This article won’t be very long as thinking about it is creeping me out. 🙂 However, I still find it an interesting treasure story; just of a different type. Have fun reading it all as it does have a ‘treasure found’ ending!
It’s not difficult to imagine that if you would have seen the item in the image below, laying partially buried in the ground, like shown, you would have thought it was some type of lost coin, token, or relic at initial glance. You might have tried to pick it up and thought it was a very cool find!
Upon further inspection, however, you would have realized it was actually a Spider! A very rare hourglass spider or trapdoor spider. These types of spiders burrow and live underground. They are often hidden.
And while maybe still a cool find, I know if I would have tried to pick it up, felt it move, and realized it was a spider, I would have died right there. Well, maybe not totally, but I surely would have screamed, jumped, and freaked. I can handle other things, but spiders, not my favorite.
In November of 2016, that very thing happened. Not the freaking out part, but a spider mistaken for an ancient relic. A farmer tending to his orange trees in a village of South-west China saw what he thought was some old and ancient artifact on the ground. Only after looking closer did he realize it was a spider’s disc shaped body that he was looking at. He had never seen a spider of this nature before and took it home to show family and friends.
Further research revealed it to be a very rare type of spider which was once thought to be extinct. Only 6 other sightings of this type of spider have been recorded since it was rediscovered in 2000.
Important to study, or being a rare pet to keep, the farmer was planning to sell the spider for a significant price. A price of around a few thousand dollars!
So while he didn’t find the treasure he thought he found at first, he did discover a valuable treasure; just of a different kind! It pays to keep your eyes and mind open for whatever you might come across.
I’m reminded about more than that from this story, however. Although I’m not planning to treasure hunt in China anytime soon, I am reminded to not innocently pick up anything from off the ground— before at least poking it with a stick first. There are unique creatures everywhere….and I think I would like to try my best not to be surprised by them.
Omg!!!! That is totally cool and horrifying at the same time. I liked spiders as a kid. Used to play with them in my dollhouse. The could go up and down the tiny stairs and I thought that was cool.
Now I respect them, but get creeped out by them very easily. My son is our resident “catch the spider and put them outside” gut. 😀
Creepy! That would have given me the willies!
Thanks for sharing Jenny! 🙂
That is one strange critter. It’s not hard to see where some ancient god ideas came from. Because that thing reminds me of some of the ancient Aztec and Mayan art. I’m sure the Americas had strange things like that too.
Eeeek! Run fast! I don’t care how much that spider is worth.
Thanks Jenny, could this be a hint not to pickup every clue? Probably not but it’s nice to know they’re out there.
Of this spider, the c ricketti female can be 28 mm long. So, they say
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclocosmia
Thank you for sharing this story, Jenny. I think I would have picked it up and not realized it was a spider either.