The man who had spiders

The man who had spiders by Roger D. Aycock is a speculative fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. Centered on small-town life and quiet wonders, it follows an affable boarder whose uncanny, spider-like companions complicate romance and respectability while hinting at the strange cures and responsibilities that come with them.

A traveling salesman, Mr. Marcus, returns to a boarding house where blind, musically gifted Kitty falls for new boarder Adrian Hall, a universally liked reporter whose “moles” seem to move. Jay Kirby, a fragile veteran prone to seizures, spies Adrian and insists he is covered with spiders. Marcus learns Adrian was once a hopeless alcoholic; Adrian confesses the kindly, intelligent “spiders” appeared during his delirium tremens and cured him, likely drawn from another dimension, and now live on his skin. He cannot dismiss them, yet marrying Kitty would deny privacy. Marcus departs without a solution; a year later he finds harmony restored: Adrian and Kitty are married with a child, Adrian owns the local paper, and Jay—now confident and popular—has been cured after the spiders transferred to him during a seizure. The story closes on a wry note about problems quietly solving themselves. (This is an automatically generated summary.)