The Rain of Spiders
In a Brazilian town, people looked up to see thousands of spiders hanging in the air above the road, as if they were raining from the sky.
What was reported
In February 2013, a resident of Santo Antônio da Platina filmed what looked like a shower of spiders: thousands of them suspended in the air along a roadside, against the sky. The video spread around the world. Similar scenes have been filmed in other parts of Brazil since.
It looked like the spiders were falling, or flying.
Explanations offered
They were a social spider species, Anelosimus eximius, which lives in colonies of thousands. They had strung a huge, almost invisible web between trees and poles, and were sitting on it, waiting to catch insects. Elsewhere, spiders really can float through the air on threads, which is called ballooning.
- When
- 2013, and other years
- Where
- Santo Antônio da Platina, Paraná, Brazil
- Witnesses
- Townspeople, and millions who saw the videos
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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