1 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: In April two thousand and four, a photograph of monsters 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: began to circulate online, first through email, then across early 3 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: social platforms. Unlike the blurred, half obscured images typically offered 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: as evidence a weird phenomena, this photo was crisp and 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: clear and seemingly irrefutable, and what it showed looked too 6 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: awful to be real. Two things, in fact, two things 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: sharing sixteen hairy segmented legs twisted round each other in 8 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: skin crawling entwinement, being held aloft by two US soldiers 9 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: stationed and Bagdad. In two thousand and four, a pair 10 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: of monstrous, pale spiders, each seemingly large enough to dwarf 11 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: the hand holding them. They seemed to resemble the terrifying 12 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: face hugger of the Alien movies more than any normal iraknet. 13 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: They were said to be camel spiders fabled a rachnids 14 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 1: of the Middle Eastern desert, tales of which spread among 15 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: military personnel in the area during both the First and 16 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: second invasion of Iraq. The email was said to originate 17 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: from American soldiers stationed in Baghdad, and was sent, according 18 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: to the writer, to give you a better idea of 19 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: what our troops are dealing with. As the image continued 20 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: to scurry across the internet, wilder claims soon attached themselves 21 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: to the unnerving looking creature. They were capable of huge 22 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: vertical leaps. It was set high enough for them to 23 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: reach the underside of the dromedary camel for which they 24 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 1: were named. Once attached to the belly of the camel, 25 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: they would bite deep into it and lay eggs under 26 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: the skin. According to online comments, they could run it 27 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: up to twenty five miles per hour, and most unnervingly, 28 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: they were said to make an all screaming sound as 29 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: they did. Accounts rolled in of spiders actively chasing down 30 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: human victims and injecting them with anastetizing venom. When they 31 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: incapacitate their prey. The story is set. They don't just 32 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: suck out your juices, they also feed on your flesh. 33 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: The viral camel spider photo was a horror story borne 34 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: from an arachnophobe's worse nightmares, but thankfully, in this instance 35 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: at least, there is cause for reassurance. Camel spiders are 36 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: real and native to Iraq. The pair and the photograph 37 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: are also genuine, but they've been unnaturally inflated through a 38 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: trick of camera perspective. In truth, the biggest specimens don't 39 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: exceed a five inch legspan. Neither do they run particularly fast, 40 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: nor do they scream, and any minor trace of venom 41 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: they possess is no use to them, as their teeth 42 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: are far too short to break skin. They lay their 43 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: eggs in the soil, not in any living creature, let 44 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: alone something as hard to reach as a camel. As 45 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: their ability to jump great heights is also entirely fictitious. 46 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: In short, the viral photograph is an illusion, and the 47 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: claims that accrue to it are nothing but urban legend. 48 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: Even if the camel spiders were as large as they 49 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: look in the photo, they would still be smaller than 50 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,799 Speaker 1: known arachnids like the goliath bird eater or the giant huntsman. 51 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: An arachnophobe, it seems, can traveled to Iraq without too 52 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: much cause for concern. But over the decades many stories 53 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: have trickled in from other corners of the globe, places 54 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: both far to some but unnervingly near to others, of 55 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: truly horrifying things with far too many legs for comfort. 56 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: You're listening to unexplained, and I am Richard McLean Smith. 57 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: Back in nineteen forty two, during the Second World War, 58 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: deep in the Owen Stanley Mountains of southeastern Papa, New Guinea, 59 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: an Australian soldier steps into the bush to answer a 60 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: call of nature. The soldier is one of the many 61 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: thousands of Australian and Japanese forces fighting along the Kokoda Trail, 62 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: a single file track that runs for sixty miles through 63 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: the mountains. The air is chokingly thick and baking hot 64 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: gnats buzz all about. Armed with a small shovel, the 65 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: soldier steps into the thick undergrowth in search of a quiet, 66 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: secluded spot. Having finished relieving himself, he realized with the 67 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: jolt that he was crouched close to a vast patch 68 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,919 