Great Spider

The Great Spider refers to alleged enormous arachnid sightings around the world, and most famously in the Congo. In Congo folklore, the creature is called the jba fofi or j'ba fofi (Baka: jba "great", fofi "spider") and is also known as the Congolese Giant Spider. It possibly represents a new species of arachnid. Popular interest in the creature was sparked by the TV series MonsterQuest in 2008.
Sightings of enormous spiders have been shown a range in size from that of a small dog to six feet in diameter. Coloration was referred to as ranging from brown (in the case of the Congolese and Zimbabwe sightings) to black (United States, New Guinea).
In the case of the Jba Fofi, the Baka said that the arachnid would spin a web between two trees which they utilized to capture birds, duiker, and other small game animals. Their eggs were the size of peanuts, and juveniles were yellowish with purple abdomens. When they matured they would turn brown, and were four to five feet in length. The Baka said that they were strong enough to overpower humans, and that they would kill a jba fofi if it made its nest too close to the village. The spiders wove lairs made of leaves and spun a circular web between two trees. Gibbons was told that these arachnids were now rare due to dwindling habitat.
Accounts
In the 1890s missionary Arthur Simes from England was on an expedition to a village near Lake Nyasa when several of his porters became ensnared by a huge web that had been strung up in the forest. They were then attacked by several large spiders that had a leg span of four feet and were bitten.
The next recorded account occurred in 1938 in Zimbabwe. Reginald and Margurite Lloyd were driving a Ford truck through a trail when they reportedly spotted a spider as large as a large jungle cat. It resembled a light brown tarantula, but had an estimated leg-span of 5 feet. After briefly pausing in front of their vehicle it scurried off into the jungle.
In 1942 during the Kokoda Track Campaign, an Australian soldier at the Kokoda Trail found webbing estimated to span thirty feet spread over the ground and a nearby tree. He then found an enormous spider less than a foot from him. It was described as being black and having a body that resembled a tarantula, only far larger - the thorax and abdomen equivalent in size to a small dog or puppy. The legs however were noticeably shorter that those of a tarantula, giving it a smaller legs to body ratio.
Hoaxes
In 2015 the photo of a purported 6-foot wide "giant Hawaiian cane spider" was published on Facebook. The image was later proven to be a digital forgery.
Arguments Against Existence
There is speculation that sightings of spiders are actually misidentifications of coconut crabs, which is the largest terrestrial crab and can grow to over 3 feet. An scientific argument against the existence of such arachnids is the fact that spiders have a simple respiratory system that limits the size that they can achieve, with the Goliath birdeater representing the highest end of the growth spectrum for an arachnid. Another contrary viewpoint is that a spider's exoskeleton could not support the weight generated by the purported giant arachnids.

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