Portland Woman Finds Black Widow Spider Within Bag Of Grapes

We all heard about opening a container of something only to have something other than what's supposed to be in it, in it.  A very lucky woman in Portland did this last Thursday night, and got the surprise of a lifetime!

According to WGME TV in Portland, Melissa Emmons was opening a bag of green California seedless grapes that she had just purchased from the local Hannaford when she "felt something weird."   The weirdness turned out to be a small Black Widow spider, and it was alive.

Emmons let out a scream which brought her boyfriend into the room, and he sprayed it with Windex and then hornet killer.

The article says that Emmons brought the confirmed poisonous spider back to Hannaford and that they gave her a refund.

Back in May of 2014, a Vermont woman was bitten by a black widow spider while opening a bag of grapes. The then 21 year-old woman spent the night in the hospital before being released, and was then monitored for months. She had purchased the grapes from Shaw's supermarket in Colchester, Vermont.

Black Widow spiders are usually found in the Southern states.  The Southern Black Widow spider has a red hourglass on its underside.  The Northern Black Widow  has a row of red spots down it's middle . Black Widow spiders are mostly active at night and lurk in dark corners, they bite only when disturbed.

Bites can result in considerable pain, nausea, vomiting, fainting, dizziness, chest pain, and respiratory difficulties. People rarely die from its bite.

The moral of the story is to check carefully anything that you buy in a container!