A German man met a tragic demise after being bitten and killed by his pet black widow spider, resulting in his body being consumed by other creatures in his home resembling a zoo. When authorities entered his small apartment in 2004, they discovered Mark Voegel deceased, with a variety of insects and lizards feasting on his body. The deadly spider responsible for the fatal bite was identified as Bettina, whose venom was significantly more potent than that of a rattlesnake, cobra, or coral snake.
Described as a recluse, Voegel lived a solitary life in Dortmund, with no visitors ever welcomed into his residence. The police officers who found him compared his living space to a combination of botanical gardens and the eerie setting from “The Silence of the Lambs.” Apart from spiders, Voegel also owned a boa constrictor, various snakes, poisonous frogs from South America, and a gecko named Helmut.
Tragically, Voegel was presumed to have passed away one to two weeks before his discovery, as neighbors had reported a foul odor emanating from his apartment. The scene inside was likened to a nightmare, with webs covering him, spiders crawling all over his body, and flesh removed by lizards being taken back to the webs of tarantulas and other predatory spiders.
According to reports, Voegel’s home had a surreal green glow due to the presence of thousands of termites and the eerie ambiance created by the open cages and terrariums. The remains of the 30-year-old were found on a sofa, shrouded in massive cobwebs. Local expert Gabi Bayer criticized Voegel’s ownership of aggressive pets, stating that some of his spiders were as hostile as pit bulls in the animal kingdom.