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Man Found ‘Tickling’ in His Earmuffs Was Actually a Huge Spider

He felt something moving in his ear while working and wondered where it came from.
spider
For illustrative purposes only. Photo: Dev Leigh, Unsplash

Picture this. You set up your laptop, plug in your headphones, and get ready to watch “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” but halfway through an episode, you feel an itch in your ear. You take off the headphones and see a huge spider hiding inside. What would you do? Run? Scream? Set the headphones on fire?

Well, a similar situation happened to an Australian plumber and he didn't even flinch.

Olly Hurst was going about his day in Perth, Australia when he felt a tickling sensation in his ear. He pulled out his earmuffs to reveal a huge huntsman spider burrowed in the corner. But instead of bolting off in the opposite direction, he decided to hang around and record a video for a quick Instagram post with the #surprise.

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Hurst shared the video on his personal Instagram. Then it went viral and got picked up by ABC Perth. It shows Hurst inspecting the earmuffs with his very own commentary.

"I absolutely knew I could feel something tickling my ear. Hmmm, nasty," Hurst said whilst giving a close-up shot of the frightening arachnid.

He then gave the earmuffs a few good shakes in an attempt to get the spider out, but the creepy-crawly did not budge.

“It doesn't want to come out. He's happy in there."

He pulled the earmuffs close to the camera, gave a good laugh, and dropped them onto the floor. ABC Perth’s Facebook post of the video has garnered around 1,600 reactions and over 6,000 comments as of posting.

“Oh my lordy… I'd scream, then throw them and run far far away," one comment said. “[I] think I’d just cry,” said another.

An average huntsman spider is about 1 inch long and has a leg span of up to 5 inches. However, a giant huntsman spider could have a leg span of up to 12 inches.

Many of the reactions to the video were over the top but huge spiders aren’t exactly uncommon in Australia. The country is crawling with the world's deadliest spiders. Among the over 2,000 species of arachnids in Australia, the huntsman spider isn't even considered dangerous. As with most spiders, they do contain a little venom, however, they are quite reluctant to bite, and will usually try to run away rather than be aggressive.