'Flying Spiders' Invade Chicago

As if spiders aren’t terrifying enough for some people, now we have to worry about ones that can “fly.”

A hotel in Chicago warned of some uninvited “guests,” this time of year. Hilton Chicago Magnificent Mile Suites sent a note suggesting guests keep their windows closed, ”to avoid the annual migration of high-rise flying spiders, a Chicago phenomenon.”

Known as “bridge spiders” or “gray cross spiders,” they don’t technically take flight, but instead spin balloon-like webs that are swept up by the wind and carried great distances. The spiders can grow to the size of a half-dollar coin.

The spiders flit to the city’s high rises—some 95 stories up—because of their attraction to lights shining through windows.

Let’s all just sit in the dark and hope they go away.