Spiders were something I was never afraid of. Even as a kid they never phased me. Same with most Creepy Crawlies. If anything I loved bugs then. Still do now.
It's hard to say where that love came from. Might have been from cartoons.
Though I don't blame you if you hate them. Arachnophobia might be one of the most common phobias in the world. My town might have the biggest case of Arachnophobia though.
That's because of the town's local legend "Itsy Bitsy".
Itsy Bitsy was (according to those who claim to have seen it) an 8ft humanoid spider-like creature that lived deep into the woods. I don't remember much of the original story but I'll try to recollect as much as I can.
In the 1950s a married couple was driving through a path in the woods late at night. As they were driving the wife claimed to have seen something moving among the trees. The husband dismissed his wife.
Then the car suddenly stopped. The couple was confused. The husband tried to get the car to drive forward but he couldn't. He told his wife to stay in the car and he got out of it.
He looks at the front tires and sees that they are covered in thick webbing.
Suddenly, they hear a voice. A strange cheery voice singing.
"The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the water spout…"
The couple was reasonably afraid at this point but before they could do anything about it the husband was yanked up from the air by an unseen force. Then was slammed back down onto the car. The wife screamed, got out of the car, and ran off.
There have been tons of sightings and encounters since then. All of them including the creature singing that old song.
I never believed in Itsy Bitsy. Even as a kid. The story was entertaining though.
I was 17 I think. My parents forced me to join them at the family reunion. Deep in that forest. Just like every year.
I hated going to these. They were so boring and I barely remember anyone that was there. Other than a few uncles and aunts.
I decided to just slip into the woods and just wander around. I don't know how far I went. It must have been far because I couldn't find the trail anymore.
There was something on the trees. Just a strangely large amount of webbing. I looked at it puzzlingly. I've never seen this much in one place before.
The trees were completely covered. It didn't make sense at all. But there was also a strange large shape in the webbing. I went to take a closer look.
It was vaguely shaped like a human. I started to pull at webs. Ripping off large clumps of it.
There it was.
A withered husk of a person. It looked like it was completely hollow. Its body was covered in this yellow goopy liquid.
That's when I heard it.
"The Itsy Bitsy Spider…"