Speaker 1: of some kind of weblike substance. It was soft like 69 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: cotton and blanketed everywhere from the ground up to about 70 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,360 Speaker 1: six feet of the surrounding tree trunks. With the mixture 71 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: of curiosity and nerves, the soldier tracked the extent of 72 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: the netting, which spread ten to fifteen feet either side 73 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: of his position, turning to face the dense center of it. 74 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: With marrow freezing horror, he saw the thing that had 75 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: created it. Less than two feet from his face hung 76 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: an enormous spider. The body alone was the size of 77 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: a small dog. It was pitch black and covered in oily, 78 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: iridescent hairs. Its legs were not long like a tarantulasah, 79 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,239 Speaker 1: but short and stubby. Mesmerized, and more than a little 80 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: stunned with fear, the man stared at the spider for 81 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: a few moments before backing slowly away and running back 82 00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: to camp. This story was first revealed to the world 83 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: in two thousand and one by Debbie and Peter Hines, 84 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: a wife and husband team of cryptoseologists. The soldier in 85 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: question was the father of one of Debbie's childhood friends, 86 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: who had terrified them with the story when they were young. 87 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: The Hines offer no verifying evidence or even names or 88 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: exact locations. Perhaps it would be easy to dismiss the 89 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: account outright as another tall tale born of war, But 90 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: then came the intriguing phone call made to a late 91 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: night radio station just a few years later. It was 92 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: back on August sixth, two thousand and five, that a 93 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: young man named Craig called into the radio show Coast 94 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: to Coast FM, where he proceeded to recount his own 95 00:06:54,680 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: grandfather's wartime encounter with a massive spider, also in Papa 96 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: New Guinea. Craig's grandfather was stationed in the capital city, 97 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: Port Moresby, when he is said to have gone on 98 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: a trek into the nearby rainforest. There, he apparently came 99 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: across another vast web, in the center of which was 100 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: a spider with a leg span of at least three 101 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: to four feet that would make the creature at least 102 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: four times the size of the largest known spider on 103 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: the planet. Unlike the species apparently spotted near the Cacoda Trail, 104 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: this one was smooth rather than hairy, and glimmered as 105 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: striking emerald green in the dappled sunlight. Craig's grandfather was 106 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: said to have been so frightened by the spider that 107 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: he quickly drew his machete and hacked it to death. 108 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: The Pacific island of Papa New Guinea remains one of 109 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: the world's least explored land masses. Its highlands are cloaked 110 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: in dense rainforest with little or no access for vehicles. 111 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: The remoteness and pristine conditions of the country's forests have 112 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: preserved an amazing degree of biodiversity and unique ecosystems. If 113 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: there was the possibility of a gigantic species of arachnet 114 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: living unrecognized somewhere on Earth, there are few habitats more 115 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: congenial than Papa New Guinea. Maybe the only place more 116 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: likely is the Congo Basin, a vast swathe of true, 117 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: unexplored wilderness of rivers and rainforest and hidden lakes the 118 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: size of small countries. It's long been romanticized as the 119 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: last lost world on Earth and the home for unknown 120 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: species or those thought long extinct, such as the apparent 121 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: relict Saurupont, Maclay and Bembe, as featured in Season eight, 122 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: episode ten, Not All Who Wander. In nineteen thirty eight, 123 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: married explorers Marguerite and Reginald Lloyd were driving in the 124 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: interior of the Congo Basin. They had settled in what 125 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: was then Rhodesia as part of the European expansion into Africa, 126 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: and had come to the Congo to explore its mysteries. 