Three young boys in Bolivia wound up in the hospital after coercing a black widow spider to bite them, to see if they transformed into superheroes, just like Spider-Man.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the most beloved fictional super-heroes, with many kids spending hours on end imitating his web shooting moves. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as children understand that Spidey and his super-powers are not real, and that getting bit by a spider, even a radioactive one, doesn’t turn you into a superhero. Unfortunately, as evidenced by this story, kids sometimes have a hard time telling fantasy apart from reality.
