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I agree and I can't share most of this info because it would (at least for now) harm recovery efforts. I know it sounds strange to many, but the locating of this material may be considered a problem, rather than a boon to some interested parties.
The only shareable info I have are the deadend trails I have come to and those are not uplifting. The good stuff is more delicate and susceptable to manhandling or mishandling. I'm doing this, mostly alone and it requires time and travel for the investigations. I have some time but the travel is more problematic. I can do telephone and internet communications, but some situations require a personal touch or intense combing of library or newspaper files at the locations. These efforts I have taken on as the time or opportunity arises as I am at present only self funded. I may be able to get some funding, but I want to have multiple sources on as much of this info as possible before I pursue that.
Sorry if I seem like a tease or a bullshitter, but I promise I will share the Info as soon as I can. Perhaps when you can be of some help.

So many things you have brought up. Where to begin?

I have several theories. They were only relevant insofar as they assist in looking in the right place. The most important thing are the witnesses and comparing and verifying their experiences. If one person says they saw movie back in 1980 at a particular movie theater and describes that picture and then another person confirms that and describes the same picture that is evidence.

One theory: the reel with the spider pit sequence got sent out to a foreign country by accident and then edited to the existing music and effects soundtrack which would have been sent later. Studios often edited films after they were in theaters for a variety of reasons. This was a successful process as long as you are in the United States. But outside of the United States, as you may be aware, a lot of prints ended up not being edited. I myself have found several prints in Europe with previously thought edited footage.

If the film was edited using the music and effects tracks (there was no dialogue during the sequence) then, it would not be surprising to find a foreign editor trying to match the length of the film with the soundtrack and using the screams and the music that were in the finished version to play over the spider pit sequence (or not). Remember this is the very early days of sound films and the methods of dubbing and mixing and/or subtitling were still in process of creation.

They were also some countries that did not have extremely high standards in exhibition who may just have shown the film as received with the soundtrack out of sync (or with the temp track it might've come with). They also may have made 16mm prints for projection which would've multiplied the number of possibilities that the print might get out for others to see.

There's also the possibility that someone pulled the test sequence from the studio to watch or to keep. O'Brien one of his staff or a studio executive may have wanted to watch it and pulled it for that purpose (a party, curiosity, or a favor to a friend).

Sometimes (like in an overcrowded studio like RKO) stored material would be transferred to an off-site storage facility and forgotton. Sometimes material is mismarked or inadvertently sent out to the wrong location (often along with other film or other reels)

As mentioned above another possibility with the music is that it went out to with some temp music that it was scored with for the test reel. We don't know that it had temp music, but, if you're trying to impress a bunch of executives with the test reel you would probably not send it to them silent. It would have temp music, sound effects and, of course, dialogue.

Most of these imagined scenarios have occurred to some degree in film materials I have tracked in the past. Knowledge of these types of scenarios is useful in tracking lost materials. Understanding how Studios, labs, postproduction facilities, storage facilities and shipping companies operate (or don't operate) makes it possible to track things that are lost by making educated guesses. All of these above scenarios are just that, guesses or useful theories. As in science, theories are compounded to explain natural occurrences. Facts and realities only come into being as these theories are proven useful and accurate. When I find a report of the spider pit sequence these theories are useful, but here on the page it probably just reads like bullishit (theory=bullishit ).

By the way when I was talking about getting funded I was not suggesting funding from this page. There are others more capable of such funding. The kind of help that we provide (other than the joy of doing what we enjoy) is spreading the word of the spider pit sequence. Making people aware of the sequence will encourage others to talk about it and report if they have seen it and make it easier to find. Their may be others of you out there who would be willing to go to a library, a university or a newspaper office and look at microfiche at locations it is difficult for me to get to. Perhaps interview a local resident I cannot reach (someplace far away from Southern California). I have a couple of distant locations I'm going to be near to over the next couple months that will allow me to make a detour and check some reports out.

One thing I have found. No one has been trying to track this. I haven't found myself overlapping with others looking for it. It does not seem like anybody has made a concerted search. All my past successes in this area have been the result of simply being the one who looked. I'm going to keep doing that. Please keep the fires of interest burning. The more people know and are aware of the spider pit sequence the easier it is going to be to get it out there.