I am horribly, absolutely and thoroughly afraid of spiders. My fear comes from the early childhood trauma of a friend of my uncle's (they were 17 at the time) putting his tarantula on my arm, when I was 5. He wasn't supposed to have it at grandma's house, but teen boys will be teen boys. I was too terrified to scream, watching in horror as it climbed up my arm and shoulder then was starting onto my neck before he took it off. Just a bit of harmless fun... we'd never let you get hurt... blah blah blah and jokes cracked for a bit by the guys standing around.
Because of that, I can't cope with any spider, even 'harmless' house spiders. My FIL nearly fainted when he heard that I actually killed, or had hubby kill, spiders. He'd tell me to take them outside if I didn't want them in the house. If they go outside, they just come back inside, usually with a spouse and several thousand children. Ick. Death is best.