Who needs Stephen King when you’ve got this? . . .

No, its not the guest of honor at tonight’s crab feast. It is, in fact, a tarantula — a dead tarantula — from the Peruvian Amazon.

And it was killed by Cordyceps, which also is not — as you might be imagining — a subterranean creature with 16 tentacles and a big red eye in the middle of its forehead, who just came crawling out of the La Brea Tar Pits hellbent to eat Los Angeles.

Cordyceps turns out to be a fungus, sometimes referred to as a “zombie fungus.” And if that weird yellow color and the white stalagmite-like protrusions on the spider were the result of having been attacked by the fungus, then I can see why it would be called a zombie. That is truly one hideous-looking corpse. Not that tarantulas (tarantulae?) are particularly pretty in life.

And now I find out that this fungus — which is actually a mushroom — is becoming popular as a medicinal supplement. In fact, it has been “long revered in traditional Chinese medicine for its ability to boost energy and vitality.” [Clarissa Berry, Muscle and Health, August 26, 2022.]

And for those of us who are old enough to remember the “magic mushrooms” of the ‘60s . . . Well, we don’t really need a repeat of that, do we? Although that was one hell of a decade, man . . .

But does anyone mind if I pass on these latest uppers? I’ll gladly forgo vital and energetic, and settle for weak and lazy. I mean, that Cordyceps killed a freakin’ tarantula! It is not getting its tentacles on me.

*. *. *

I think I’m going to grab a pint of ice cream and watch “Sound of Music” now — you know, something normal, and safe, and not creepy.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/30/24