Spiders

Was changing an overhead lightbulb the other day, the type in a big fancy ceiling fixture that needs to be taken apart to get at the bulb itself. Took apart the fixture and it was absolutely filled with dead spiders. It was like, "My God! No wonder it's been so dark in here!" Don't know how any light was getting out at all through that mess.

Unfortunately, changing the bulb required removing all those dead spiders, which were wound up in their own rotting webs, from the light sockets. It was a disgusting task to say the least. But, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade; and when life gives you spiders, you make Goofer Dust.

Goofer Dust can be made with many things. Graveyard dirt or powdered snake skins are the most common base ingredient (and sometimes, the only ingredient.) But many other items can go in, especially anything black, gray, dead, or otherwise unpleasant. Dead bugs are excellent additions, in my opinion. My favorite are adding black widows, since they have that extra poisonous element about them -- but (luckily) they aren't in too great a supply in my house.

I tend to make my own Goofer Dust from grave dirt, mullein, sulfur, dead bugs, and black pigment. The stuff is kind of disturbingly pretty, actually: the bottle in an old spice jar with a black lid, and filled with black powder almost looks kind of sexy!


And of course, you can find several recipes for using Goofer Dust in the book Death and Destruction.