Fred Leggett
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2017
- Messages
- 10
I'm new. I've read several/many threads. None specifically addressed what I'm about to write. It could be enlightening for those both with (and without) arachnophobia.
First off, I don't particularly like the term arachnophobia, as it's too vague. Arachnids cover a large swath of creatures, from acariformes (mites) to thelyphonida (whip scorpions, etc.). Most people seem to have a rational fear of some arachnids (e.g., scorpions) and an irrational fear of others (e.g, vinegaroons). Whether this fear is learned or genetic in nature is largely irrelevant when discussing coping and overcoming strategies (namely, education and exposure, preferably in that order).
I am not crippled by arachnophobia. Scorpions, crabs, mites, and other animals do not faze me. I do, however, suffer from, for lack of a better phrase, large spider phobia. Naturally, this means tarantulas are at the top of my "get away from me" list.
This might be tied to a more generalized fear of displaced gigantism. The comically large rats and other critters from "The Food of the Gods" (that probably dates me) make me queasy, for instance, even though I'm fine with normal-sized rats. Similarly, I find jumping spiders rather cute, but hairy wolf spiders and beyond are a no-no. However, I am, oddly, perfectly fine with large orb weavers and find them quite beautiful.
This leads into a secondary fear - the web and what it represents. When I was very young, I watched an old b&w episode of Tarzan where Boy was chased into an enormous spiderweb, one large enough to temporarily suspend his entire body. On either side, what looked like monstrous spiders of an unknown type began to close in for the kill. I only have a hazy memory of Boy finally jerking and cutting his way out of said web before being tagged. This undoubtedly lit the fuse. Later in life, but also when I was a child, my face almost collided with a perfectly symmetrical and ridiculously ornate round web, with the usual suspect front and center. I avoided contact by mere millimeters. This made me extremely wary of webs of all shapes and sizes, particularly large organized ones at eye level. This ran the fuse.
What lie at the end of the fuse was undoubtedly the 1977 movie "Kingdom of the Spiders" with William Shatner and Woody Strode (I currently own the SE DVD, but rarely watch it). I've read that otherwise docile Red Knees comprised the majority of the hapless tarantula population and that hundreds were killed in its production (wild filmmaking times). However, to a young and impressionable mind already primed for T-phobia, this was like a supernova bomb of absolute terror. I still do not like to think about it to this day. The 70's were a particularly brutal time for humans battling against nature, partially spurred by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (see "No Blade of Grass" and "Phase IV" for additional examples).
There were, of course, other movies which capitalized on the overall audience fear of spiders. The sequence in "Something Wicked This Way Comes" where the two boys are practically doused with Ts is a scene that, to this day, I frequently fail to sit through. The translucent spider in "Krull" is fairly terrifying. There's an especially distressing spot in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" where Grant Williams' character is nearly eaten by a sprinting T (in reality, it was being slowly cooked to death by studio spotlights and was desperately trying to find shade). The recent aptly-titled "Arachnophobia" with John Goodman gave me plenty of heebie-jeebies, with enough Avondales for every boy and girl in the audience (and then some). "Eight-Legged Freaks" was just too cartoonish to take seriously, but 2003's "Hangman's Curse" was no joke, with a multitude of real-live Ts running amok near the end. The crème de la crème is, of course, "Tarantula" with a young, uncredited Clint Eastwood and a T absurdly enlarged to the size of a small mountain (I guess no one invited the square cube law to that party [the same with TFotG]).
I am - at least I think I am - getting past my large-spider-phobia. I've watched endless YouTube feeding and rehousing videos and even recently visited my local zoo, which had a few Ts on display. I'm now aware of certain behaviors and sane approaches, which make them much less an alien threat and much more an acceptable terrestrial inhabitant. And there is a genuine feeling of purposefulness and camaraderie within the enthusiast community, which is weirdly enthralling.
In any event, that's my story (at least, some of it). I'll be attending our local Repticon in late January to see if my T-phobia still applies. I was going to try to handle a calm specimen from a willing vendor, but after reading numerous sobering posts in the bite forum, I'm reconsidering. I do plan to play around with a few snakes, though (I'm fascinated by them).