127 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: Their ramshackle Ford truck rattled down the pock marked jungle track, 128 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,720 Speaker 1: hemmed in on both sides by a thick wall of 129 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:36,680 Speaker 1: dark jungle green. Suddenly, Reginald slammed on the brakes. A 130 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 1: dozen feet ahead, something was emerging from the forest. For 131 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: a few seconds, the couple watched charmed, assuming that they 132 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: were privileged to the rare sight of a large jungle 133 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: cat or perhaps a monkey, walking on all fours. Only 134 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: as their eyes took in the weird, acute angles of 135 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: the creature's men limbs did they recoil in horror. It 136 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: was a huge spider with a leg span easily exceeding 137 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: four feet. Reginald twisted in his seat frantically trying to 138 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: reach his camera, but by the time he turned back, 139 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: the spider had vanished. In the weblike way that these 140 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: stories strink together through the years, The Lloyd's daughter, Margaret, 141 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: would later tell the story to William Gibbons, a cryptozoologist 142 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: with particular interest in unknown African megafauna. In the nineteen nineties, 143 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: William Gibbons traveled to the Congo and Cameroon in search 144 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: of Mackelay and Bembey. While meeting with members of the 145 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: Bakar tribe, he mentioned the Lloyd sighting of the spider 146 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: sixty years earlier. Apparently, the Bakar responded affirmatively, without surprise 147 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: or amusement. Oh yes, they told Gibbons the large spider 148 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: did certainly exist. In their language, it was known as 149 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: Cuba fufi, or the great spider. The Cuba fufi had 150 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: apparently once been a common and well known threat, similar 151 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: in shape to a tarantula, only much much larger. It 152 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: had a large, hairy body covered in dense brown fur, 153 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: with a noticeable purple cast to its abdomen. The leg 154 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: span was truly fearsome, upwards of five feet in total, 155 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: large enough to overpower and drag away antelope, birds, and 156 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: sadly also children that are said to be its prey. 157 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: According to the Bakar community, the Cuba fufi typically make 158 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: their den in the hollows beneath trees, camouflaging the entrance 159 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: with roots and leaves. They then say an intricate network 160 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: of webs to slow down passing prey and alert the 161 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: spider to the presence of a meal. Once summoned, the 162 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: Tuba fufi launches itself from its nest like a trapdoor spider. 163 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,679 Speaker 1: The Bakhar told Gibbons that the spider had once been 164 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:22,200 Speaker 1: common to the area, but deforestation and encroaching farmland had 165 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: driven them further into the forest's interior. Nonetheless, sightings have 166 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: apparently continued across the years, with anecdotes and accounts of 167 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: spiders venturing out to drag stray dogs, and, if the 168 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: stories are to be believed, even people screaming into the jungle. 169 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: The deep forests of Central Africa and Papa New Guinea 170 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 1: have long been filled with monsters. In the Western imagination, 171 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: it seems half logical that if a giant, unknown arachnid 172 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: did exist, that's where it would be. The same cannot 173 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: be said for the modern urbanized United States, however. Nonetheless, 174 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: one of the most intriguing encounters with an oversized spider 175 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 1: is said to have taken place in the small city 176 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: of Leesville, Louisiana, in nineteen forty eight. It was a 177 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: cool evening when forty eight year old William Sladen accompanied 178 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 1: his wife Pearl, and their three children to church. The 179 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: youngest of the children was Richard, only six years old. Together, 180 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,479 Speaker 1: they walked north along Highway one seventy one, chattering amiably 181 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 1: until they reached a dip in the road. Suddenly, William 182 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: Sladen stood ramrod still and held out his hands to 183 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: stop his family proceeding any further. The children obeyed, and 184 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: young Richard watched the road ahead for whatever threat had 185 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: so clearly spoot his grandfather. He heard a rustling in 186 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: the overgrown ditch at the side of the highway. Then 187 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: he looked on with disbelief and dawning horror as something 188 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: terrifying emerged from it. As Richard described it to his 189 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,679 Speaker 1: son Todd fifty years later, it was a huge spider, 190 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: the size of a washed up, hairy and black. As 191 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: it crossed the road, the Sladen family watched in utter silence. 