Can you give me info on a spider?

While Brown Recluses are fairly notorious travellers (they often turn up in boxes and furniture being moved from their normal range in the center of the US), they aren't normally found east of the Appalachians or north of Illinois/Indiana, so you wouldn't think of them as a spider of the NE US. I suppose it's possible that their historic range is expanding, but I have seen no evidence or information that such a thing is happening. As for their venom, it's moderately toxic, with primarily a necrotizing effect, but as far as I know it's not terribly dangerous. Unpleasant and revolting skin and tisue effects, yes, but not much beyond that. The Widows are the only seriously medically significant spiders in the US, and even they don't kill people as a rule. A bad widow bite poduces intense pain, cramps and other extremely nasty effects, yes, but death, no (especially now that modern medicine is available). One other difference between the spiders is that Widow bites, while rare, are aparently relatively much more common than confirmed Recluse bites. You have to remember that pretty much everybody calls any new skin lesion a 'spider bite' based on nothing more than the fact that spiders are icky. A lot of things bite, and most of then are insects. Some things, like our normal skin bacteria, also can produce effects that people call 'spider bites'. A good rule of thumb is that unless you see a spider, it probably isn't a spider bite. Now, since you live in New Jersey, you shouldn't worry about Brown Recluses at all. If you want a definitive answer about Recluse pesence in New Jersey, however, ask the Rutgers entomology dept. or the Natural History Museum in NYC. I would take anything you see on these sorts of boards with a grain or two of salt (why, even I have been known to be wrong on rare occasions!).