Horrible facts for arachnophobia

Alleged giant spiders in Europe.

   Of all the arthropods, the group that has most inspired humanity has been spiders, and it is no wonder, since these small 8-legged beings They have been revered and even feared since the days of ancient Sumeria, from ancient Greece to ancient Japan, Spiders have been a fundamental part of legends and myths, both benign and malignant, even the fear of them receiving its own classification, arachnophobia.

But you will surely be surprised that there is no species of large spider, despite legends such as the African jb'ofi or the South American apasanca, it would be difficult for a huge spider to exist, and more due to current conditions, but, there are at least 2 legends that could suggest something like this, come with me to see these cases.

First let's see this before you judge me, we do not support the idea of ​​beings like this in this project, but it is worth analyzing both cases 

Araña gigante de la catedral de Milán 

   The first was about a hypothetical and mysterious arachnid, which supposedly lived and was hunted in the cathedral of Millán, Italy in 1757, whose report appeared in number 88 of the magazine athanæum until the 19th century.

It was described as a huge dark-colored animal that lived in the dark and high parts of the bell tower of the Italian cathedral, where she fed on new oil from the lamps, according to when she was murdered by church authorities, her weight was estimated at 4 lbs. This caught the attention of the Austrian monarch of that time who had the body displayed in the Imperial Museum of Vienna where it was analyzed by zoologists and illustrated by an unknown naturalist who only used a pseudonym but who is presumed to have been the illustrious George Morland, whose drawing is lost, It was there until it disappeared at some point according to everyone, although perhaps it is a fraud, if not it was lost during the world wars.

The idea of ​​such a spider is interesting, but at the same time impossible, considering a diet of sera, perhaps it fed on rats, pigeons, and insects, but its existence is also controversial, since perhaps it was an excuse for the sexton to steal the oil.

There is more to this case, but in truth the second one is more intriguing, let's analyze it.

The giant spider of Paris 

   The second case is a journalistic note that states that a strange arachnid once lived in the deep and cavernous catacombs of the capital of the French nation.

[A stuffed animal but it serves as an illustration]

The report came from the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper of September 14, 1894 and was described as a huge spider the size of a terrier and of a ghostly white color, covered with wart-like protuberances and bristling with thick brown hair, with 8 articulated legs, topped by formidable claws and with the ability to snort similar to whistles, this one was allegedly shot down by the police at the end of the 19th century, after injuring an officer and killing another person, although more deaths are attributed to him, so far so good, but the strangest twist came when it was proposed as a taxonomically valid species, its proposed name being Arachne gigans.

This was prepared and sent to the Museum of Natural History in Paris, until it disappeared, perhaps during some of the 2 world wars, but being objective and as I like to be, I am honestly more in favor of it being a fraud, since the newspapers of that time used to have many yellowish tints, even more than the current ones, in addition to the fact that the conditions of the planet are no longer capable of harboring creatures like That, let us remember that the largest spiders have a more complex lung system than the rest, so sustaining spiders this large would require high amounts of oxygen and specific conditions and let us remember that to date there are no records of large spiders in the fossil record.

Although who knows, it would be a matter of going and searching in museum archives or making it public that they really have them, Otherwise this is just a vile lie, made to play with the fears that have accompanied humanity since its beginnings, Even so, there are possible cases of giant spiders that we will analyze in another article.

Even so, I will leave you reading links to the blog of zoologist Karl Shuker, who analyzed these cases better.

[Reading links]

https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2014/08/an-eight-legged-siren-from-france.html?m=1

https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2017/06/dracula-van-helsing-and-giant-spiders.html?m=1