Mount Dora Headlines: Warspiders Invade Quaint Rural Town!

Police are dumbfounded. Last night, on what should have been a typical lazy, end of Summer Sunday, downtown Mount Dora came under what one resident called, "an attack."

The lone eyewitness was a drifter named Noah Johnson, who admitted he sleeps on a park bench out behind the First Presbyterian Church. He was awakened by the crashing sounds of metal trash cans and newspaper boxes smashing on the street. After extensive questioning by police, the rattled homeless man could only say that he saw what looked to be

"enormous spiders racing down the street."

When he got up to take a closer look, he said they "jumped" up on buildings at Dora Drawdy Way and headed down the alley way past the Goblin Market and Mount Dora Coffee Shop.

Police confirmed that the rooftops along the route mentioned by Mr. Johnson had indeed been badly damaged. They followed the destruction to where it ended and taped off the area as a crime scene.

After not being able to get any further answers from police, I walked around the perimeter of the yellow tape and saw a local boy, Ryann Watters sneak out from the far end. Ryann appeared visibly shaken and when I asked him about what he had seen he told me he’d rather not talk about it, but he had taken numerous pictures of the remains they left behind. I asked him to show them to me and as we clicked through his pictures on his cell phone, strangely only one of them had turned out.

Ryann indicated that he’s friends with Mr. Johnson and that when he talked with him, the drifter described the encounter as some sort of attack, even going so far to call them "warspiders."

The idea of this sleepy little town coming under attack by giant spiders seems a little far-fetched to this reporter.

There are many unanswered questions, but my plan is to find a place to get comfortable behind the church tonight and see if the arachnids return.

ATTENTION: I this is the one picture that was developed from Ryann's camera. I finally got a copy and am able to post it today - Oct. 18, 2009!