The Myth of Lisa Birgit Holst

According to snopes(1), this “fact” was deliberately made up, with the express purpose of showing how the internet spreads false facts. The origin of this factoid was apparently Lisa Birgit Holst in an article in a magazine called PC Professional, which was in turn taken from a 1954 book on insect folklore.

However, that also is not true, and the rabbit hole deepens. No evidence exists for either Lisa Holst or the article, and while the book on insect folklore does exist, it contains nothing about swallowing spiders. The book doesn't contain anything about spiders because it focuses on insects. (Insects have six legs; spiders have eight, so they are arachnids, not insects. Although both insects and arachnids belong to the group arthropods) So even the source of this made-up fact is a made-up fact.

An earlier source (2) for the factoid is Margot A. S. Vigeant, author of the article “Things to Stress Over” in Cornell Engineer from 1990. That article clearly appears to be tongue-in-cheek, as the fact reads, “The average person swallows eight spiders a year while sleeping. What if all eight show up tonight?” Along with other ideas designed to keep you awake at night.

How far does this rabbit hole go? Did Snopes get it wrong? Or did they deliberately troll everyone by creating massive circular reasoning to show that people won't fact-check even false facts?? Every reference you can find on the internet gives either Snopes or the same reference that Snopes cites, namely: "Holst, Lisa Birgit. “Reading Is Believing.” PC Professional. 7 January 1993 (p. 71).” even though the Cornell Engineer reference is earlier.

Lots of people on the internet have searched for Lisa Birgit Holst, and it seems she doesn't exist. Lots of people claim that even this magazine doesn’t exist. However, due to some detective work Youtuber LEMMiNO (3) tracked down the German PC prefessionell and had page 71 translated. It contains nothing by Lisa Holst or about spiders or even sleep.

As you may have noticed from the picture with this article, and the reason I have been using her full name all the time, "Lisa Birgit Holst" is an anagram for “This is a Big Troll.” So it does appear that Snopes has been trolling us all in a meta-deception. Every mention of this factoid is accompanied by the same reference, and (almost) no one has checked.

So remember, kids, it is always a good idea to check the original source.

But if you have any further information on this, please get in touch.

Edit: Snopes has now updated their reference and admits to trolling us all (4)

References:
1. Snopes article. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/swallow-spiders/
2. “Things to Stress Over” in Cornell Engineer from 1990. Link google books
3. The Eight Spiders, by LEMMiNO,
4. https://www.snopes.com/lisa-birgit-holst/