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Halloween Playlist
A Sticky Web of Spidery Songs
In this time of ghouls, goblins, and 8-legged arachnids, I’ve assembled a playlist Peter Parker would be proud of
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
I didn’t always appreciate spiders.
Growing up, my parents were deathly afraid of them. As a kid, I followed suit, fearing the scary, creepy-crawly arachnids, that seemed to always appear out of nowhere. I imagined their long, hairy legs climbing across my arms and face. I would often walk through the sticky webs that they’d weave across doorways and walkways. Broken web fragments would get in my hair and on my clothes, and it gave me the chills.
When I was twelve, my friend Howard got a Mexican red-knee tarantula for his birthday. (Which he named Ben, after the titular rat in the 1972 movie and accompanying Michael Jackson song, “Ben”). Howard kept Ben in an aquarium in his bedroom.
Not wanting to appear like a scaredy-cat, I let Howard put Ben in the palm of my hand. I was seriously freaking out, and I was sure my sweating, sharing hand would cause Ben to bite me. After five seconds of torture, I made Howard take him back. “Amazing, right?” Howard said to me, beaming.
