This Maniac Let a Black Widow Spider Crawl All Over Him

Natural human instinct and everything you've ever learned about venomous insects would compel most of us to steer clear of black widow spiders, whose venomous bites not only induce hellish symptoms in humans, but have also killed their fair share of people. Not so for professional daredevil Coyote Peterson, who just released a video of himself catching one in the wild, and letting it crawl all over him. 

If you're unfamiliar with Peterson, he's basically a walking, talking one-man version of the series Fear Factor, criss-crossing the globe subjecting himself to all manner of bites, stings, and gross-as-hell foods in the interest of teaching the public about animals, insects, and nature. In this instance, his intent was to dispel the notion that black widows are out to bite you by displaying how calmly they behave when unprovoked. Spoiler alert: the big honkin' spider didn't bite him (at least not on camera).

In the video (the action starts around the 4:45 mark), you'll see him scoop up a female -- with a signature red hourglass shape on its abdomen -- from a web it was spinning in the fire pit in his backyard and let it begin exploring his arm. As she crawls up and down his arm and onto his hand, he notices her covering him with sticky spiderweb, prompting him to nervously remove her for fear that she'll get caught up in it and startle herself, and lay a good bite into him as a result. It should go without saying, but don't try this at home. For that matter, if you're ever  bitten by a black widow or any other type of venomous spider, seek medical attention immediately.

Deep breaths, arachnophobes.

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.