Imagine this: a man goes on vacation, only to return with a story so bizarre that it could belong in a horror movie.
A story involving a spider—an actual spider—crawling into his body through an old scar and making its way up to his chest.
While this may sound like the stuff of nightmares, it’s the real-life tale of Dylan Thomas, an Australian from Bunbury in Western Australia, who claims that during a trip to Bali, he experienced just that.
The sensational story quickly caught the public’s attention.
Thomas, after feeling a “searing sensation” near his old appendix scar, discovered that a tropical spider had made a rather unwelcome journey through his body.
According to Thomas, after a few days of taking antihistamines and feeling worse, doctors were able to locate the creature.
Thomas then shared this chilling experience with his friends on Facebook, telling them that after some tests, it was confirmed that the spider had been “living inside of him” for three days.
At first, it sounds absolutely terrifying and even possible.
After all, the idea of a spider sneaking into your body and moving through it might strike a morbid curiosity in all of us.
But as with most outlandish claims, it’s important to take a step back and analyze what’s really happening here.
Immediate Reward: Is This Really Possible?
The human body, especially after surgery, can be a place of vulnerability.
Scars and open wounds leave entry points for all sorts of things, both helpful and harmful.
It’s not entirely beyond the realm of possibility that something could crawl into the body through a scar.
So, when Thomas reported that a spider made its way under his skin, it certainly seemed plausible to some.
In fact, this story has many of us questioning just how safe our own bodies are from strange, crawling intruders.
The sensation that Thomas described, a “burning, searing feeling,” could easily be attributed to a number of medical conditions, including allergic reactions or even localized infections.
The odd sensation around his abdomen near the scar may have been enough to prompt the idea that something foreign had entered his body, particularly something as dramatic as a tropical spider.
While this mysterious encounter might sound like the premise of a thrilling tale, scientists are stepping in to provide a clearer understanding of what really might have been going on.
Pattern Interrupt: Challenging the Spider Theory
As compelling as Thomas’s account is, scientists are casting doubt on the plausibility of the story.
Arachnid expert Christopher Buddle from McGill University outright dismissed the idea of a spider crawling beneath the skin.
“I think this is extremely suspect, unusual, and likely not possible,” he told Lauren Davis from io9.
Buddle explained that spiders are not biologically equipped to move under the skin in the way Thomas described.
He further clarified that the claim of the spider feeding and migrating through the scar tissue just didn’t align with what we know about the biology of spiders.
The skepticism doesn’t end with Buddle.
Marie Herberstein, the Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University in Australia, echoed similar doubts, saying, “I have never heard of any spider crawling or existing under the skin of any other creature.”
She further added that there are no known spider parasites that could behave in the manner described in Thomas’s story.
While she wasn’t ruling out the possibility entirely, Herberstein suggested that it might have been a mite—which, like a spider, has eight legs but behaves very differently.
Why does this matter?
If the experts are correct, then what Thomas experienced wasn’t likely to be a spider at all.
Instead, it could have been a different type of organism altogether—a mite or tick perhaps.
And that changes everything about the way we should understand his account.
The Alternative Explanation: Could It Have Been a Mite or Tick?
The idea that a tiny, often invisible creature might be responsible for this unsettling sensation makes sense when we consider the biological characteristics of certain arthropods.
Unlike spiders, which are not known to burrow under skin, mites and ticks are far more adept at hiding and embedding themselves in the skin of their hosts.
Mites, in particular, are incredibly small and can be difficult to spot.
While they’re not typically known to crawl into human bodies, certain species can burrow into skin or even travel beneath the skin’s surface, causing irritation.
Additionally, ticks are notorious for attaching themselves to their hosts and can crawl into even the smallest crevices, including scar tissue.
In fact, it’s possible that what Thomas felt was the irritation caused by the movement of such a creature under his skin, rather than the dramatic and terrifying imagery of a spider crawling through his abdomen.
How Did the Doctors Get It Wrong?
The most puzzling part of Thomas’s story is the diagnosis.
Thomas says the doctors in Bali were the ones who identified the creature as a tropical spider.
This is where the story seems to run into some issues. If indeed it was a mite or tick, the doctors may not have had the experience or tools to properly identify it as such.
In tropical regions like Bali, where a wide variety of small arthropods exist, it’s easy to see how a misdiagnosis could occur.
Without proper examination and perhaps identification through a lab test, the diagnosis of a “spider” seems plausible but ultimately incorrect.
Scientists who spoke to Lauren Davis for io9 speculated that the creature Thomas experienced might have been pulled from his body during the tests, but it’s more likely that it was a different kind of parasite.
After all, mites and ticks are much more likely to inhabit human bodies without being immediately detected, making them far more probable than an actual spider living in a human body.
The Final Verdict: Was It a Spider?
While Thomas’s account certainly provides an eerie image of a spider living inside a human body, scientific evidence strongly suggests otherwise.
The mechanics of how spiders behave biologically simply don’t support the idea that a spider could crawl through scar tissue and live within a person’s body for days, let alone make its way up to their sternum.
Instead, it’s far more likely that Thomas’s experience was caused by a mite or tick—two small creatures that are far more adept at burrowing under the skin and causing localized irritation.
But despite these more likely explanations, the mystery remains unsolved, as the specimen in question (reportedly still sitting in a jar somewhere) has yet to surface for a final identification.
In the end, Dylan Thomas’s story serves as a reminder of just how susceptible we are to our own imaginations when faced with strange medical phenomena.
While we may long for sensational stories of spiders and other creatures infiltrating our bodies, the real explanation—while less horrifying—is no less fascinating in its own right.
For now, though, we’re left with a tantalizing story and a lingering question: Was it a spider, or was it something else entirely?
Sources: The Age, io9
