The Spider Bite or The Red Spot is a modern urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

 that emerged in Europe during the 1970s. It features a young woman who is bitten

Spider bite

A spider bite is an injury resulting from the bites of spiders or other closely related arachnids.Spiders are active hunters and rely heavily on their bites to paralyze and kill their prey before consuming it. They also bite in self defense...

 on the cheek

Cheek

Cheeks constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. They may also be referred to as jowls. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve...

 by a spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

. The bite swells into a large boil and soon bursts open to reveal hundreds of tiny spiders escaping from her cheek.

Plot

The legend features a young woman from an ordinary, northern location (England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, etc.), who is on vacation abroad in an exotic, southern location (Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, etc.). While sunbathing on the beach, she is bitten on the cheek by a spider. The bite swells into a large boil and she rushes home to seek medical treatment. She finds a doctor to lance the boil then hundreds of tiny spiders come running out of her cheek. She then goes insane from the shock.

Variations

In other versions, a young girl is asleep while a spider crawls across her face and rests on her cheek for a few moments. The next morning, she asks her mother about the red spot on her cheek and the mother responds, "It looks like a spider bite. It will go away, just don't scratch it." As time passes, the spot grows into a small boil. She confronts her mother again and complains that it is getting larger and that it's sore. The mother replies, "That happens sometimes, it's coming to a head." More days pass and the girl complains that it hurts and is unsightly. Finally concerned that it might be infected, the mother agrees to take her to a doctor, but he is not available until the next day. In order to soothe herself that evening, the girl takes a bath. As she soaks, the boil to bursts and releases a swarm of baby spiders into the water from the eggs that the mother had laid.

In the telling the story, there are versions that are set in one's own country instead of being abroad (e.g. a Midwestern woman who is bitten in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

). Usually, when the story is told to others, the location of the incident is quite specific.

History

The legend of The Spider Bite emerged as a modern legend in Europe in the late 1970s, but it echoes earlier manifestations of the bosom-serpent story type, where all types of creatures enter the body and sometimes reproduce there. Modern folklorists adopted the term bosom-serpent from Nathaniel Hawthorne's

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

 1843 short story, Egotism, or, the Bosom Serpent

Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent

"Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The author originally intended for the story to appear in a collection entitled Allegories of the Heart. It was first published in the March, 1843 edition of The United States Magazine and Democratic Review...

. The term is now used to generalize other legends in which living creatures enter the human body. In bosom-serpent type legends, the creatures usually have to be removed surgically, but sometimes they depart on their own, or even burst from the skin.

Interpretations

This urban legend provides a social commentary about the perception of the people who consider southern locales to be less clean, and more dangerous than their own home turf. Spiders are loathed by many people, but poisonous, hairy, or especially large spiders make frequent appearances in legends. Spiders in urban legends have often taken cover in a variety of items ranging from cactus plants and food, to hairdos and within the human body, so it is natural to have a fear of invasion. Bengt af Klintberg's

Bengt af Klintberg

Bengt Knut Erik af Klintberg is a Swedish ethnologist who has become known for his work on modern urban legends and reached a large audience with his books Råttan i pizzan and Den stulna njuren .Klintberg was also co-host Bengt Knut Erik af Klintberg (b. 25 December 1938 in Stockholm) is a...

 work in urban legends elaborates and explains that as a consequence of the absence of spiders in the modern urban environment, they have now assumed mythical proportions in our narrative tradition. The 1990 film, Arachnophobia

Arachnophobia (film)

Arachnophobia is a 1990 American comedy horror film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures....

exploited this universal fear. Analysts have also suggested that bosom-serpent legends may represent pregnancy fears or fantasies.