A German man met a horrifying end when his pet black widow spider bit and killed him, leading to his body being devoured by his collection of other pets in his home, which resembled a mini zoo housing 200 insects and lizards.
In 2004, police broke into his small flat only to discover Mark Voegel dead with a host of creepy crawlies feasting on his body, as reported by The Courier Mail.
The fatal spider bite was inflicted by a black widow named Bettina. The venom from the bite was approximately 15 times more potent than that of a rattlesnake’s and more deadly than both cobra and coral snake venom.
Describing the scene, a police spokesperson said it was “like a horror movie.”
He added: “Giant webs draped him, spiders were all over him. They were coming out of his nose and his mouth. Larger pieces of flesh torn off by the lizards were scooped up and taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.”, reports the Mirror.
Voegel was known as a loner, never inviting anyone to his Dortmund residence. This might make sense given that police compared the flat to a hybrid of botanical gardens and the butterfly breeding ground from The Silence of the Lambs.
However, Voegel’s collection wasn’t limited to spiders. Alongside his eight-legged companions, Voegel also kept a boa constrictor and several other snakes, poisonous South American frogs, and a gecko named Helmut.
Tragically, Voegel was believed to have perished between one and two weeks before police discovered him.
Neighbours raised the alarm after they reported a foul smell coming from Voegel’s flat.
Reportedly one tarantula had built a nest the size of a swallow’s in one ceiling corner, with UPI reporting that many of the cages and terrariums inside the flat were left open, hence the zoo-like Armageddon that had been unleashed in the space.
Police said the flat was “bathed in a weird green light.” His collection also included several thousand termites.
The remains of 30 year old Voegel were found on a sofa, covered in giant cobwebs. “Spiders were running all over him,” said a spokesman.
“They were coming out of his nose and mouth. Larger pieces of flesh had been torn off by the lizards and were taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other bird-eating spiders.
“There were open cages and terrariums everywhere – all bathed in a weird green light. It was horrible.”
Local expert Gabi Bayer said Voegel should never have been allowed to keep many of his pets.
She added: “Some of his spiders are so aggressive they’re the equivalent of the pit-bull in the animal world.”