If there is one thing that creeps me out it’s spiders. I know what you are going to say, “They are good for the environment” or something as easily condescending. Spiders in my world are evil.
So, let’s be clear, an 11 ft., six ton spider built by a guy named Mortensteelman wandering around the Burning Man festival is in a word, perplexing and must be a sight to behold. With eight legs (as spiders are wont to have) and powered by a V Chevy 456, one must wonder if it’s art or just some guy playing a joke on those of us who have arachnophobia.
There is no doubt that it’s impressive and a combination of not only the way-creepy, but it’s also exquisitely beautiful like something from a science fiction movie. The Walking Beast, as it’s creator calls it, can haul up to eight riders and passengers must take a small elevator to get up to the seating area.
Mortensteelman has created something innovative and to see the “Walking Beast” or as I like to affectionately call it “Scary Spider Thing That Scares Me” and you can see it walking around terrorizing the countryside at the metal artist’s website.
More thoughts on the Beast can be found at Jalopnik.
On a final note, it would be neat to see this thing walking about in the late evening hours at Burning Man. I’m sure that it’s a scene from a Godzilla movie with people running through the fields away from it like citizens of Tokyo took flight when that big lizard was tossing buildings around.
Spiders, even mechanical ones, are scary. There, I said it.