Why are so many humans (myself included) afraid of spiders? Arachnophobia consistently lands in the top 10 most-common phobias. Why? Especially when there aren’t *that* many deadly species of them? Why spiders over other animals?
In: Biology
I can trace my Arachnophobia to a fun little Traumatic Experience in my childhood.
I was 4 years old and I was with my Dad at the property he was building our new house on. He was busy framing and I was playing in the sand out front until I got up and wandered off into the woods next to the house.
I got lost and where I ended up was in a small thicket of trees that were covered in spider webs. I stood there screaming my lungs out til he heard me and found me!
Now I’m afraid of any spider bigger than a quarter in diameter for leg span that isn’t a Daddy Long Legs. It’s not so much a panic attack response but more so very much a “Fight or Flight” adrenaline response that will make me want to burn my fucking house down to kill it if I have to.
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