Town invaded by giant spider plague

And beware, they could be crawling near you soon

IT sounds like the title of a corny B movie – Invasion of the Giant Spiders.

But for the unfortunate residents of Macclesfield, it’s a real-life drama.

And there’s bad news for those of you squeamish about creepy-crawlies – one’s likely to be seen on a floor near you soon.

The warm, wet summer has swelled numbers of the aptly-named giant house spider, Britain’s largest arachnid, and millions are looking to invade our homes.

Sean Harmer found one lurking in the bath and put it in a spider tank he had given sons Jack, seven, and Tom, five, for Christmas.

‘They’ve had a few spiders in there, but this is definitely the biggest we’ve found,’ said Mr Harmer, 38, a software developer. ‘ The boys look after them, they even take them to school – it’s helped them realise spiders are nothing to be scared of.’

Tell that to ‘petrified’ Kate Clare, 31, in nearby Winsford, who was chased ‘ from room to room’ by another spider.

‘I was brushing my teeth when I saw it come out of my five-year-old son Sebastian’s bedroom,’ she said. ‘It was massive. It ran into our bedroom so I followed it – if I’d lost sight of it in there I’d have had to move out.

‘But then it suddenly turned around and ran right at me. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Fortunately, she didn’t have to move home – husband Kris trapped it in a glass and released it down the road.

A giant house spider’s legspan – measured diagonally across a front and back leg – is normally around 3in but there have been reports of Monster: Spider with a 50p coin much larger specimens, with Nick Odham claiming that his Macclesfield monster stretched a scary 7in.

However, that could be down to the shaky hand holding the ruler. ‘These things are seriously big,’ he said. ‘Imagine the horror on my son’s face when he spotted this big boy on his wall.’

The invasion is not limited to Cheshire, with householders around Britain posting photographs of impressive specimens online.

Sending in a shot of a spider in a wine glass, Bethan Tuckman said: ‘It gave me a fright – we have had

‘It turned and ran right at me’

at least three of them in the house and the spider was about 4 inches wide!’

All me in Deeside told Mail Online: ‘Sat watching TV last night and heard, yes heard, a spider fall on the floor out of the chimney.

‘It then decided it would be a good idea to run at us all in what looked to be attack mode!!’ With females rarely leaving their web, the invasion is being blamed on males looking for a mate – hence the unnerving sight of a spider suddenly scurrying across the carpet.

And if that’s not bad enough, these giants are widely recognised as the world’s fastest spider, capable of running across your feet at 2ft per second.

This is the height of ‘spider season’, but while the influx will die down when colder weather arrives, those that succeed in breeding will produce hundreds of eggs that could mean plenty of uninvited guests next year.

The biggest of Britain’s 660 species of arachnid, the giant house spider can survive months without food and water.

And, despite its impressive eight eyes, a low number of visual cells means it can probably distinguish only between light and dark.