The informant said she first heard about the Two-Striped Telamonia spider while living in Florida  via a friend who fell victim to a chain email. She said that her friend approached her at school and warned her to check under every toilet seat before she sat down. Why?

According to the informant’s friend, the Two-Striped Telamonia was a species of spider that had a penchant for making its home underneath toilet seats. The spiders were supposedly extremely aggressive and would bite anyone who sat down on the toilet. They were also supposedly incredibly poisonous. “She really scared me at first,” the informant said of her friend, “but when she told me she read it in an email forwarded from her own mother, I pretty much dismissed it as an urban legend.” However, the informant admitted that she was spooked enough to check under toilet seats for a couple of weeks following her friend’s story.

The Two-Striped Telamonia is apparently one of Florida’s most well-known urban legends. Many people fell victim to the story, and a day-long statewide spider scare started up as a result of the story. “Stuff like this relies on gullibility and fear,” said the informant, “otherwise it wouldn’t spread as far. People want to believe these sorts of conspiracy theories.”