Related News: Samuel L. Jackson Finds Next Movie Project

First it was snakes... then mice... and penguins... even ghosts, and ravenous hamsters... and now we have a real-life tale involving scorpions on a plane. If you just shuddered, you're not alone.

A Vermont man on a United Airlines flight from Chicago says he was stung recently by a one-and-one-half-inch scorpion just before the plane landed... and again when he went to pick up his luggage at baggage claim.

"My right leg felt like it was asleep, but that was isolated to one spot, and it felt like it was being jabbed with a sharp piece of plastic or something," David Sullivan told the Associated Press.

Sullivan says the scorpion stung him on the back of his right knee while he was still on the plane. He believes the creepy invertebrate then crawled across his torso and down his left leg, where it stung him again.

The scorpion fell out of his pant cuff when Sullivan went to investigate.

Sullivan was startled; his wife screamed; and both man and scorpion -- by now smushed to a pulp by the foot of a helpful fellow traveler -- took a trip to a local hospital, where doctors told Sullivan while the stings may have been painful, he had nothing to worry about healthwise.

A United spokesperson confirmed the plane the Sullivans were traveling on originated in Houston... they theorize that's where the enterprising scorpion came onboard.

How that happened, exactly, "is something that we will investigate and look into," said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. "We’re very sorry for what happened. Our customer safety and security is our Number 1 priority."

Hey... maybe the scorpion just wanted to check out the skiing in Vermont.

FMI: www.united.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion