A terrifying spider that can cause overwhelming and long-lasting erections was spotted amongst the bananas of a supermarket, forcing the retailer to shut its doors.
The venomous Brazilian wandering spider was seen in the fruit section of The Penny market – an Austrian shop in Krems an der Donau, around 45 minutes west of the country’s capital of Vienna.
In a bid to work out why the exotic creature, mainly found in northern South America, had been found in the aisles of the shop, bosses closed the store to investigate.
And the reality of what damage the spider, gaining their name as they wander the jungle floor at night, can cause if bitten has been laid bare by a doctor.
The authorities were first notified of the spider when the shop’s manager called the fire department.
Panicking, the manager noticed the four-inch black and red arachnid among the shop’s banana crates.
Shockingly, the spider managed to make a getaway – and remains on the loose, the New York Post reports.
According to Dr Romulo Leite, from the Medical College of Georgia, those bitten by the wandering spider may experience high blood pressure and pain throughout their bodies.
The doctor said: “The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort.
“We’re hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.”
A Smithsonian Magazine article from 2012 also suggested the spider could act as the next successor to Viagra.
But this is not the first time such a venomous spider has made it to Europe.
Back in 2017, the BBC reported that “hundreds” of the wandering spiders had infiltrated someone’s bananas that had been purchased by a British branch of Asda.
The spiders were so overwhelming, the family home the bananas were taken back to had to be evacuated.
Earlier this year, a British man – Craig Harrison – told Caters how he was given the “fright of my life” when he found a Huntsman spider in his bananas.
He said of the fruit purchased from Tesco: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a shock horror reaction like it before. I was completely gobsmacked to discover it.”
