A woman has shared footage of the moment she was greeted at her front door by the terrifying sight of a giant spider.
In a video shared with Newsweek by Ring, a giant arachnid can be seen crawling across the company's doorbell camera at the Tucson, Arizona, home of Gail Masek, 65.
The doorbell's motion detection sensors picked up the spider's movement and sent Masek the alarming footage, which brought immediate concern. She's no stranger to being sent footage of animals outside her door. Previously highlights have included javelinas and bobcats. However, she ranks this latest sighting as the creepiest one filmed so far.
Masek told Ring: "It really freaked me out when I first saw it because it looked like a big hairy monster. I have a few friends that have refused to watch it at all."
Arizona is home to a variety of venomous spiders, but only a handful are considered genuinely dangerous to humans. Only two varieties fall into this category, black widows and brown spiders, according to an article by Randall Babb, a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"Severe pain, respiratory distress, cramping, etc. can be associated with the bite from a black widow," he wrote, adding that a "very effective" antivenom is available.
Babb also said that brown spiders are "seldom seen," with bites potentially going undetected for up to eight hours. "Local pain and swelling may ensue and eventually result in a necrotic ulcer that is slow to heal and may require reconstructive efforts," he warned.
Five species of brown spiders, and one species of black widow, are known to live in Arizona. Given the dangers these arachnids present, Masek could be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy about her spider visitor.
The dangers posed by black widow spiders were recently highlighted by an incident in Bolivia, where an 8-year-old boy allowed himself to be bitten by one of the venomous arachnids because he thought it would help him transform into Spider-Man.
Elsewhere, in footage that is guaranteed to give arachnophobes nightmares, a woman was filmed having what was later discovered to be a small spider removed from inside her ear.
Another terrifying spider story emerged from Australia earlier this year. A woman from New South Wales was stunned to discover an enormous spider dangling its hairy front legs in the milk in her cereal bowl.
Do you have an animal or nature story to share with Newsweek? Do you have a question about spiders? Let us know via nature@newsweek.com.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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