Ancient History

Spiders have become synonymous with Halloween due to their creepy nature and the elaborate webs they weave. Millions of people have a fear of spiders and have had for thousands of years. Ironically, many cultures had legends that surrounded these arachnids.

The ancient Greeks told the story of Arachne, a woman from the region of Lydia who was said to be the greatest weaver and spinner in all the lands. Many people believed that she received her gifts from the Goddess Athena, but Arachne scoffed at these allegations and claimed to have learned the trade on her own.

Arachne even claimed to be better at the craft than the Goddess herself, which caused Athena to accept the girl’s challenge and the two of them set out to see who was the best at spinning and weaving. Each created elaborate designs, depicting the Gods in a wide variety of scenes. In the end, it seems that Arachne’s work was better than Athena’s. This so outraged the Goddess that she destroyed the girls work, then turned the girl into a spider to forever spin her webs in the darkest corners of the world.

Many Native American tribes retell legends about spiders in a more favorable light. The Pueblo tribe tells of the Spider Woman who helped create the world we know today. In the beginning, she created the line that connected North, South, East, and West. Then, from the various clays of the Earth, she created all living beings.

Spider Woman also had two daughters. One was thought to be the mother of all the Pueblo peoples and was thought to have formed the sun as a gift to her people. The other daughter was thought to be the mother of all other humans and formed the moon. Her gift to her people was the prayer stick.

Spider Woman was said to have given each person on Earth a silken thread that came out of her head, so that they might have creative wisdom, thus creating the legend that all humans are connected to each other, through the threads of the Spider Woman.

So, next time you see a spider crawling down the wall, or hanging from a silky thread from the ceiling, know that these creatures have been the subjects of myths and legends throughout time. And you never know who might be lurking inside that 8-legged shell of a form.

Almost everyone has heard of Count Dracula, a character created by author Bram Stoker. The character is based on an actual person, though he wasn’t a Count. The real Dracula was a Romanian prince known as Vlad the Impaler. However, about a hundred years after his death came a Hungarian Countess that would shock the world.

She was Elizabeth Bathory, a beautiful noblewoman born into a prestigious family who became one of the world’s worst serial killers. Sometime between the late 1590’s and 1610, Elizabeth is believed to have killed more than 600 peasant women in order to bath in their blood.

Legend has it that the Countess Bathory was prone to violent fits of rage. One evening, as a young servant girl was brushing the Countess’s hair pulled too hard, causing Elizabeth to turn and strike the girl. It is said that some of the girl’s blood landed on Elizabeth’s hand and she noticed that her skin seemed smoother.

It was also said that as time wore on, Elizabeth began bathing in the blood of young peasant girls, as it helped her to retain her youth and beauty. Some experts think that this may have had less to do with the blood itself, but more for the iron in the blood and that the Countess may have had an iron deficiency.

It was when she began killing young noblewomen that her deeds were brought to light. Her family had decided to put her into a convent, but it came too late. The King had decided to have the Countess tried for the killings. According to known documents recording the proceedings, the Countess did not act alone. Several other people were tried for crimes of murder and witchcraft. They were tortured, decapitated, and burned at the stake.

Elizabeth Bathoy was never brought to trial due to the powerful nature of her family. However, during the trials of her accomplices, she tried to flee the country. She was caught by one of her own family members and imprisoned into her own castle by being walled up inside her bedroom, with a few vent holes and a slot for food. She died three years later and was taken back to her family’s lands.