Welcome to Lore Legends, a subset of lore episodes that explore the strange tales we whisper in the dark,

even if they can't always be proven by the history books.

So if you're ready, let's begin.

There is a link between horror and sexuality that has persisted for generations.

For example, in Brahms Stoker's classic novel Dracula, Jonathan Harker is beset upon

by three lustful women while staying in the Counts Castle one night.

In the book he says, there was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing,

and at the same time some deadly fear.

He was attracted to them, but it's clearly scared of engaging with them.

He loves his fiancé Mina back in England, and he possessed a palpable fear of embracing something frowned upon by the moral standards of the time.

And in using words like uneasy, deadly, and fear, Stoker has planted a seat of doubt in the reader's mind,

pairing sexuality with danger, that if they were to act on their urges it might lead them down a path of pain and death.

Throughout history, monsters have been used as cautionary tales to deter young people from engaging in ill-advised love affairs.

Today those monsters can be found in the form of vampires, werewolves, or in some cases, succubi.

But today I have four different kinds of monsters to share, all drummed up by folklore from around the globe,

and each of them are eager to lead our lustful youth astray.

I'm Aaron Manky, and this is lore legends.

They're not often thought of as particularly attractive, what with their hairy legs and clusters of eyes,

but spiders have a number of tricks up their eight sleeves to entice and deceive others.

In Native American folklore, spiders are often portrayed as tricksters, such as ectomo of the Sue, Lakota, and Dakota tribes, or Vihu of the Cheyenne tribe.

One moment they can be clever anti-heroes that push against social boundaries, and the next they can be quite violent, their stories meant to be taken as warnings.

Among the most well-known folkloric spiders is Anancy, who originated in Ghana and became ubiquitous throughout West African, African American, and Caribbean cultures.

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