- Ladies and gentlemen, I'm coyote Peterson
and this is the Spider Helmet.
(Peterson exhales)
- Are you ready?
- I think I'm ready.
(intense music)
(Peterson grunting)
(intense music)
- Arachnophobia.
It's one of the most commonplace fears in the world,
and is simply defined as an intense
irrational fear of spiders.
Now, for anyone that suffers this phobia,
the term irrational is pretty much irrelevant,
because even the tiniest spider
can easily seem the size of a dinosaur.
Experts say the best way to get over your fear
of something, is exposure therapy.
In the case of spiders, it would be looking at pictures
or even the Iraq needs to themselves.
(laughs)
Well, I decided to take the concept of exposure therapy,
to the next level.
They say, go big or go home.
I say if you can't go all the way,
there's no point in even beginning.
- Spiders, they probably hale as one
of our planet's most feared yet most misunderstood species.
And large percentage of y'all out there watching right now
likely have arachnophobia.
Now, when it comes to spiders,
I work with many species in the past,
including Tarantulas, Black Widows,
and even the species that you see right here,
the giant Golden Orb-Weaver.
Now in the past, I actually free handled the spider to prove
that these giants aren't necessarily out to get you.
And if you accidentally run into one in the wild,
you aren't necessarily going to be bitten.
Now today what we're going to do, is create the ultimate
arachnophobic nightmare scenario.
We've built what I call the Spider Helmet,
which is a clear plastic capsule that we'll go over
at the top of my head.
And inside we're going to place not one,
but 20 giant Golden Orb-Weaver spiders.
Now it's important to know, that all spiders have fangs,
all spiders are venomous,
and all spiders are capable of biting.
Once the capsule is in place and it's locked,
I won't have any use of my hands
which means that I will not be in control.
That ultimately means that anything is possible.
And if I'm bitten,
I'm not going to be able to stop the bites from coming.
Okay, this is it.
The moment you have been waiting for the reason you clicked
on this video, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Coyote Peterson,
and this is the Spider Helmet.
( Peterson exhales)
I need to try to keep my heart rate
as low as I possibly can, and talk as little
as possible so that I'm not steaming up the box.
- All right, are you ready?
- I think I'm ready.
- All right. - Wait, wait, wait, wait.
You've got, you got all the spiders.
- They're ready to go.
- They're ready to go. - Ready to go.
- Okay, how many do we have in there?
- A lot.
- A lot, yeah, of course, it's a lot.
Now before we get into the entertainment side of things,
first, we need to give them an education
about this super cool creepy crawling.
Commonly known as the Golden silk Orb-Weaver.
It's namesake originates from the golden color
of its extremely strong web, which helps to draw in,
and untangle a variety of victims.
Some reports even document these giants, eating small birds.
Yep, you heard me right.
A spider so big, it can eat birds.
And it's considered one
of the most widespread spider species.
They commonly inhabit tropical regions,
and love the same beautiful vacation spots,
you likely dream of visiting.
Females are significantly larger than males,
and can reach several inches in length.
The perfect size for spindly drumming up nightmares.
But it's only fair to mention that they are not aggressive
toward humans and their venom is very mild.
So unless you plan on running face first into the webs,
or sticking your head in a box full of them,
realistically, you should have nothing to fear.
(intense music)
- All right, are you ready?
(Peterson exhales)
- I think I'm ready.
- All right.
And they're crawling all over, nice and gentle,
nice and gentle.
(Peterson grunting)
We got some web in already.
- Oh my gosh, this is the craziest feeling ever.
- You're right?
- Mmmh, mmh.
- Okay.
- Please don't bite me, please don't bite me.
- There you go. - Okay.
- Stage is set.
- Okay, okay.
Now my goal is to try to stay in here for several minutes,
and I'm opening my eyes.
Oh wow, that is about as creepy feeling as it gets.
I can feel all of those legs crawling all over me.
Okay, I see the spiders are completely surrounding my face
at this point.
Okay they're crawling up the back of head right now.
These little legs are really sharp, keep going,
coming right above the top of my head now .
Now I imagine if you're still watching
this video at this point,
you are in a state where your skin is absolutely crawling.
You can only imagine how I feel right now, ooh boy.
And what's crazy about the Golden Orb-Weavers
is they spin these incredibly strong webs,
and I can actually feel the webbing is now,
all tingling the back of my head.
I got a spider right on my face.
It's walking right up the side of my face.
(intense music)
(Peterson grunting)
(intense music)
(Peterson grunting)
It is so hard to not try to sweat at my face,
see this, I wanna do this, I wanna shoo them away from me
but I can do absolutely nothing at this point
other than to try to stay completely still.
If you thinks sticking my hands into an aquarium full
of piranhas or sea lamprey was creepy.
This definitely is the next level.
(intense music)
Well, my head has been encapsulated
by the Spider Helmet now, for several minutes.
And at this point I haven't taken a single bite.
I hope that this extreme arachnophobic experiment,
has helped display that spiders,
while creepy aren't necessarily aggressive toward humans.
If you come across a spider in your near future,
stay calm simply walk in the opposite direction
and both you and the spider will carry on a happy existence.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see on the next adventure.
Guys I think I'm ready to take off the Spider Helmet.
(intense music)
- I bet you clicked on this video,
because immediately you thought there is no way,
Coyote Peterson is going this far to teach us about animals.
Sure, I've done some pretty crazy things over the years,
but the Coyote pack knows I perform these stunts,
because they're an entertaining way to learn
about the animals, we don't understand.
Spiders are amazing creatures, let them do what they do.
And I promise the natural world will be a better place.
I know that by wearing a Spider Helmet,
I'm not going to be the silver bullet,
that cures your fear of spiders.
But if you have arachnophobia
and you bravely watch this video,
then you have taken a huge step
by embracing exposure therapy.
And for that, I am proud of you.
(intense music)
If you're still afraid of arachnids,
and can't fathom the idea of being close to one,
but once it tests your ability
to watch them crawl around on me.
Then go back and check out this episode,
where I free handle one of our planet's most iconic,
yet misunderstood spider species.
And if you want even more brave wilderness,
consider joining memberships so you can get access
to behind the scenes content,
a monthly digital Hangouts with me and the crew.
(intense music)