# What is this invisible stringy stuff that seems to fall from the sky at night? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011 "2009-05-11T10:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/1 "2009-05-11T10:17:13Z")
Occasionally I’ll be walking along outside (almost always at night), and I’ll suddenly feel a sensation that some very light stringy substance like a spider web has fallen on my skin. Except usually there is absolutely nothing around me that it could be connected to if it were in fact a spider web, and when I look at myself I don’t see anything. I swear I’m not crazy though… does anyone know what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/2 "2009-05-11T10:50:08Z")
Young spiders will “parachute” by releasing a strand of webbing into a breeze and float in the air for quite a distance before landing somewhere. So you wouldn’t expect to find a nice orb web built in your path because there isn’t any. You are walking into these long strands of webbing material from the parachuting spiders. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/3 "2009-05-11T11:33:28Z")
The interstellar s;piders are casting their webs for you, but so far they aren’t big enough. Give them a couple of days, and then they’ll be big enough to start hauling you in. Then you can look forward to this: > **[Eight Legs of Love: A new webcomic discovery \[NSFW\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=517015)** > > \[noparse\]http://www.oglaf.com/8legs.html\[/noparse\] I love webcomics. There is no way this would ever get published where I would be able to find it. The comic also has some somewhat subtle strips, like the fountain of doubt. And I love the drawing... ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/4 "2009-05-11T12:58:38Z")
Are you sure it’s not [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(Pern))? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/5 "2009-05-11T13:48:19Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > Young spiders will “parachute” by releasing a strand of webbing into a breeze and float in the air for quite a distance before landing somewhere. It’s called [ballooning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballooning_(spider)). ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/6 "2009-05-11T17:31:43Z")
Sometimes when the Sun hits just right, you can see these web strands. They can be pretty long. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-invisible-stringy-stuff-that-seems-to-fall-from-the-sky-at-night/496011/7 "2009-05-11T19:37:17Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I swear I’m not crazy though… That’s what all the folks with delusional parasitosis say.