They’re hairy, they bite, and we hate finding them in the shower. And the sink. And our shoes.
Spiders’ ingenuity at turning up where you don’t want them has spawned a number of urban legends, lovingly cataloged at snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com). But they recently turned up somewhere no one would think to look for them. See if you can guess which of the following stories is true:
A) A woman on the East Coast with rather large hair nearly died when she was bitten by spiders residing in her up-do.
B) A doctor extracted two spiders from the ear of a boy in Oregon after the boy reported hearing sounds that sounded like the snap-crackle-pop of Rice Krispies.
C) Several people in Chicago were sickened after being bitten on their posteriors by spiders lurking under the seat of a toilet on a flight from South America.
While you’re pondering that, we’d like to call your attention to a more revealing topic: Several thousand people posed nude in Mexico City for photographer Spencer Tunick (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/07/100wir_a2bare001.cfm). Let’s hope they remembered to wear sunscreen.
Quiz answer: B. The fourth-grader took the experience in stride, showing off the now-dead specimens at school (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/05/07/100wir_a2strange001.cfm). “Two spiders in my ear — what next?” he said. We have a word of advice for his mom: Keep him away from leeches.
If all this spider stuff has given you the heebie-jeebies, we recommend you shake it off by heading over to YouTube and watching the video of fainting goats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZy4cCKcbaU). They’re endlessly entertaining, and best of all, they can’t crawl in your ears.
— Katie Mayer, Herald staff
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