There is a faint ringing of bells in the distance. I’m sitting here staring blindly ahead.
Pay no attention to the agents in the black suits with the dark sunglasses. The light in your field of vision in the night sky is most assuredly the planet Venus, for it is the brightest object visible to the naked eye. Jolly old men in red velvet suits don’t ride around in unregistered metal aircraft identified by civilians as “sleighs” pulled by flying reindeer… Now just smile for the camera…
Wait, where was I going just now? Oh right, here I am, sitting at a traffic signal, on my way to the grocery store to buy a half-gallon of eggnog for the party tomorrow. The light turns green and I’m back on track. I turn left into the parking lot and pull through to a space cattywampus to the front entrance.
I park, get out of my car, and lock the door. The parking lot lights stare down at me like UFO search-beacons. A pair of overly amorous teenagers spins through the parking lot. They obviously have other things on their minds. They choose a dark, secluded spot where they can go more or less unnoticed.
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Several shadowy figures in black suits with dark sunglasses approach the teenagers. The teens point to the UFO searchlight parking lot beacons and gesture wildly. The agents point to the night sky and flash a photo of the couple before they get in their car and drive away.
The store is nothing to write home about. It’s too late at night for bell ringers. There’s pumpkin spice everything everywhere, but that’s not at all unusual this time of year. I get my half-gallon of eggnog and stroll through the only remaining third shift checkout with its zombie-eyed cashier staring blankly ahead of time and space. I leave and return to my car.
Seriously, where are my keys?! The door is locked. I had them just a moment ago. I hope I didn’t drop them when I got out. It’s night and it’s foggy and it’s pitch black except for the glare of those spaced out parking lot spotlights. Oh wait, here they are, in my hand…
The faint glimmer of celestial objects twinkles at the periphery. A faint tintinnabulation of sleigh bells sounds softly as a brighter pinpoint of light becomes clearer, almost like a red reindeer nose… But it must certainly, most assuredly, be the planet Venus, for that is the brightest object in the night sky visible to the naked eye.Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist residing in Kansas USA. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video and writing. You can find more of her work at:
https://www.jenniferweigelart.com/
https://www.jenniferweigelprojects.com/
https://jenniferweigelwords.wordpress.com/
So, as you may have noticed, we have a special fondness for spiders here on Nightmarish Nature. Well, they are kind of the spokes-critters for horrifying animalia, perhaps because they are so freakishly different from us. Or maybe it’s because I find them a little disconcerting for all that I try to take the “you mind your business, I’ll mind mine” approach, at least if they stay outdoors. Or just because I really like to draw spiders for all that I prefer not to find them sharing my home (though I’ll gladly take spiders over other bugs or mice or larger critters who didn’t get an invite).
Anyway, this segment is devoted to the largest Giants Among Spiders, as if you didn’t have enough to worry about already. And the top place is contested based upon body mass or leg length. Most of these are tarantulas, which globally take top place among the large arachnids.
I’m hungry… I bet you are…
Goliath Birdeater Tarantula
The Goliath Birdeater Tarantula of South America is the biggest brute of spiderdom, weighing in at over 6 ounces. They build funnel burrows and are known to eat birds (although rarely), mice, lizards, frogs, and snakes, but largely any big insects including other species of spiders. They have urticating barbed hairs that they fling at would-be attackers as an irritant to escape. And people even eat them after they singe the bristles off. Here’s a National Geographic video showing this spider in action, in case you wanted to see a giant spider take out a mouse.
Creepy crawly at it’s worst…
Giant Huntsman Spider
And with the longest legs, we have the Giant Huntsman Spider of Laos, with a leg-span of 12 inches. Their legs have twisted joints and they move in a crab-like manner, which furthers their impressive appearance. ‘Cause they’ve got legs, and know how to use ’em. They prefer to live in underbrush and cave entrances. These are like the big relatives of their Australian cousins, which we’ve all seen online and developed a healthy aversion to.
Everything’s cuter when it’s fuzzy, right?
Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater & Brazilian Giant Tawny Red Tarantulas
Next we have two more South American species: the Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater, which boasts one-inch fangs, and the Brazilian Giant Tawny Red, believed to be the longest-lived spider with a lifespan of up to thirty years. Both are in the tarantula family and have urticating hairs, a word you probably never read much before today unless you are in the hobby. So apparently South America is not the best travel destination for you if you struggle with arachnophobia, though I suspect you’d figured that out already. (I wouldn’t recommend Australia or Southeast Asia either.)
Face-Size, sorry no Face or Face Hugger for scale
Face Size Tarantula
And finally the Face Size Tarantula, which has a very terror-inducing name reminiscent of the Face Huggers of Alien-glory. Anyway, these spiders have an 8-inch leg-span and live in India and Sri Lanka. They look kind of like big hairy wolf spiders with stripey legs, sometimes with pink and daffodil coloring.
If you enjoyed this eight-legged segment of Nightmarish Nature on Giants Among Spiders and their larger than life kin, please check out past segments:
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
Dark Fantasy style, Aug. 1, 2023
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Dark Fantasy, Aug. 1, 2023
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Artistic Portrait, Aug. 1, 2023
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
AI art generated Nov. 4, 2023
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being? 2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found. 3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood. 4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you. 5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy. 6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface. 8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs. 9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy. 10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being. 11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon. 12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast 13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse. 14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond. 15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same. 16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost 17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without. 18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023
Ugh. Maybe not.
Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
Jennifer Weigel
December 18, 2020 at 9:14 am
I am really enjoying this series of the 13 Days of Krampus and hope to see more like this in the future.