Alarmed residents in Goulburn, Australia, awoke to find their town and properties shrouded in eerie, silken webs, while millions of tiny spiders rained down from above! Experts say that such arachnid rains aren’t as uncommon as you might think. Great news for those who suffer from arachnophobia. Last month’s spider downpour is an example of a phenomenon known as “spider rain”, or “angel hair” because of the silky, hairlike threads the spider leave behind. I definitely wouldn’t call it “angel hair” more like “heart-attack rain”. It is also known as “ballooning” which is when colonies of spiders climb to the tops of trees and then leap off, using their web as makeshift parachutes. They do this to quickly move from place to place, and strong winds can carry them several miles. Parachuting spiders! I’ll just say that again for all you arachnophobes, parachuting spiders.
Resident Ian Watson told the Sydney Morning Herald that his house looked like it had been “abandoned and taken over by spiders” adding “The whole place was covered in these little black spiderlings and when I looked up at the sun it was like this tunnel of webs going up for a couple of hundred meters into the sky”.
Mystified by the phenomenon — and frustrated by the tiny arachnids getting caught in his beard — Watson did what anyone in his situation would do: He turned to the Internet to find out more.
As if Australia doesn’t have enough terrifying aspects including a number of dangerous animals like snakes and crocodiles, and of course Wolf Creek’s Mick Taylor, it has spiders that fall from the sky!
