Man Eaten By His Own Pet Spiders

[Neuqua]

Link (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004092008,00.html)


Pet spider kills its owner
Killer ... a poisonous Black Widow spider


From ALLAN HALL
in Berlin
A MAN who lived in his own “zoo” of lizards and insects was fatally bitten by a pet black widow spider — then eaten by the other creepy-crawlies.

Police broke in to Mark Voegel’s apartment to find spider Bettina along with 200 others, several snakes, a gecko lizard called Helmut and several thousand termites had gorged on his body.

Neighbours alerted police after becoming alarmed by the stink.

And horrified officers were met by a nightmare scene.

A police spokesman said: “It was like a horror movie. His corpse was over the sofa.

“Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose and his mouth.

“There was everything there one could imagine in the world of reptiles.

“Larger pieces of flesh torn off by the lizards were scooped up and taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.”

Hungry ... termites ate body

Loner Voegel, 30, never invited people back to his “jungle” home, a small apartment in the German city of Dortmund.

Police described it as a cross between a botanical garden and the butterfly breeding ground in the serial killer movie The Silence Of The Lambs.

One tarantula had built a nest the size of a swallow’s in a corner of the ceiling.

Voegel also had a boa constrictor and several poisonous frogs from South America.

Spider expert and animal cruelty officer Gabi Bayer said he kept creatures “that should never be allowed in a private home”.

She said: “He had spiders so aggressive they are the equivalent of a pit-bull in the animal world.”

The reptiles were allowed to roam free in the flat.

The heating elements on two tanks containing spiders and their termite snacks had exploded and dislodged the metal tops allowing them to escape.


Voegel is thought to have been dead for between seven and 14 days.

A post-mortem will be carried out in the next few days. But authorities believe Bettina alone was responsible for Voegel’s death.

:eek:

[Calis]

Not something I needed to read right before bed time.

Very disturbing, and all the more reason to never be a coroner.

[GoldenEagle]

Uh....wow.

[Fonzie]

I'm not really sure how I'd want to go, but I do know that I would prefer not to be killed and eaten by my pets.

[MrBug708]

Oh Geez, the lights are stayong on tonight...

[JeeberD]

There was an old lady that lived next to my family when I was little that died all alone in her house. Well, alone except for her two dogs. They dined well for a couple of weeks until someone figured out something was wrong with the old lady. There wasn't much of her left...

[SunDancer]

Thanks JeeberD. Now I really won't be sleeping tonight.

[GoldenEagle]

Oh Geez, the lights are stayong on tonight...
Coward.

[JeeberD]

Spiders are attracted to the light. You would be better off with the lights off... ;)

[Chief Rum]

Thank you. I now know my nightmares can really happen.

CR

[GoldenEagle]

I have never once had a nightmare about a spider or any other rodent for that matter.

[Chief Rum]

Actually, not sure I have either. But that the horrible fantasies I have had about experiences with creepy-crawlies and the like (especially spiders) are nightmarish in nature.

CR

[Honolulu_Blue]

This is perhaps the grossest thing I have ever read.

No. me. gusta.

[corbes]

I have never once had a nightmare about a spider or any other rodent for that matter.
I haven't either... yet...

[cincyreds]

maybe CSI will make an episode based on this.

It has CSI written all over it. Grissom will have a field day with all of these bugs.

man what a way to go.

[The_herd]

And to think Joe's Apartment made it look cool to live with bugs...

[Ksyrup]

Once you die, are you really going to care what happens next? I suspect this was much more horrifying for the police that found him and the millions of people reading this than for him.

Now, if the bite simply left him paralyzed while the insects/lizards feasted on him...then you've got a Stephen King story.

[jeff061]

Now, if the bite simply left him paralyzed while the insects/lizards feasted on him...then you've got a Stephen King story.

Yeah, thats what i was thinking happened. Freaky.

[illinifan999]

I don't like bugs. This does not help my fears. :eek:

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, thats what i was thinking happened. Freaky.
I don't think so. The article says the spider was the lone cause of death.

[hukarez]

Time for me to stock up on cans of Raid. :eek:

[WSUCougar]

YEECH!

Any chance this is an urban myth?

[cthomer5000]

so wait, the Sun online is our source here?

[Tekneek]

Stories like this show up at least once a year, where some fool has exotic animals and authorities break in to find they've eaten their owner. The one I remember the most was from at least a few years ago where somebody in the US had monitor lizards that had been eating him after he died from cardiac arrest. A good friend of my wife's from 5-6 years ago had two or three that walked free in her house all of the time. There's no way I would let reptiles roam my house freely.

