Giant Spider Discovered Lurking in Nest Outside Man's Back Door in Terrifying Video

A man got a little more than he bargained for when he decided to explore inside a spider's nest he discovered outside the back door of his home in Australia.

In unsettling footage shared to TikTok by a user posting as spooki.squid, the man can be seen poking around the inside of the nest.

The initial sight of several dozen tiny baby spiders is alarming enough, but the fear factor gets cranked up 11 seconds later when momma comes into shot.

Evidently not too happy at having their privacy invaded, the adult spider creeps into the video—and she's a big one. The reaction of those filming the clip says it all.

"That's f***ed. Holy s***," the man holding the camera says upon initially discovering the nest. His friend concurs, shouting: "Oh my God there's so many of them."

That initial trepidation soon transforms into outright terror when the adult spider comes into view. It's only the briefest of glimpses but it's likely to be enough to leave any arachnophobes out there suffering a few sleepless nights.

The final few seconds of the clip see the camera pan to one of the men making the discovery. His shocked expression likely mirrored that of many viewing the clip at home. The video can be watched at your own discretion here.

Footage of the arachnid encounter soon found a captive audience on TikTok, where the video has been watched 5.3 million times and garnered over 15,000 comments from suitably horrified viewers in the process.

"That is terrifying," Keely Wins wrote, with Jordos Carltos comparing it to a "literal monster movie." Yeetfeet2 was similarly alarmed writing: "My soul left my body."

Des_chanelle loved the way the spider "popped it's head out like what's going on here" only to make a swift exit when it heard screams. Danniemarie__, meanwhile, jokingly implored those behind the video to take no chances and simply "burn the house down."

Others were less surprised by what they saw. "Welcome to Australia," Clayton3339 wrote. Simplyaaliyah agreed it was "100 percent Australia."

A hashtag accompanying the clip indicates the arachnid featured on the footage is a Huntsman spider. Newsweek has contacted spooki.squid for comment.

According to Clémentine Thuilier at Australian Geographic, there are as many as 10,000 different spider species inhabiting a variety of ecosystems in Australia. Capable of reaching up to 15 centimeters in leg span, Thuilier ranks Huntsman spiders as the ninth most dangerous species found in Australia—but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.

"They are reluctant to bite and more likely to run away when approached and their venom isn't considered dangerous for humans," Thuilier explains. "Their danger comes more from causing accidents by the terrified drivers who react to a huntsman jumping out from behind the sun visor or dashboard of a car when it's in motion.

"Despite their intimidating size, huntsman spiders can be an ally in the house; they help with pest-control by eating smaller insects."

Back in 2019, a huge nest of Huntsman spiders was discovered in a box built for pygmy possums in Australia. The resulting footage was suitably nightmarish.

Another shocking spider discovery was shared to social media in 2021 in which several passengers on a plane spotted a tarantula crawling around mid-flight.