In a chilling incident, a German man tragically met his demise after being bitten and killed by his pet black widow spider, Bettina, in his home resembling a zoo. Mark Voegel was found dead in his apartment in 2004, surrounded by a multitude of creatures including 200 insects, lizards, and other reptiles.
The police, upon entering the scene, described a horrifying sight akin to a horror film. Voegel’s body was being ravaged by spiders and other creatures, with webs covering him, and spiders emerging from his nose and mouth. The gruesome scene included larger pieces of flesh torn off by lizards and taken back to the tarantulas’ webs.
Voegel, known as a recluse, lived a solitary life in his Dortmund home, which police likened to a mix of botanical gardens and a scene from a thriller movie. Apart from black widows, Voegel also kept a boa constrictor, various snakes, poisonous frogs, and a gecko named Helmut.
Tragically, Voegel was believed to have passed away one to two weeks before being discovered by the authorities, prompted by reports of a foul odor from his residence. The apartment was described as an apocalyptic zoo due to the open cages and terrariums, with one tarantula even building a nest the size of a swallow’s in a corner.
The apartment, illuminated by a strange green light, housed thousands of termites, and Voegel’s remains were found on a sofa covered in giant cobwebs. A local expert criticized Voegel’s ownership of aggressive pets, comparing some of the spiders to pit bulls in the animal kingdom.
The disturbing incident shed light on the dangers of keeping exotic pets and the consequences of neglecting their care.