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| “ | Most people fear spiders. They detest them. And yet, I found them endlessly fascinating. More than that, I found a great comfort in them, a kinship. Like me, they are solitary creatures, and deeply misunderstood. They are gods of our world. The most important of all predators. They immobilize and feed on the weak, bringing balance and order to an unstable ecosystem.
— Henry Creel describes black widows
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Black widow spiders are several species of arachnids in the genus Latrodectus. They are the most venomous spiders in North America, though their bite is rarely fatal to humans.[1]
In 1959, Henry Creel, exploring his new home, discovered a nest of black widows in a vent beneath the bathroom floorboards. He instantly felt an affinity with the spiders, and related to their "deeply misunderstood" nature. When Henry learned he had the ability to torment others with involuntary visions and hallucinations, he would often make his victims see black widows. Furthermore, his design for the Mind Flayer was loosely inspired by black widows.
Henry kept some of the black widows in jars, which he stored in the same bathroom vent that he found the spiders. Twenty-seven years later, Steve Harrington discovered Henry's old jars while exploring the long-abandoned household.
Curse visions[]
- Virginia Creel saw countless black widows crawling from up through the bath drain.
- Chrissy Cunningham saw black widows break through the glass face of the Creel House grandfather clock. Later, during her vision of being stalked by Vecna through her parents’ house, Chrissy saw black widows crawling across the dinner table and various rotting dishes of food.
- Max Mayfield saw black widows scuttle along the floor of Vecna's Mindscape.