#5 Chester Bennington

Linkin Park’s former lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, was bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider in 2001. Bennington, who was on tour at the time, was bit in the arm while staying at a hotel in Massachusetts. He managed to complete the final two shows of the tour before getting treatment. His symptoms included swelling in the arm and a fever.

In a case such as Bennington’s some may doubt that it was a Brown Recluse bite at all but rather that another spider was confused for a Brown Recluse. Other skin conditions, bacterial infections, and spider bites are commonly misdiagnosed as recluse bites. Also, Brown Recluse spiders are not native to Massachusetts or the New England area as a whole, being most common in the southern and Midwestern portion of the United States.

However, it’s not impossible for one to have migrated to the state. This might be especially likely in a hotel such as where Bennington was bit as people passing from other states might carry the spider in on their luggage.

Also, Bennington’s symptoms were not reported as being as severe as those usually associated with a Brown Recluse’s bite, but contrary to popular conception the bite does not always cause such grisly results. Pop culture and even the science community has had the tendency to emphasize cases of horrifying rotting of the flesh, known as necrosis, as being a result of the bite; however, this kind of reaction only happens in about ten percent of cases, and fatalities caused by the bite are even more rare.

Bennington’s symptoms of a fever and swelling are milder and more common symptoms of the bite, and in most cases a Brown Recluse bite will heal on its own and leave no lasting consequences.

#4 Craig Campbell

In the summer of 2020 country singer Craig Campbell suspected that he was bitten by a Brown Recluse. In his case it was more likely that this was indeed a Recluse bite being that he’s a resident of Tennessee, a state which Brown Recluses are native to. Also, his wound was much closer to the grisly stereotype of the bite.

Initially Campbell posted pictures to his Instagram showing a discolored patch on his upper arm and saying, “it hurts like hell to the touch”. In response, many people said it looked like a Recluse’s bite, and after seeing two doctors Campbell was able to confirm this. 

Campbell documented the progression on Instagram. Though the pictures displayed the unsettling effects of the bite Campbell assured his followers that it was healing as expected and that though his arm hurt he was otherwise doing fine. By Day 45 he seemed to be on his way to a full recovery. 

#3 Meghan Linsey

In the case of Bennington and Campbell at least they were only bitten on the arm. Not everyone is so fortunate.

In February of 2017 country artist and former The Voice contestant, Meghan Linsey woke up to a stinging under her left eye. There was little room for suspicion as to what had caused the stinging as she found in her hand a dead spider.

Most likely the spider had been crawling on Linsey’s face and in her sleep she smacked it. This is probably when the spider bit her as they often bite when feeling threatened.

Suspecting the spider to be poisonous, she put it in a bag and rushed to urgent care. Doctors confirmed that it was indeed a Brown Recluse that bit her, but if this weren’t confirmation enough then the symptoms that followed were. Over the course of the next nine days Linsey experienced symptoms such as “excruciating nerve pain in [her] face, muscle spasms, full body rash [and] extreme swelling.” Most notably, however, was the development of the bite wound itself as after ten days what had started out as a discolored area of skin under the eye had developed into a grisly patch of swollen necrotic flesh.

While Linsey was able to control the symptoms such as nerve pain and muscles spasms with medication within the first few days the facial wound would stick with her longer. Over the course of the next four months Linsey used social media to post regular updates about the process. One month after the bite, the necrotic tissue had fallen off, leaving Linsey with a significant scar. Over the next three months the scar healed significantly which Linsey credited to the help of modern dermatologic treatments.

Though Linsey had initially feared losing sight in her eye or having permanent nerve damage, none of these symptoms materialized. One year later she appeared to have made a full recovery other than some scarring.

#2 Matt Phillips

While most cases of Brown Recluse bites don’t result in symptoms as severe as Meghan Linsey’s, it is still recommended that people who are bitten or think they are bitten by a Brown Recluse seek medical attention. Unfortunately, former soap-opera actor Matt Phillips suffered the consequences of not responding appropriately.

In 2019, Phillips had been bitten in the right foot, likely while staying at a hotel in Las Vegas; however, due to frequent numbness caused by his Type 2 Diabetes he was unable to feel the bite or the usual pain that results. At first, the only sign of the bite was a red spot on the top of Phillips’s foot, but initially he thought little of it. It was when the skin on his foot became dark and swollen that he began to take it seriously.

