Giant spider strikes fear into those it meets, turns out it’s a dog in a spider costume

Dog’s owner dresses him up in a large, furry, spider suit, wreaks havoc

The moment before 'spiderdog' wreaks havoc by scaring two women waiting for a lift (YouTube)

Arachnophobes, look away now. This may simply be a video of a dog in a spider outfit, but the man who created it made sure it was scary enough to make real people run for cover, which means the footage should be viewed with caution.

Polish prankster Sylwester Wardega created ‘Chica the dogspider’, a medium-sized black dog that he dressed up in a very large spider outfit.

The costume, which almost engulfs the dog, has a large, furry body with big, long protruding legs attached to it, and bounces around in an unnerving manner when the dog trots along.

Wardega has filmed the dog in various situations, where it is unleashed in its spider-guise, at night, on unsuspecting passers-by. In one instance, Wardega appears slain at the bottom of a lift, with the dog stood is on top of him, causing two women to run screaming out of a building when the doors open.

Wardega has used suitable music for video too, reminiscent of a horror film, adding to the uncomfortable viewing of the prank – especially when a man walks out from an underpass to find a set of dummies wrapped up in rope and trussed up as though they were flies.

In this instance, the man attempting to flee the scene becomes trapped in a make-shift spider-web created out of rope.

But if the prank is watched with the music turned down, even arachnophobes can relish in its absurdity.