Little Miss Muffet

I know it's not Halloween yet, but this is a creepy story:


I know it's not very clear in this picture- but can you tell what kind of spider this is? I was happily running some mail out to our box when I opened the front door and saw this swinging from our wreath. It was dead and I thought it would make a good blog (it's so big and ugly) so I took about ten pictures, putting my hand about four inches behind it so that I could show perspective, etc.


Finally, I decided I should get a shoe and knock it down. I found one (it was Mark's, you can't smash something this ugly with a girl's shoe). I went to swing at it and it started running up it's thread- "ahh, (loud scream)... it's alive!" I whacked it and it exploded all over the glass door- so disgusting! It still makes me shiver- At first I thought it was a brown recluse, but Mark found some pictures to compare it with where it looks like it was probably a harmless orb weaver spider. This is what a brown recluse looks like in a clear picture off the web (bad pun intended). Most brown recluses have skinny bodies though.


No matter what kind of spider it was I'm glad I didn't have to touch it! Life tip: Don't put your hand next to 'dead' spiders!