Spiders — Mexican red-knee tarantula on soil next to a rock and branch

Spiders

2003viral subjectclassic

Published September 28, 2026

Spiders are eight-legged arthropods that anchored some of the web's earliest viral animal content, starting with the 2003 'Clock Spider' photo posted to a Klipsch audio forum from Darwin, Australia1. Over the following decade, YouTube uploads like 'Spiders On Drugs' and 'Trolling A Spider' turned arachnid clips into a recurring meme category, blending real arachnophobia with prank comedy.

animal memes forum era memes early internet memes horror memes australian memes

Overview

Spider content online splits into two broad modes. The first plays on the fear reflex, close-up photos and videos of huntsman spiders, tarantulas, or crowded webs of daddy long legs, often reposted with captions telling readers to burn the house down1. The second is comedic, ranging from mockumentary edits that fake pharmacological experiments on arachnids to prank clips where a person torments a spider with an object24.

The Clock Spider photo set a template, an enormous spider hidden in an ordinary domestic space, that forum posters and image boards mimicked for years1. Reddit's /r/spiders, launched in 2009, took the opposite tack, treating arachnids as subjects for species ID and appreciation rather than horror5. The two attitudes, revulsion and enthusiasm, still shape how spider clips travel between platforms.

Origin & Background

Platform
Klipsch Home Audio Forums / YouTube (viral spread)
Date
2003

On April 4th, 2003, Klipsch Home Audio Forums user kenrat boy started a thread titled 'Look at this wolf spider!' with photographs of a large huntsman spider found behind a wall clock in a Darwin, Australia home1. The images circulated online for years afterward and earned the arachnid the nickname 'Clock Spider'5. Forum replies set the tone that later spider content followed, with one poster writing that they would 'scream like a 6 year old little girl' if they saw it on their wall1.

How It Spread

Spider content moved onto video platforms in the mid-2000s. On December 30th, 2006, YouTuber Andrew Struthers uploaded 'Spiders On Drugs,' a mockumentary staging a wood spider on various psychoactive substances2. The video pulled in over 36 million views and 34,000 comments in its first eight years5. Months later, on March 10th, 2007, uploader JCVdude posted footage of a giant tarantula resting on his hand3.

The community side developed on Reddit. On July 7th, 2009, the /r/spiders subreddit launched for arachnid discussion and species identification, passing 14,800 subscribers within five years5. On May 24th, 2012, YouTuber CcanCcaglar uploaded 'Trolling A Spider,' a prank clip that pulled in more than 2 million views4. On December 28th, 2013, Vine user paglo posted a clip of himself disturbing a cluster of daddy long legs that collected roughly 105,000 revines and 93,000 likes over six months5.

Timeline

2003-04-04

Klipsch Home Audio Forums user kenrat boy posts the 'Clock Spider' huntsman photos from Darwin, Australia.

2006-12-30

Andrew Struthers uploads 'Spiders On Drugs' to YouTube, later hitting 36 million views.

2007-03-10

YouTuber JCVdude posts a video of a tarantula sitting on his hand.

2009-07-07

The /r/spiders subreddit launches for arachnid discussion and species ID.

2012-05-24

YouTuber CcanCcaglar uploads 'Trolling A Spider,' which passes 2 million views.

2013-12-28

Vine user paglo posts a daddy long legs cluster clip that racks up 105,000 revines.

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