The Angolan witch spider photo that terrified thousands of arachnophobic Facebook users continues to be one of the most searched subjects on the internet, despite being proven to be a fake last month.

"This image is just a bit of digital fakery," reads a post from the urban legend-debunking website Snopes.com on February 8. "There is no species of arachnid called the Angolan witch spider and even the world's largest spiders aren't nearly as big as the one pictured."

The world's largest spiders are generally no larger than 12 inches in diameter and will typically fit into the hand of any adult male strange enough to want to hold a giant poisonous spider.

Buffalo, N.Y. artist and musician Paul Santa Maria took credit for the photo trickery, using a photo of a (relatively) small wolf spider to create the image.            

See the photo he used to create the Angolan witch spider HERE

Santa Maria teaches music theory, guitar and bass guitar at Guitar Haven, in Melbourne, Fla. and has recorded with jazz fusion guitarist Larry Coryell, according to his website, Artofpencil.com.

"My true forte is as a lead guitarist and fine artist," reads Santa Maria's artist statement. "I am known as a creative, jazz-fusion type of player and composer. I have 20 CD's of original material spanning my commercial work to songs for women singers with whom I have collaborated called 'Gurl Crazy', to country songs for my group 'Timbercats.' I write scary music under the 'Sinister Scores' title and 'Mad Scientist' names. 'Intellipop' is what it sounds like, intelligent pop music composed over the years that nearly landed me deals with Arista and Columbia."