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Terrifying giant 5-foot spiders spotted in Congo

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Spiders might exist that have crawled out of nightmares. They’re called the “J’ba FoFi” (giant spider, pronounced ch-bah foo fee) in Central Africa.

Many people might define a giant spider as one that’s bigger than their hand. Some may think bigger and envision the horrifying Goliath ‘bird eating spider’ that dwells in the darker corners of the ancient Amazon rain forest. That eight-legged terror spans a whopping 14-inches.

Unfortunately, those people aren’t thinking big enough.

The Congolese Giant spider

The size of the Congolese Giant spider-when its legs are included-is said to be up to five feet across.

According to cryptozoologists (researchers that investigate unknown creatures that have not been recognized by orthodox science), most of the J’ba FoFi dwell in the Congo. Natives tell stories of the giant web-nests the spiders build, similar to a trap-door spider.

Most of the many anecdotal tales describe the spiders digging a shallow tunnel under tree roots and camouflaging it with a large bed of leaves.  Then they create an almost invisible web between their burrow and a nearby tree, booby-trapping the whole thing with a network of trip lines. Some hapless creature—soon to end up on the menu—will trip the line alerting the spider. The victim will be chased into the web. This predatory entrapment is similar to some species of tarantula.

Presumably, the J’ba FoFi eggs are a pale yellow-white and shaped like peanuts. Native claim the hatchlings are bright yellow with a purple abdomen. Their coloration becomes darker and brown as they mature.

Some of the natives indigenous to the regions in the Congo where the J’ba FoFi has been seen assert that the spider was once quite common, but has become very rare.

A terrifying encounter

Other than the testimonies of natives, the fullest account by Westerners appears in a cryptozoological book by George Eberhart. On page 204, Eberhart relates the terrifying experience of an English couple traveling through a jungle region of what is now called the Congo:

“R.K. Lloyd and his wife were motoring in the Belgium Congo in 1938 when they saw a large object crossing the trail in front of them. At first, they thought it was a cat or monkey, but they soon realized it was a spider with legs [spanning] nearly 3 feet [across].” [1]

Famous naturalist and cryptozoologist, William J. Gibbons, has hunted for what some think may be a living African dinosaur called Mokele-mbembe. On his third expedition in search of the creature he came upon natives who related their experiences  with giant spiders. He shared his experience with  readers upon his return to Canada:

“On this third expedition to Equatorial Africa, I took the opportunity to inquire if the pygmies knew of such a creature [giant spider], and indeed they did! They speak of the Jba Fofi, which is a “giant” or “great spider.” They described a spider that is generally brown in color with a purple abdomen. They grow to quite an enormous size with a leg span of at least five feet. The giant arachnids weave together a lair made of leaves similar in shape to a traditional pygmy hut, and spin a circular web (said to be very strong) between two trees with a strand stretched across a game trail.”

This is exactly the same description that other researchers have heard. Although the spider seems to have been spotted mostly in the Congo, there are reports of the same—or similar—spiders inhabiting Uganda and the Central African Republic.

“These giant ground-dwelling spiders prey on the diminutive forest antelope, birds, and other small game, and are said to be extremely dangerous, not to mention highly venomous,” Gibbons states. “The spiders are said to lay white, peanut-sized eggs in a cluster, and the pygmies give them a wide birth when encountered, but have killed them in the past. The giant spiders were once very common but are now a rare sight.”

Many of the natives describe the spiders as once being numerous, but now a vanishing species. Encroachment by civilization in the form of rain forest being converted to farming may have driven the spiders from their natural habitats.

[Although their numbers are dwindling] they are still encountered from time to time. The Baka chief, Timbo, casually mentioned to us that a giant spider had taken up residence in the forest just behind his village in November 2000, when I and Dave Woetzel from New Hampshire had visited him! He did not think that we would have been interested in the creature as our interest was focused on Mokele-mbembe at the time! Valuable evidence had eluded us.”

Entire article plus footnotes and links here.

Twitter: twitter.com/TerrenceAym

© Copyright AYM Communications. 2010



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    Total 20 comments
    • seagate08

      I’m never ever going to the Congo!!!

      • Ambicatus

        as a person in africa,i can tell you there is far weirder stuff here. its wiiiiild up north.

    • Tom Dennen, the paranoid historian

      I thought it was Feefifo … and there were some beans involved …

    • xdrfox

      there that big in my backyard with my magnifying glass…:)

    • Tom Dennen, the paranoid historian

      Honey, I shrank the …

    • BIN Admin

      Obviously photoshopped.. those spiders are from Senegal, not Congo.

    • Tom Dennen, the paranoid historian

      Senagal, Disneyworld …

    • Anonymous

      You guys are always putting up crap making this news site on the level of the same.

    • Decode the World

      The actual 14-inch bird-eating spider is creepy enough for me.

    • Decode the World

      Anonymous @5:15….don’t take it so seriously….it’s under the STRANGE category…what did you expect…NORMAL? ;-)

    • building 5

      need a can of Raid,…no, make that a 55 gallon barrel.

    • Anonymous

      You know, this site needs editors of its content if it’s ever going to survive. Honestly, if you want a site of myths, hoaxes and fiction, you need to name it accordingly. This site’s theme is early breaking important news. You guys should be ashamed of yourself not to mention beingt quite desperate for attention. Shame! Shame! Shame on you1

      • truthlovingsoul

        like it or not, bin allows all stories and if they start censoring, THAT will be the end of their site. who will decide what is valid, important, true or not? do you want someone to censor a story YOU post because they think it is not legit or doubtful as being true in some way?
        if you don’t like it, move along!

    • Patriot4America

      I agree with Anonymus, this is retarded! Are you freaking kidding me??!!!!! Get real people!!! There are more important things to worry about! Like the blood sucking leaches in D.C.

    • Sequentis

      Some of you guys are knobs. You are moaning about the authenticity of the story saying it’s a lot of crap but despite that you are here reading it? The title of this story is quite obvious so if you knew it was gonna piss you off why read it? In future do not read anything that you know in yourself that you wont believe it instead of reading it and whining like a big girl.

    • Tom Dennen, the paranoid historian

      the word ‘authenticity’ means something a little different to me…

    • Sequentis

      HA! Yeah sorry, I had a moment of word blindness.

    • Face Kisser

      Ah! This is not real!

    • Anonymous

      Of course it’s photoshopped! I don’t believe you were expected to think otherwise. The lack of any captions linking the photos to the articles suggests that they were intended to be extraneous eye candy and not actual illustrations of the articles content.

    • mfritz0

      Of course no pictures or video.

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