This was far too long, but I hope was illuminating and maybe familiar to some degree.
First off, I don't particularly like the term arachnophobia, as it's too vague. Arachnids cover a large swath of creatures, from acariformes (mites) to thelyphonida (whip scorpions, etc.). Most people seem to have a rational fear of some arachnids (e.g., scorpions) and an irrational fear of others (e.g, vinegaroons). Whether this fear is learned or genetic in nature is largely irrelevant when discussing coping and overcoming strategies (namely, education and exposure, preferably in that order).
I am not crippled by arachnophobia. Scorpions, crabs, mites, and other animals do not faze me. I do, however, suffer from, for lack of a better phrase, large spider phobia. Naturally, this means tarantulas are at the top of my "get away from me" list.
This might be tied to a more generalized fear of displaced gigantism. The comically large rats and other critters from "The Food of the Gods" (that probably dates me) make me queasy, for instance, even though I'm fine with normal-sized rats. Similarly, I find jumping spiders rather cute, but hairy wolf spiders and beyond are a no-no. However, I am, oddly, perfectly fine with large orb weavers and find them quite beautiful.
This leads into a secondary fear - the web and what it represents. When I was very young, I watched an old b&w episode of Tarzan where Boy was chased into an enormous spiderweb, one large enough to temporarily suspend his entire body. On either side, what looked like monstrous spiders of an unknown type began to close in for the kill. I only have a hazy memory of Boy finally jerking and cutting his way out of said web before being tagged. This undoubtedly lit the fuse. Later in life, but also when I was a child, my face almost collided with a perfectly symmetrical and ridiculously ornate round web, with the usual suspect front and center. I avoided contact by mere millimeters. This made me extremely wary of webs of all shapes and sizes, particularly large organized ones at eye level. This ran the fuse.
What lie at the end of the fuse was undoubtedly the 1977 movie "Kingdom of the Spiders" with William Shatner and Woody Strode (I currently own the SE DVD, but rarely watch it). I've read that otherwise docile Red Knees comprised the majority of the hapless tarantula population and that hundreds were killed in its production (wild filmmaking times). However, to a young and impressionable mind already primed for T-phobia, this was like a supernova bomb of absolute terror. I still do not like to think about it to this day. The 70's were a particularly brutal time for humans battling against nature, partially spurred by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (see "No Blade of Grass" and "Phase IV" for additional examples).
There were, of course, other movies which capitalized on the overall audience fear of spiders. The sequence in "Something Wicked This Way Comes" where the two boys are practically doused with Ts is a scene that, to this day, I frequently fail to sit through. The translucent spider in "Krull" is fairly terrifying. There's an especially distressing spot in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" where Grant Williams' character is nearly eaten by a sprinting T (in reality, it was being slowly cooked to death by studio spotlights and was desperately trying to find shade). The recent aptly-titled "Arachnophobia" with John Goodman gave me plenty of heebie-jeebies, with enough Avondales for every boy and girl in the audience (and then some). "Eight-Legged Freaks" was just too cartoonish to take seriously, but 2003's "Hangman's Curse" was no joke, with a multitude of real-live Ts running amok near the end. The crème de la crème is, of course, "Tarantula" with a young, uncredited Clint Eastwood and a T absurdly enlarged to the size of a small mountain (I guess no one invited the square cube law to that party [the same with TFotG]).
I am - at least I think I am - getting past my large-spider-phobia. I've watched endless YouTube feeding and rehousing videos and even recently visited my local zoo, which had a few Ts on display. I'm now aware of certain behaviors and sane approaches, which make them much less an alien threat and much more an acceptable terrestrial inhabitant. And there is a genuine feeling of purposefulness and camaraderie within the enthusiast community, which is weirdly enthralling.
In any event, that's my story (at least, some of it). I'll be attending our local Repticon in late January to see if my T-phobia still applies. I was going to try to handle a calm specimen from a willing vendor, but after reading numerous sobering posts in the bite forum, I'm reconsidering. I do plan to play around with a few snakes, though (I'm fascinated by them).
This was far too long, but I hope was illuminating and maybe familiar to some degree.
). But basically the "what to do about it" is to create new learning experiences through exposure scenarios which will overlay the old fear learning. 
