In my youth (oh how I miss it), I was driving from NC to Cali. Stopped for the night in New Mexico. Hopped into the shower the next morning and was soaping away when something fell into the bottom of the tub. I thought it was the soap and bent down to retrieve it. Nope....big old tarantula spider. Jumped out of the tub onto the toilet seat. I quickly dressed and went to turn in the key. The manager must have been afraid I was going to have a heart attack because he didn't charge me for the room. I'm not afraid of spiders but that thing was huge and scary!

I'm surprised that has never happened to my iron. We heat with wood and have lots of spiders. They don't bother me unless they are on me. I did have one once come down on it's web while I was driving. I let out a loud scream because it was heading right for me. Apparently I scared it because I have no idea where it went.

Whoa! What a surprise! lol

Well, all I can say is OMG after reading these posts, and am glad I don't have a steam iron, will spray interior of car before getting in, scan the ceiling of the restaurants, and not take showers in NM!!:), as I'm one of those that get freaked out by the dang things.

That would have been me ... and then I would have sent someone in to find the spider and to throw the iron away.

I would still be screaming.

Those little devils get into the weirdest places and then make their appearance at the most inappropriate times. I would have jumped and at my age that would have been amazing. Visiting my sister in Arizona one winter and was in the "reading room" and heard a scratching noise. The bath tub is right next to the commode and the sound was coming from the tub. I looked in and there was a scorpion trying to scale the sides of the tub. I knew that scorpions are a common problem in Arizona, but this was much too up close and personal for my tastes. I let out a whoop and my sister came running. Finished my "reading" and got the heck out of there. No way that scorpion was going to scale the sides of the tub, but I wasn't going to stick around to find out. My BIL went out and sprayed the entire foundation of the house the next morning. That was one encounter I'll never forget.

Bit of shock therapy, huh?

thankfully, my iron has a cover attached to the water fill hole ,and won't steam unless its closed.

Wow, I'd have jumped a mile.