No Worries, There’s no New Deadly Spider in the Midwest!
The good news, the scary spider that's gone viral on Facebook is not a deadly human killer. The bad news, it's a real spider that exists, but it's not as scary as it looks.
We all see things shared multiple times a day on social media, and the fact that people can share things so mindlessly really fuels fake articles and stories. The latest one I've seen several people share is a story of a spider that's apparently new to the area and has killed 5 people this week! Which that would be scary...if it wasn't for the fact it's FAKE!
You may have seen the post shared, here's what it says:
THE SPIDER FROM HELL .FIVE PEOPLE HAVE DIED THIS WEEK DUE TO THE BITE OF THIS DEADLY SPIDER .THIS SPIDER WAS FIRST SEEN IN SOUTH CAROLINA IN JULY SINCE THEN IT HAS CAUSED DEATHS IN WEST VIRGINIA ,TENNESSEE AND MISSISSIPPI. ONE BITE FROM THIS SPIDER IS DEADLY. US GOVERNMENT WORKING ON A ANTI VENOM AT THIS TIME PLEASE MAKE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AWARE
Well the story is fake. The spider is real. When I did an image search for this "super deadly" spider, and it's a woodlouse spider. While there's no denying they're not the most attractive things on the planet, they're not going to kill you either. They pretty much exclusively eat bugs. While if you get bit by one, it isn't going to feel good, it typically doesn't require medical attention. For more info on this spider, check out the fact check by Snopes here!