This is creepy as fuck and sounds like something out of one of those R.L. Stine Goosebumps books that used to terrify me when I was a kid.
A civilian alerted the cops that there were some weird animals in an abandoned house in County Carlow, and they went into investigate and found over 100 spiders in there, many of which were deadly. They included tarantulas, black widows and funnel web spiders – which are considered the most dangerous species of spider in the world. There were also some scorpions there as well. Fuck that.
It’s not been said if the animals were just crawling around the house or locked up in cages but I like to think they were just left to their own devices roaming around the house as that is way creepier and more terrifying. It’s likely they were all boxed up though as it was said that the previous owner of the house – who’s name wasn’t released – left all of the creatures there when he fled the property for unknown reasons.
National Exotic Animal Sanctuary (NEAS) manager Kevin Cunningham explained the situation:
We had to go in with an expert, catalogue all the species and have the potentially lethal ones like the black widow and funnel-web spiders — which can kill you — destroyed.
It’s believed that he bought all of the animals online, which has also heightened fears that some may have escaped in transit and be on the loose. If you’re from County Carlow then make sure you watch out for giant spiders. Seriously.
Apparently this isn’t that weird an occurrence in Ireland and there are many people in Ireland who own dangerous animals like spiders, tigers, bears and snakes. I’m not sure if that’s a trait unique to Ireland or it happens over here as well, but however you like at it it’s really weird.
