Factual error: Jerry Manley's corpse wouldn't have been returned to his home town as depicted. He died in a foreign country outside the U.S. from what was thought to have been a fever, his corpse would have been quarantined for possible contamination and autopsied which would have quickly determined his real cause of death from the spider.
Revealing mistake: When the flaming "general" spider is killed, there's several mistakes. When it leaps, it suddenly "freezes" in mid-air for a second before the nail hits it. Then, when we see the nail hit it, you can see a wire attached to it, plain as day, to yank it back. Then, when it hits the egg-sack, you can see several fake spiders attached to it, which don't move at all. Then the egg sack catches on fire, but the flames come from behind the sack, even though the general hit the front.
Other mistake: When Dr Atherton injects the mouse with venom, the syringe is pointing up. But as the plunger is pulled nearly all the way back and the syringe is too large to be filled with venom, he would have injected the mouse with air. (01:17:00)
Answer: The small spiders are Avondale spiders from New Zealand. They are totally harmless to humans.
Hamster ★