Many years ago when I was a about 12-14, we had a tremendous increase in black widow spider population in northern New Mexico. All of us kept one in a jar or box and we would try to feed it with tiny flies or the like. We knew its reputation, so were careful. No one I knew got bitten except for one.
Our 'manual training teacher' (do they still have them?) was bitten on the nose by one that was in a pile of scrap wood he was sorting- he went to Emergency, where they kept him under observation for a while, but all that happened was a red bump came up on his nose. He was a large and tall Dane, and later he insisted it was his Viking blood that protected him.

The brown recluse has spread, they are not uncommon in British Columbia, and there was a report of one in Alberta.