By the time Phillips went to the hospital his condition was already severe with a large patch of rotten flesh formed on his foot. Once surgeons had removed the rotten flesh, Phillips was left with a golf-ball sized hole in his foot.

“They cut away all the dead flesh and dead tissue and it was revolting,” Phillips said, “it was the most gruesome thing I have ever seen.”

The whole incident nearly caused Phillips to lose his foot, and following the incident he still had to take daily precautions to clean the wound and wrap his foot to make sure it wouldn’t get infected. His walking, which was already hampered by his Diabetes, was further affected by the venom from the bite.

#1 Jeff Hanneman

Jeff Hanneman, the lead guitarist and a founding member of the band Slayer, died in 2013, and, at the time of his death and still to this day, many people believe that a Brown Recluse bite was responsible. The theory likely emerged due to a story from two years prior in which Hanneman was supposedly bitten by one of the spiders. However, the connection between Hanneman’s death and the bite or whether or not a bite even occurred is debatable.

Officially, Hanneman’s death was due to liver failure. Likely, the liver failure was caused by alcoholism, which Hanneman had been struggling with prior to his death.

The Brown Recluse theory stems from a 2011 incident in which Hanneman suffered with necrotizing fasciitis on his arm. Hanneman had been relaxing in a Jacuzzi with some friends, when, on his arm, which had been dangling outside of the tub he felt a pinch. Hanneman never saw a spider, and being inebriated at the time, he thought nothing of it, went home, and went to bed.

The next morning Hanneman’s arm was red and swollen – he was  in such bad condition that his wife struggled to get him into the car for a trip to the hospital. At the hospital the cause of the bacterial infection was believed to be a Brown Recluse bite. Surgeons cut away the necrotic flesh which at this point had gone into deeper layers of his skin.

While an amputation wasn’t required, the surgery and the subsequent effects of the venom had a dramatic effect on Hanneman. “I had to learn to walk again,” he said. His guitar playing was also affected as his arm was left weakened – so much so that he had to be temporarily replaced for the band’s next tour. 

Some fans have elaborated on the extent to which the infection may have spread and even believe that it was ultimately responsible for the liver failure which would kill Hanneman two years later.

Doctors, however, are doubtful of this theory, as it isn’t likely the venom could have caused something so dramatic two years after the bite.

Some even doubt that Hanneman was bitten by a Brown Recluse or any spider at all. For one, Brown Recluses are not native to California, and the kind of environment where a Jacuzzi would be (where Hanneman claimed to be while bit) is a far stretch from the dark secluded areas that the spiders usually prefer. Furthermore, Hanneman never saw if a spider actually bit him, leading to speculation that his necrotic infection may have been caused by something else entirely.

It is much more likely that alcohol consumption was directly responsible for Hanneman’s liver failure; but that isn’t to say that his infection from two years earlier played no role in his death. And whether or not a Recluse bite caused the initial infection, Hanneman’s case displays a tragic example of what can happen when such an infection is handled poorly.

As mentioned, Hanneman did not seek medical attention until the next day after being bit. His wife who noticed his arm severely swollen and reddened pleaded with him to seek immediate medical attention, but Hanneman ignored her and went to bed. This no doubt gave the infection time to spread.

After the spread of the infection, not to mention, the evasive surgery to remove the necrotic flesh, Hanneman was left with severe damage to his arm which affected his guitar playing. This gave a dramatic blow to Hanneman who had been playing guitar for over thirty years and was quite passionate about his music.  Furthermore, Hanneman’s guitar style often relied on fast and intense playing which had become extremely difficult for him to perform.

Matters were not helped by the fact that Hanneman did not take the encouraged methods for recovery:

“I couldn’t get Jeff to go to rehab,” his wife said, “I think he thought he could do this on his own – that he would just go to rehearsal and play, and that would be his rehab. But I think he started to learn, once he tried rehearsing, that he wasn’t playing up to his ability and that he wasn’t able to play guitar at the speed he was used to. And I think that really hit him hard, and he started to lose hope.”

This hopelessness led Hanneman to increased alcohol drinking. Hanneman was known to drink regularly especially in times of distress. This increased drinking in combination with his chronic liver disease likely led to his death.

Whether the infection was a Brown Recluse bite or another type of bacterial infection, Hanneman undoubtedly hurt his chances of warding off the infection and making a full recovery with his handling of the injury. The infection itself may have not been the direct cause of his death, but Hanneman’s case still shows how drastically such an infection can impact an individual.