It’s like the opening scene of a horror or science-fiction movie: swarms of giant hairy spiders are attacking villagers in a remote area of Northeastern India, and two people have already died.
Ecologists have so far been unable to identify the swarming thumb-sized arachnids, but believe they may be a new species of tarantula. So anti-venom hasn’t been supplied to victims yet, and that’s left locals to seek treatment from witch doctors, who maybe making things worse by cutting spider attack victims with razors for bloodletting. In fact, authorities aren’t yet sure whether the early deaths occurred because of the original attacks, or the extreme treatments.
Either way, the region has been gripped with fear as residents have kept watch at night to stop the spiders from entering their huts. They’re not the only ones losing sleep … We much prefer the stories about being bitten told in Spiderman.
Video by Jim Festante.