192 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: No one said a word. The spider crossed the asphalt 193 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: in a stately, unhurried fashion, eventually disappearing into the brush 194 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: on the western side of the highway. The family didn't 195 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: daret a cross where the spider had been. They simply 196 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: turned around and went home. Richard says that only once 197 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: did he and his brothers ask their grandfather what it 198 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: was they had seen. William's blunt response was that it 199 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: was simply a very large spider. This apparent, straight and 200 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: terrifying episode was never discussed again, but Richard would tell 201 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: his own son that he suspected the old man knew 202 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: more than he was letting on. I always had the 203 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: impression that Grandpa was familiar with it. He said that 204 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: he had seen one before. He was a man who'd 205 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: lived deep in the woods, building makeshift towns to facilitate 206 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: the logging industry. Maybe he saw things in those woods 207 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: he didn't talk about to us kids, another piece of 208 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: rural folklore. Perhaps the memory of a child inflating a 209 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: roaming tarantula into a gargantuan monster. Maybe. But in twenty nineteen, 210 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: nearly seventy years after Richard's experience, a sergeant stationed at 211 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: Louisiana's Fort Polk gave a series of strange first hand reports. 212 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: The soldier going by the handle, Sergeant S wrote a 213 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: prominent cryptozoologist, Carl Schucker, detailing encounters he and his colleagues 214 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: had had with an especially enormous species of spider at 215 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: the base, which is situated only eight miles from the 216 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: Leesville town limits. Sergeant S's first apparent sighting was in 217 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: two thousand and five, when he was part of d 218 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: Company in the one hundred and first Airborne Division based 219 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. In the early spring, he 220 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: traveled to Fort Polk for complex field training. In the 221 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: early evening. The sergeant was walking with another soldier, whom 222 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: he refers to as Sergeant Becky. They were making their 223 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: way from the company dorms to the motorple, a short 224 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: journey that took them on a dirt road cutting through 225 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: a thickly wooded area. It was approaching dark, and both 226 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: held flashlights to illuminate the shadowy path. Sergeant Becky was 227 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: walking ten feet ahead when she suddenly screamed and tripped, 228 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: falling to the road. When Sergeant s ran up to 229 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: help her, he caught sight of something in its torchlight, 230 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: a large hairy shape on the edge of the tree line, 231 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: no more than four feet from the prone Becky. It 232 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,520 Speaker 1: was a mottled color, he said, with white and gray 233 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: bristles and raised ridges and bumps running down the sides 234 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,880 Speaker 1: of its head and abdomen. The creature's head was roughly 235 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 1: three feet from the ground and covered in eyes. It 236 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:29,639 Speaker 1: raised a pair of spinly prying appendages. Then, as the 237 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: two soldiers looked on it splayed its other legs as 238 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 1: if preparing to pounce forward. Sergeantes could see visible fangs 239 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: surrounded by a three to four inch mouth In a panic, 240 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,400 Speaker 1: he set two with the butt of his carbine rifle, 241 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: swinging wildly at the thing's head while kicking and screaming 242 00:17:50,840 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: at the top of his lungs. Sergeant S claimed that 243 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: he later reported details to Karlshuka about the spider's eyes, 244 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: how his flashlight illuminated the eye tube like shining a 245 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: light into a bottle filled with clear jelly. The spider 246 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: backed away several feet, at which point the sergeant reversed 247 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: its weapon and fired a round of bullets directly at 248 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: its face. The creature is then said to have responded 249 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: with a foul smelling liquid from somewhere close to its mouth. 250 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: It fanned out like a liquid shot from a nozzle 251 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: and instantly turned to mist, which settled on both Sergeant 252 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: S and Becky's clothing. Under onslaught, the huge spider finally 253 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: beat a clumsy retreat into the bush, crashing into the 254 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 1: trees as it stumbled away. After only a few feet, 255 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: it was rendered invisible among the shadows and leaves. As 256 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: Sergeant S pulled the still screaming Becky to her feet, 257 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: his foot landed on a ropelike filament which stuck to 258 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: his boot strongly enough that he had to cut it 259 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: away with a knife. After reporting the incident, the sergeant 260 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: claims that he was accompanied back to the area for 261 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: an inspection, during which they found more of the sticky 262 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: weblike substance surrounding a half a meter hole the pit as. 263 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: The sergeant described it at a sort of circular thatched 264 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: cover hinged with some kind of glue. He described it 265 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: as a construction of small sticks and leaves arranged in 266 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: a symmetrical radial pattern. It was an interesting and specific detail, 267 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 1: considering that the car tribe similar descriptions of trapped or 268 