PHOENIX - how did this humble, little, eight-legged creature go from being, "More terrifying than any horror known to man" during the atomic age of the 1950's films, to attention-grabbing headlines of the internet age? The experts would say, writers with an active imagination.
"They don't chase people, they don't try to attack us," Crystie Baker from the Phoenix Herpetological Society said. She said Phoenix's cooler temps have rousted local tarantulas to be a little more active.
"You could see one of these guys crossing the road, crossing the trail, crawling around your house," Baker said.
Mark Covelli and his wife, Dusty didn't see any of the big, furry arachnids on their hike today, but they do have a few near their Carefree home.
"You see the holes in the ground, so you know where they are," Mark Covelli said, "So you kind of know where they're going to come out when it's time," he said.
"I would imagine if you didn't see them before and you came across one, it would be a little shocking," Dusty Covelli said. "But if you're used to them, then you just walk away."
"They just want to find either their bug for dinner or their girlfriend for the night, and then they want to go home," Baker said. "That's all they want, they don't want any thing to do with us," she added.
Experts say having a few tarantulas around is actually a good thing, because they're great at taking care of harmful critters like scorpions. The tarantula mating season is expected to last until late October.