I heard that it’s 12. If anyone can give me a website with documented proof of this, I’d appreciate it a lot. THANKS! =)
“I sink, therefore I swam.”
Actually the number is more like 8 in a lifetime.
That has been “proved” a number of times in a number of well-circulated “Internet lists.”
I think this is a weird urban legend derived from facts about dust mites. Mites are arachnids, hence the mistaken connection to spiders. Mites live in our bedclothes, eating dust which is created by decomposing flesh. Mmmmm mmm I wish I were a dust mite. Anyway, the theory is that, in your sleep, you might actually inhale or swallow sum. Getting dust mite excrement in your nose is the cause of certain allergies.
So I don’t think there will be any links to sites about nocturnal spider eating. Could be wrong though.
I think the confusion arises from the fact that spiders come in packs of 8, yet the little crackers you put them on for snacking come in packs of 12.
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
Well, I’m having a plateful tonight, but it’s a long weekend . . .
Hey Elmer, have you seen those new “cracker-length spiders”? I want some of those. I’m sick of the spiders hanging off the edges of the cracker all the time.
I don’t know, Boris. I kind of like nibbling off the overhanging appendages before biting into the main course. I especially like it when I discover a forgoten spider leg stuck between my teeth several hours later. It’s the kind of snack you can enjoy twice.
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
My personal record is 768. In all honesty, though, I must qualify that feat:
- It was the winter solstice, so the night was real long, and;
- I ate just spiders, no dip or side dishes, and;
- they were small spiders. If they were, like, you know, tarantulas, or something, I probably could not have eaten more than 50.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Fried tarantula legs with a nice dipping sauce… mmmmmmm
Creeping ever so slowly back towards the OP…
I coulda swore Unca Cece covered this, but I can’t find it. Anyway, I’d heard that this figure is an aggregate amount. We don’t actually swallow whole spiders, but various spider parts that are part of the usual flotsam and jetsam of house dust. Over the course of (a year? a lifetime?) one inhales the equivalent of x number of spiders.
Isn’t dust 80% human skin? How many people a year do we eat?
Eeeuuuuwwwwww! Yuckk!
Just one, every night she’s in town. 
“The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord
If you eat the same person multiple times, do you get a cumulative total? If so, lots! 
Kinda like fried calamari. Love those crunchy little tentacles!
You bed, however clean it is, is FULL Of dust mites. You eat them when you sleep. Yummy, kinda like a side dish to humans.
If this is the kind of knowledge that science brings us, I want no part of it. I’m ready to go back to the dark ages now, if it means I don’t have to know about dust mites.
gives everyone who posted an amused look Well, thanks everyone, for your exciting and interesting answers.
“I sink, therefore I swam.”
Someone above asked: How many people do we eat? said in jest.
Since each of us is made of atoms that have been around since the big bang, we are actually somewhere about 12 billion or so years of age. When we consume dairy products, meat, vegetables or fruit we are most assuredly consuming atoms that were once in living people. Therefore in reality, we do eat people.
Nutritious and delicious, tastes just like Spam!