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:52,639 Speaker 1: like constructions apparently created by the tube fufi. A strong 269 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: skunk like scent persisted in the air and remained in 270 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: the soldier's clothing for days. A member of senior leadership 271 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,479 Speaker 1: recognized the scent on them and ordered his men to 272 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: find bottles of ammonia and simple green degreasa. He ordered 273 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: Sergeant s and Becky to wash their hands and faces immediately, 274 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: and warned them to wash both themselves and their uniforms 275 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: several more times. If you don't get the smell out, 276 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: They were told, she'll come after you. The senior officer 277 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: did not elaborate further. It was a few nights later 278 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: when Sergeant S and a few of his fellow troops 279 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,120 Speaker 1: were awoken by the sound of something traversing the corrugated 280 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: roof of their sleeping quarters. It sounded at first like 281 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: brain drops, though with a strange hesitant rhythm. When it 282 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: abruptly stopped above them, the men, including a very nervous 283 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: Sergeant S, went outside to have a look. One of 284 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: the men was boosted up to the roof to check 285 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: it out, but he found nothing elsewhere in the barracks. 286 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 1: On the same night as the strange sounds on the roof, 287 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: another soldier was said to have been woken by the 288 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: sound of something tapping at the window. He looked up 289 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: to see what he first took to be an old, 290 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:25,400 Speaker 1: bearded man wearing large goggles, peering in at the sleeping 291 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: men from the doorway. The soldier hurriedly rushed outside to investigate, 292 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,880 Speaker 1: only to watch the strange figure crawl away, rapidly, scale 293 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:40,120 Speaker 1: a ten foot fence, and disappear into the woods. Two 294 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: years later, in the spring of two thousand and seven, 295 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: Sergeant S was back at Fort Polk for another pre 296 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: deployment exercise. Late one afternoon, the sergeant set out for 297 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: a run on the nearby Alligator Lake Loop in the 298 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:59,359 Speaker 1: company of two other soldiers. As they jogged down the 299 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: wide dirt road that circled the water, one of the 300 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,119 Speaker 1: group began to suffer from heat exhaustion. They stopped and 301 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: settled her in the shade while Sergeantes ran to fetch 302 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:15,240 Speaker 1: a medic on the return journey. As the sergeant led 303 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,959 Speaker 1: the medic toward his colleague, the medic stepped in something 304 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: sticky on the ground. He pulled off his shoe to 305 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,440 Speaker 1: find a strange fibrous material clinging to the bottom of 306 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: it and stretching across the path. Had there not been 307 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: so much of it, he would have said it was 308 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,719 Speaker 1: some kind of spider's web. Sergeantes broke off to relieve 309 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 1: himself in the bushes. He suddenly became aware of movement 310 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: in the leaves on the other side of the trail. 311 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: Staring out toward a trembling leaf, he was certain he 312 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: could see something dark peeking out at the foliage. The 313 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: medic saw it too. The sergeant later described it as 314 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:02,160 Speaker 1: being covered in bristles, with two pebble like eyes, each 315 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: three to four inches in circumference. Surrounded by smaller orbs. 316 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: He believed he saw its fangs too. As soon as 317 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,399 Speaker 1: the sergeant moved, it was said to have scurried away 318 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: into the bush, and the men didn't hang around to 319 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: find out more. Later in the week, the sergeant was 320 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: back out on a late night exercise. It took place 321 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 1: on the edge of the training ground, where a mock 322 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: village had been built to allow troops to practice urban combat. 323 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: That night, the sergeant was positioned in the top story 324 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: window of a makeshift wooden house when he spotted a 325 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: friend passing on the street below smoking a cigarette. The 326 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: sergeant yelled for him to stop, then stepped onto the 327 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: roof and jumped down to join him. He lit one 328 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: up for himself, enjoying the brief moment of respite under 329 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 1: the stars. As the pair began to talk, the friend 330 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: so he went very quiet as he looked over the 331 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: sergeant's shoulder. Sergeantes, following his friend's gates, looked up to 332 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: see a familiar shape walking across the roof of the house. 