The idea that slumbering humans swallow spiders every year is an urban legend without a shred of scientific backing. House spiders have evolved sophisticated sensory organs that warn them away from large, breathing mammals, while our involuntary neurological reflexes guard our airways every second of the night.
You can fall asleep tonight without fear. The odds of an eight-legged guest crawling past your lips are virtually nonexistent, leaving the eight-spider statistic where it belongs: in the museum of early internet hoaxes.
