Arachnophobia

Remember the movie, Arachnophobia? Well, its happening for real in a town in India. From the news report:

A town in India has suddenly been overrun by swarms of venomous spiders, leaving two people dead after being bitten.

It may sound like a B-grade horror movie, but residents of the town of Sadiya, in Assam state, say that on the evening of May 8 as they were celebrating a Hindu festival swarms of spiders suddenly appeared and attacked them, The Times of India reported.

Over the next few days two people -- a man, Purnakanta Buragohain, and an unnamed school boy -- died after being bitten by the spiders. Scores more turned up at the town's hospital with spider bites.

Local resident Jintu Gogoi spent a day in the hospital complaining of excruciating pain and nausea after being bitten. He said weeks later his finger was still blackened and swollen.

District authorities are also panicking -- and they are considering spraying the town with the insecticide DDT.

Locals say the most terrifying aspect is that spiders appear in swarms and their behavior is highly aggressive.

"It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched on to them after biting. If that is so, it needs to be dealt with carefully. The chelicerae and fangs of this critter are quite powerful," head of the department of life sciences at Dibrugarh University Dr. L.R. Saikia said.

Teams of Indian arachnid experts have flocked to the town, hoping to identify the species, but so far they have drawn a blank.

They say it could be a tarantula, a black wishbone or even a funnel-web spider -- or it could be a whole new species.

One thing they agree on is that it is not native to the area as there is no record of venomous spiders in Assam. The black wishbone and funnel-web are native to Australia.

Researchers are also still running tests to find out the toxicity of the spiders' venom.

The story notes that the deaths could have been the result of "treatment" from witch doctors. 

Undoubtedly, it will wind up having some rather mundane explanation, but interesting--and sort of scary--nonetheless. 

For some reason, probably because the typical bite resulted in pain and swelling rather than being deadly, it reminded me of this portion of Chapter 9 of Revelation:

3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.