There are few things in this life that creep me out. However, there is one thing that will make me freeze solid not being able to utter a word, or will get me up on a chair screaming like a little girl--Spiders!

My fear of the Arachnid first came to being when I crawled under a house to fetch a baseball that had inadvertantly rolled under there during a neighborhood game on Chapman Street in Presque Isle, Maine, during a hot summer day.  Even though I was last to be chosen as sides were picked, I was first to be elected to retrieve the only ball we had among us.

Peeking through the opening into the abyss, I could see the whiteness of the stitched orb in the distance. Crawling across the moist dirt like a solider during boot camp training, I made my way towards the ball. It was only after I picked it up that my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. As I looked around, there were so many webs surrounding me with spiders of different sizes and shapes that they could not be counted. It was then that I noticed that were a few crawling on me. With a scream and a super-human like scurry I shot through the opening from which I entered with ball--amazingly--still in hand. Of course my friends laughed like no tomorrow, I mean who wouldn't. Hence, began my fear of the eight legged creature.

When I stumbled across the story of a Chinese woman who went to the doctor because of intense itching inside her ear, my fears were once again justified.

But please, click the link and read the story for yourself. And may you sleep better tonight knowing that scientists say that a spider is no more than ten feet away from you at any given time. Sleep tight!

Here's the link:

More From WQCB Brewer Maine