333 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: According to s its legs were easily six feet apart, 334 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: with a torso roughly one foot thick and two feet long. 335 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: The sergeant threw rocks at the roof until the spider 336 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: skitted away and once more disappeared into the gloom of 337 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: the woods beyond. The supposed encounter in the training village 338 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: was Sergeant S's last apparent encounter with giant spiders at 339 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: Fort Polk, Louisiana. He did, however, follow up his story 340 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: with some observations. First, he proposed that the creatures he 341 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: saw on his second trip to Fort Polk may have 342 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: been female, as to understanding the female spiders tend to 343 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:07,199 Speaker 1: be larger and more aggressive. Second, he wondered if the 344 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: spiders hunted by scent and if it had been actively 345 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: seeking him in the makeshift building on the edge of 346 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: the training ground, having identified him from its urine near 347 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: Alligator Lake. And lastly, he pointed out that he was 348 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,119 Speaker 1: not alone in his awareness of the spiders, and that 349 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: local troops often made jokes about their existence and warned 350 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: new recruits never to venture into the woods alone. He 351 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,399 Speaker 1: also pointed out that when he apparently reported each of 352 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,359 Speaker 1: his encounters up the chain of command, the leadership professed 353 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: not to believe his story and accused him repeatedly of 354 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: misidentifying a dog with severe mange. He was allegedly warned 355 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: that his career would suffer were he to pursue the 356 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: issue any further. To the best of his knowledge, he writes, 357 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: no official or port was ever put on the record. 358 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,199 Speaker 1: There is something so universally arresting about the concept of 359 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: a giant spider that it has wriggled its way into 360 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: both ancient myth and contemporary entertainment across the globe. From 361 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: a Nancy Trickster of West African folk tales and the 362 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: Jaragumo spider demon of Japanese law to Tolkien's Hideous Shelop 363 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: and Aragoic from the Harry Potter universe, giant spiders clearly 364 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: pull at some fundamental aspect of the human imagination. Accepted 365 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: science asserts that the real thing is impossible. However, due 366 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:47,199 Speaker 1: to the particular construction of a spider's respiratory system, there 367 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: are thought to be firm limits on how large they 368 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: can really grow. Spiders do not breathe through their mouths 369 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: like other animals. Instead, they get their oxygen through their 370 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: skin in what is non as an open respiratory system. 371 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:08,159 Speaker 1: Through a network of tubes called trakia, oxygen is transferred 372 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,679 Speaker 1: to their tissue. It's a process of slow diffusion throughout 373 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: the body, which rapidly becomes less efficient as the spider 374 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: increases in size. This then should put to bed any 375 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: notion of the three, four or five foot specimens said 376 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: to have been glimpsed as they scamper across the back 377 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:35,199 Speaker 1: roads of the world, and yet apparent sightings persist. In 378 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, a video was uploaded to YouTube from a 379 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: trail cam in Mozambique. It claims to be footage of 380 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: a Cuba fufi or the East African equivalent, appearing to 381 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: approach a watering hole. The short film is grainy and unclear, 382 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: but there is definite movement across the right hand side 383 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,399 Speaker 1: of the screen. When the film is enhanced and the 384 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 1: contrast inverted, it does appear to show something at least 385 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: the size of a large dog, but with a far 386 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: greater number of spinly legs, skittering briskly across the ground. 387 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: It's there one moment, then gone the next, and like 388 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: any encounter with large spiders glimpsed from the corner of 389 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 1: the eye, it's hard not to wonder exactly where it 390 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: might be right now. This episode was written by Neil 391 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: McRobert and produced by me Richard McLean Smith. Neil is 392 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: the creator and host of his own brilliant podcast called 393 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 1: Talking Scared, in which he discusses the craft of horror, 394 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: writing with everyone from Ta Nanerieve Do to the God 395 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: of Horror himself, Stephen King. I can't recommend it highly enough. 396 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: Unexplained as an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard 397 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 1: McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, 398 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: are also produced by me Richard mccleinsmith. Unexplained. The book 399 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 1: and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. 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