# Spider attack

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 6, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652 "1999-06-06T02:40:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652/1 "1999-06-06T02:40:00Z")

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Every 3 years or so my domicile experiences a mild infestation of small black spiders (w/a little spot of color (greyish) on their backs). Myself and other occassional denizens of the joint have noticed that these little critters pass us in the air w/the appearance that they have jumped from the roof or the balcony or whatever (only happens outside) w/the intention of landing on us and have just barely missed. Now I’ve seen lots of other spiders descending from somewhere on a thread, but these guys have no thread going - they’re in free fall.

So, the question is, are there some spiders out there who really are targeting us humans and pounce from above, or are my friends and I just miscontruing some other aspect of certain spiders’ behavior?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 1999, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652/2 "1999-06-06T02:49:00Z")

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Uhh… what have you guys been smoking?

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“The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.” -George Carlin

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 1999, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652/3 "1999-06-06T05:24:00Z")

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You sure that they aren’t ballooning? Young spiders leaving the nest cast out just enoughthread for the wind to lift them into the air (in the fashion of a cartoon having a kite lift a small child). They’re just trying to leave home.  
If they have large heads and short- to medium-length legs, they are probably jumping spiders (my favorites) and you can often find their cousins patrolling the screens in your doors and windows during the summer.

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Tom~

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 1999, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-attack/652/4 "1999-06-06T10:23:00Z")

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- 
  - 
    - Kinda off topic - ticks will climb bluffs and jump onto you from above. They only do it part of the year, and they don’t seem to climb trees. Somebody told me this but I didn’t believe it until I saw it myself. There was lots and lots of them, but they don’t aim well. It sounded like light rain on a sunny day. Everybody present panicked and ran like hell; there are some things life just can’t prepare you for. - MC