings leading to a half -meter hole that was
26:59
thatched over with leaves. The same material
27:02
was stuck to our boots and knives, which I could
27:04
only clean off with a cigarette lighter. The
27:06
military refused to believe us and insisted that
27:09
we only saw wild dogs suffering from mange. The
27:12
Sergeant was referred to mental health on a long
27:15
-term basis and we were both ridiculed in order
27:17
not to talk about it anymore. I was called into
27:19
the mental health facility on return to Fort
27:21
Campbell to corroborate Sergeant Becky's story
27:23
and subsequent stress issues. Our leadership
27:25
at the time actively discouraged me from offering
27:28
any details other than I saw a hairy thing the
27:30
size of a dog. I have not talked about it with
27:33
anyone since. End of story. But on the same continent
27:39
as you. Don't like that. What continent is safe?
27:43
Probably like Iceland. And Antarctica. Greenland
27:46
and Antarctica. To be fair, I have found no stories
27:50
of anything weird going on in Greenland, other
27:52
than, you know, the whole potential of war, but...
27:56
Yeah, that's disturbing. Where isn't there a
27:58
potential of war nowadays? That's true. But Chelsea,
28:02
those are the wild and weird stories of giant
28:05
arachnids that I was able to find. And I told
28:07
you beforehand, and I will say it again, I expected
28:10
you to hate it, and I'm sure you did, but it
28:12
was a good Halloween episode. You also said bats.
28:16
I don't know which is worse, actually. Well,
28:19
you just wait till my creature feature, Chelsea.
28:21
I found a good one. Oh, great. Okay. Well, I
28:24
don't know if I'll be showing up, to be honest.
28:26
Okay. I hated it. I hated that I hate spiders.
28:31
I have a lot of spiders near my house. I try
28:34
my best to keep them out because one day I found
28:36
a big spider that by comparison to these spiders
28:40
is not a big spider, but it was like as big as
28:42
my hand. It was very scary experience and I hated
28:45
it. That's not to say that I don't get spooked
28:49
out by weird things quite regularly. Birds, fish,
28:53
something out of the ordinary. If I saw a regular
28:57
spider, I'd be scared. But this? I don't know
29:00
what I would do. Yeah, I got a weird relationship
29:03
with spiders because yeah, I do understand they
29:05
are somewhat of a scary thing, but like, they're
29:07
just, they got a job. They're doing it. You know
29:10
what? I try - Their job does not involve us.
29:13
Yeah, I try to leave the ones alone that aren't
29:18
directly threatening me. mean they're threatening
29:23
me but in a less threatening way than being in
29:25
my house and Then I try to call someone in to
29:29
not hurt them and remove them, but I don't know
29:33
what it is About fish or birds either that really
29:38
doesn't sit right with me, but it just it's not
29:41
natural I don't know why I don't like them you
29:43
started the episode with things should be on
29:45
the ground. I really hate it. Maybe they move
29:49
in the same way maybe that's why I don't like
29:51
birds or fish they remind me well they're both
29:53
moving through a fluid it makes sense yeah exactly
29:57
that makes sense I think this was a very Halloweeny
30:02
episode that makes me feel like there's a spider
30:04
crawling on me and yeah well don't worry like
30:09
the thing you need to worry about is that spider
30:11
right behind you look out yeah I know I am looking
30:14
out now I'm gonna go close that door I have been
30:18
Taylor, here with Chelsea. We are Journey to
30:19
the Fringe. Thank you all for listening, and
30:21
we'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you for listening
30:25
to Journey to the Fringe. If you have liked what
30:27
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30:49
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30:51
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30:53
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30:56
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31:00
For now, I'll see you in the next episode.