The next file reads "INCIDENT 0121121978" and has a drawing of a spider on the cover.

Ruby: "0121121978 is up next."

Shannon: "Ooo, that's the death with the creepy crawlies. Lana Loud would love this one."

The image on Shannon's laptop depicts a man lying down on a carpet. His body has been partially devoured by a swarm of small animals, mainly insects, arachnids and small reptiles.

Shannon: "It's a good thing she knows what she's doing, or she may end up like this guy here…"

Zoom in.

The image at the start of the video depicts the interior of a house, various areas cordoned off with black-and-yellow crime scene tape. Two paramedics are carrying a black body bag on a stretcher down a flight of stairs.

Date of Incident: 21 December, 1978 - 4 January, 1979

Location: Paris, France

Shannon: (Narrating) "This is Mark Vogal. Or at least, what's left of him. As the paramedics wheel his body out of his suburban Paris home…"

The paramedics take the stretcher out of the door, where two police officers are waiting to escort it over to an ambulance.

Shannon: (Narrating) "...I'd better advise you not to feel even a twinge of pity for him."

The stretcher is loaded into the ambulance.

Shannon: (Narrating) "This death should be filed under 'What in Yahweh's name was he thinking?!'."

Time jump to a few days earlier. Mark, with a pair of glasses on, is looking down at something.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Mr. Vogal was a classic example of a recluse."

The camera zooms out to show Mark in his living room, surrounded by various tanks containing mini-habitats for various small animals.

Shannon: (Narrating) "He preferred the creepy and crawly to his fellow man."

Mark inspects a lizard in one of the tanks.

Shannon: (Narrating) "He made a living dealing in snakes, lizards, insects, spiders and other such critters, selling them on the black market as exotic pets."

Mark reaches in and pets the lizard on its back. Another shot shows a black-and-yellow coloured snake flicking its tongue in the air.

Shannon: (Narrating) "These creatures were his constant companions. Several of them were deadly and not to be taken lightly."

A new camera shot shows a hairy spider perched on Mark's fingertip.

Shannon: (Narrating) "And it was his fascination for his smallest friend that led to his demise."

A small black spider is seen climbing up the side of its tank. It has a red hourglass mark on the underside of its abdomen.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Mark's favourite creepy-crawly was his black widow spider. He loved her so much he gave her a name: Elvira."

We see Mark approach the tank where Elvira is being kept.

Shannon: (Narrating) "And he longed to be closer to his tiny femme fatale."

Mark opens the lid of the tank.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Snake handlers are often bitten so many times they develop immunity to the venom."

Mark reaches into the tank.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Mark here thought he could do the same. So one fateful day, he lowered his arm into Elvira's home…"

Mark suddenly jerks his hand back, as if in pain. A CGI shot shows the spider sinking its fangs into Mark's flesh.

Shannon: (Narrating) "...and let her take her best shot."

Cut to the inside of one of Mark's blood vessels, where we see the venom molecules enter and begin riding his bloodstream.

A new shot shows Mark on his sofa, a blanket over his stomach.

Shannon: (Narrating) "It only took an hour for the symptoms to set in, beginning with severe stomach pains."

A shot of Mark's arm shows a black circle where the bite happened.

Shannon: (Narrating) "His body was now in a free fall of failing health. Ruby, analysis."

Cut to Ruby in the office.

Ruby: "The term 'black widow' refers to the Latrodectus genus of spiders, which contains, like, 34 species. Mark was specifically bitten by the western black widow, scientific name Latrodectus hesperus. Now black widows aren't very aggressive and they usually only attack humans if they're, like, threatened. And most people who are bitten suffer no serious damage. Heck, no black widow deaths have been reported in the United States since 1983!

But if one does bite you and inject its venom, it's going to hurt. Like, a lot. And then the extreme pain will begin to course up your arm and towards the core of your body. It will concentrate on many of the large muscle groups, and pain and stiffness will be especially concentrated in the abdominal muscles, causing violent stomach pains that look like patients have appendicitis or a bowel obstruction or something like that.

The venom's primary ingredient is a neurotoxin called latrotoxin, which can cause an array of symptoms including, like, major sweating, pain, numbness, tingling, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and muscle spasms. You can also expect a racing heart and high blood pressure, which could burst blood vessels in the brain or trigger a heart attack."

Back in his apartment, Mark has become somewhat dizzy and is now staggering around his home.

Ruby: "My advice is that if a black widow does bite you, get to the hospital ASAP."

Shannon: (Narrating) "Mark foolishly tried to ride out his symptoms."

Mark falls to his knees.

Shannon: (Narrating) "His reward for that was a fatal heart attack."

As Mark collapses he knocks over many of the tanks housing his exotic creatures, which fall and shatter all around him, their contents spilling out.

Shannon: (Narrating) "And in his delirium, he released his gruesome collection of pets.

The screen turns black before a shot two weeks later shows two police officers bursting down the door to Mark's living room. They wave their flashlights around, scanning the room.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Two weeks would pass before his rotting stench brought the French police to his door."

Mark's partly eaten corpse is shown sprawled on the floor. The officers recoil from the stench and one of them gags. The officers look around at the smashed tanks.

Shannon: (Narrating) "Ironically, as Mark died he ensured his pets would survive. The snakes, bugs, lizards, and other critters were kept alive by feeding on their late master's flesh. As soon as he subjected himself to the black widow's venom, like the hourglass on its underbelly, Mark's time began running out, with death the only outcome."

Cut back to Mark's corpse as the image turns grayscale.

WAY TO DIE #125

LOVE BUGGED

Return to the Sharuby couple.

Shannon: "The black widow spider may be deadly if provoked, but it's far from the deadliest animal out there."

Ruby: "That honour goes to, like, the mosquito. Thanks to their ability to transmit a vicious cocktail of diseases, mosquitoes kill around 700,000 people every year."

Shannon: "Deadly indeed. Next file, Ruby-Tuesday. Your turn to narrate."

Ruby marks the file and wheels over to get the next one.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The original show made black widows seem deadier than they actually are, so I added notes to correct this mistake.