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Just Plain Weird Stories
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| Solpugid Eremobates sp. Small Western U.S. species; much larger Near East species are called "camel spiders" but are not spiders. (from a photo by Ken Davis) Click image to enlarge |
Myth: In the deserts of the Near East, there are "camel spiders" that anaesthetize sleeping humans and eat large chunks of their flesh.
Fact: This legend is widespread in Arab countries
(dating back more than 200 years) but was unknown in North America until it was disseminated by Gulf War veterans
and repeated by the uninformed narrator of a TV documentary. Since this section
was originally written, a much more extensive body of "camel spider"
legends has arisen from the Iraq war; the newer ones are discussed in the
next section.
"Camel spider" is a common name for solpugids, large non-spider
arachnids found in desert regions. Solpugids (possibly excepting one species
in India) have no venom, not even an anaesthetic, nor any means of delivering
a venom even if they had any, and are strictly predatory on smaller creatures.
A few soldiers (and a lot more civiians) have written me claiming this legend is, nonetheless, true.
But not a single one has been able to supply the name, rank and serial number
of any victim – or even just a name! It always happened to "a friend,"
the friend never has a name, and no matter how far down the line you follow
the story, that elusive named person is always at least one "friend"
away. That's how urban legends work.
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