Back when I was a kid, a friend of mine's older brother had a python and a tarantula. He was such an idiot that he routinely lost them for days at a time.

[cartman]

I've gotta call BS on this one. With that many insects already consuming his body, many of which I assume could also be poisionous, I'd think his body would be pretty well worked over. How could they determine at that early stage, before the post-mortem, that a single Black Widow bite killed him?

Nothing on snopes about it from what I could see, so maybe it is true?

[stevew]

I've gotta call BS on this one. With that many insects already consuming his body, many of which I assume could also be poisionous, I'd think his body would be pretty well worked over. How could they determine at that early stage, before the post-mortem, that a single Black Widow bite killed him?

Nothing on snopes about it from what I could see, so maybe it is true?

I would assume that the widow poison would have circulated through his blood cause he was still alive, whereas the other poisons would have been locally centered.

[SackAttack]

Once you die, are you really going to care what happens next? I suspect this was much more horrifying for the police that found him and the millions of people reading this than for him.

Now, if the bite simply left him paralyzed while the insects/lizards feasted on him...then you've got a Stephen King story.

King actually wrote a story similar, although not precisely the same. I'll refrain from expounding so as not to ruin it for anybody who hasn't read it and has an interest in so doing. I'll simply say that it's one of the stories in his "Everything's Eventual" collection - the very first one, I believe.

[cartman]

I would assume that the widow poison would have circulated through his blood cause he was still alive, whereas the other poisons would have been locally centered.

A clue like that wouldn't be discovered until the post-mortem tests have been run, and wouldn't be seen in a visual only inspection.

The cynic in me is still skeptical. Doing some Google whacking always comes back to the same single story written by one reporter. Don't spiders only make webs to capture live prey, not to keep already dead prey in place? And from what I remember, Geckos don't really have the kind of bite to rip flesh away in chunks. Third, I don't remember black widows causing an incapacitating bite that knocks you out. And finally, how did ALL of the cages get opened so all of the creepy crawlies got out to feast upon their owner?

[cartman]

Dola,

since when did Termites become flesh-eating creatures?

[Super Ugly]

"so wait, the Sun online is our source here?"

Right. The Sun. Journalism at its finest.

"And finally, how did ALL of the cages get opened so all of the creepy crawlies got out to feast upon their owner?"

I have a feeling that the reporter was watching 'Eight Legged Freaks' and thought it was a documentary.

[jeff061]

Heating components on a couple of spider cages burst and blew open the cages, letting the spiders out. The lizards had free roam.

[JeeberD]

King actually wrote a story similar, although not precisely the same. I'll refrain from expounding so as not to ruin it for anybody who hasn't read it and has an interest in so doing. I'll simply say that it's one of the stories in his "Everything's Eventual" collection - the very first one, I believe.


Ahh, Autopsy Room Four. Very nice story. It makes you think...

[tucker342]

Spiders scare the hell out of me, and this just makes it worse... it's sending shivers down my back just thinking about it...

Spiders are the only thing I'm afraid of

[tucker342]

dola-

I forgot Clowns.

So Spiders and Clowns are the only things I'm afraid of

[JeeberD]

What about The Man trying to keep you down?

[wig]

What about The Man trying to keep you down?

Get your FOFC members right.

[judicial clerk]

WTF is going on in Germany? the stories always happen in Germany. Like the dude who let some guy he met on the internet eat him.

[JeeberD]

Get your FOFC members right.

You can't be the only person who has a problem with that... ;)

[Crim]

I've gotta call BS on this one. With that many insects already consuming his body, many of which I assume could also be poisionous, I'd think his body would be pretty well worked over. How could they determine at that early stage, before the post-mortem, that a single Black Widow bite killed him?



Uhh, some of you beat me to it, but... this story is a load of crap. Figuratively speaking, of course.



Crim

[Crim]

WTF is going on in Germany? the stories always happen in Germany. Like the dude who let some guy he met on the internet eat him.

Eek! My first ever dola!

I think I also heard about a guy in Germany last summer whose apartment was too hot, so he climbed up onto the (inclined!) roof and slept in a sleeping bag. Until he rolled off, of course, and, presumably, woke up briefly in free fall, only to fall into a more... permanent sleep upon hitting the ground a coupla stories below.


Crim

[Sublime]

Ahh, Autopsy Room Four. Very nice story. It makes you think...


Just read that and the other stories in the book, scary thought.


P.S. Clowns are the most terrifying thing in the world!

[JeeberD]

P.S. Clowns are the most terrifying thing in the world!

Speaking of King, you ever read It? :D