A woman who was so terrified of spiders that she would cry if she saw one conquered her fear after finding a cure at a horror convention and now keeps 32 live tarantulas. Mum-of-two Claire Jones, 48, went from fear to fascination overnight after accompanying her graphic designer husband Rick, 51, who has a sideline in horror photography, to the convention in May 2016, where she allowed a venomous tarantula to sit on her hand.
Astonishingly, not only did her terror lift, but she also decided to take on a bird-eating tarantula, Angelica. She was, however, forced to hide her in a cupboard as Rick, like her, has arachnophobia – or an intense fear of spiders.
Claire, of Dover, Kent, who runs YourOneLife, a healthy weight solutions firm, said: “We both absolutely hated spiders. The only difference was that I’d never kill one. I wanted them released outside. Rick wanted them dead. We’d argue back and forth if there was a spider in the house over who’d catch it.
