A startling amount, yes. So much so that before 1990, it was not only legal, but encouraged to “thin the herd” so to speak on the thousands on thousands of spiders that lived in the Tripping Falls area. Starting in 1990, however, killing these gentle ecosystem-friendly insects became taboo. The EPA threatened to take action on the town as they “had not had sufficient time to analyze potentially endangered high-altitude spider species.” 

So, the townspeople put away their various handmade spider-smashing weaponry and the event today is more like a scavenger hunt to try and identify as many species as possible. That’s almost as fun.