This is the spider that attacked me in that forest out in Savannah, GA a while back. I finally found a picture of it.I was looking for Thor who had taken off from the rest area we were stopped in. There was a huge grassy area and I'd let him out to play and do his thing before we took off. He had run out on the lawn and I was checking the truck tires. One minute he was there, the next instant he was gone. The only place I could figure he'd run off to was beyond the tree line that skirted the grass. So wearing a tank top, shorts and sandals I trudged across the grass and stepped through the threshold.
It was weird. One instant I could here the sounds of people and traffic, the next I could only here a stifled suppression of all noise. Kinda like putting your hands over your ears, you still try to hear sound but you can't. More like a silent yet loud ringing inside your head. Anyway, this place was so muggy and moist that I began sweating as soon as I entered. The ground was moist and covered in leaves and ivy in patches. I picked a trail out with my eyes that seemed to be the path of least resistance. The trees were thick in here and seemed to grow closer together the deeper they went. Ivy seemed to cover most of the trees, growing out of control here.
I wiped my brow and proceeded along my little makeshift route calling for Thor as I picked my next handhold and footstep. The ground began sloping upward and I scanned ahead, my eyes constantly sweeping for a path as my peripheral vision kept alert for movement of the dog. There seemed to be only one place to get between a clump of trees that grew at the top of the rise. I yelled for Thor again as I realized this was more work than I had anticipated. Not to mention the humidity was making me cranky as I noticed I seemed now to be constantly wiping my brow with little to no effect.
The canopy overhead blocked out the sun and although it wasn't dark it was strange and a bit eerie. I found myself thinking of movies like Blair Witch and Sleepy Hollow. Hansel and Gretel came to mind and I looked behind me half expecting to find the path I had traversed gone, swallowed by ivy and twisting branches. Nothing quite so dramatic though, I had only come about 100 feet and could see the edge of the tree line. Sun was poking through in spots where the leaves were thin making beams that seemed almost laser-like.
I turned forward again and shook off the creepiness that had engulfed me momentarily. This was ridiculous, the dog came in here, he must have. Now I told myself, let’s just go get him and get out of here. Simple. I reached up and grabbed a branch to balance myself as I lifted my foot and found footing on a massive root that came up out of the earth. I pulled myself up over the rise and stepped between the trees laughing at myself for thinking those things a moment ago.
That's when it happened. Suddenly I felt something on my face. A strand of web, you know the feeling, as soon as you feel it your hand shoots up wiping at it. You always miss it the first time and the have to feel gently for it and pull it away. That's exactly what I did but it didn't pull away. Instead my hand encountered more webs along the side of my face and the web matter was tough, kinda like widow web you know? The black widow spider spins some of the toughest web there is. This reminded me of widow web. Then as I began clawing frantically at my face and neck I felt something else. Not on my face but on my chest. I looked down and the first thought I had was that a baby bird had flown into me and was caught on my shirt. How stupid was that? A bird? But that's how big it was and as I began to realize what it was it began to vibrate against my chest. I know that sounds weird but that's exactly what it was doing, vibrating. Even in the nanoseconds that it took for my brain to realize it was no bird my hand was moving toward it. Not to crush it but to knock it away. I did just that, I knocked it away with a spasmodic jerk. When my hand made contact with it there was a sickening slapping sound and then it went flying. When it hit the ground it landed with a soft thud. This thing had some weight to it.
It sat motionless for a few seconds and then began to move up and down on all eight of its legs. I have no idea what that meant but it seemed like some sort of spider fighting stance to me and I turned and bolted. I slid down the rise I had crested moments earlier and crashed through the branches, ivy whipping at my face. I burst through the trees and was out. Noise flooded into my ears and head. Trucks, cars and voices. A baby screaming, it was awesome. And there was Thor, sitting on the grass as if he'd never been gone.
I finally got the web off my face and neck. It took a bit though as it seemed to embed itself into the fabric of my shirt. We left and later I looked for that spider on the internet. It's called a Golden Silk Spider and is native to the area.
Anyway, I thought I'd share that story with you.