Millions of spiders weave a one kilometre-long web in Memphis

RESIDENTS of a tiny American town thought their yards were covered in morning frost. Then they took a closer look.

IT looks like a scene out of ‘Arachnophobia.’

A giant spider’s web stretching for one kilometre and covered in millions of arachnids has appeared overnight in a small Memphis, Tennessee suburb.

The web looks like frost or morning dew covering the yards of several homes.

Worried residents say the multi-legged creatures are crawling all over their windows and doors “like a horror movie.”

“When I got up this morning, it was like spiders all on my door, they were coming in my house,” Frances Ward said.

Her friend, Debra Lewis, added: “You can’t even sit in her house because they’re all on the wall, on the door. We’ve been killing spiders for about an hour now.”

Neighbour Ida Morris said she’s seen about 20 spiders on her porch in the last day.

They want the local council to take care of the clean-up.

“Clean this area up and spray for these spiders and make it safe. There are kids running around. A spider could bite the kids or anything,” Ms Lewis said.

Freaky ... millions of spiders have created a giant web in Memphis, Tennessee. Picture: WMC Action News 5

Spider problem ... millions of tiny spiders are crawling through the giant web. Picture: WMC Action News 5

But Memphis Zoo curator Steve Reichling said the spiders aren’t necessarily dangerous.

“It’s a mass dispersal of the millions of tiny spiders that have always been in that field, unnoticed till now,” he told WMC Action News 5.

“It could be juveniles — millions — in a big emergence event, or adults of a tiny species — probably a sheetweb spider — leaving for some reason possibly knowable only to them. The presence of these spiders tells us that all is well with nature at that location.”