Spider Myth Resources
Explore even more! Additional spider resources and more myths (poor spiders can't catch a break!).
Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum
Photo: Cathy Morris/Burke Museum
Myth: Spiders drink from sleepers' mouths
Illustration: Henry C. McCook
Illustration: Henry C. McCook
Myth: Spiders drink moisture from the mouths or lips of sleeping humans.
Fact: I have heard this legend verbally but it does not seem to be recorded in print anywhere. A variant that one person claimed to have heard on TV is that "a spider will drink from your eye (while you sleep) 3 times in your life." It is probably just a variation on the "swallowing live spiders in your sleep" legend; like that one, it has no basis in fact.
