A market trader was taken to hospital after being bitten three times on the chest by a dangerous spider.
The false widow spider is a close relative of the black widow
Jason Fricker, 34, was setting up angling goods on his Salisbury market stall when the false widow struck.
The creature, a relative of the deadly black widow, fell out of a box of equipment and down his jumper before it bit him last Friday.
Doctors at Dorset County Hospital put him on a drip and kept him in until Tuesday. He has now recovered.
A GP had checked his computer to identify the culprit by its puncture wounds, after Mr Fricker went to see him following the incident.
Mr Fricker said: "The doctor was quite excited about it because it was the first time he had seen a spider bite."
He was originally given antihistamine tablets and sent home to Dorchester, Dorset, but early on Sunday he developed chest pains and drove himself to a hospital.
"I had an immense burning sensation like I had been scalded down my front. I thought I was going to die," he said.
Doctors at Dorset County Hospital feared he was having a heart attack caused by an extreme reaction to the bite.
He was placed on a drip after tests showed an irregular heartbeat.
The false widow gets its name because it is often mistaken for its more venomous relative the black widow.
Its bite is far less poisonous and is said to feel like a bee sting.