Woman charged with arson after trying to kill spider

Sure - they're not everyone's cup of tea, but trying to kill them with a cigarette lighter didn't work out well for a woman in Kansas. Photo / file

Arachnophobes take note: a woman has been arrested on an arson charge after she tried to kill a spider with fire.

Ginny M. Griffith, a 34-year-old woman from Hutchinson, Kansas, was arrested on Friday after five local Fire Department units were called out to extinguish a small fire in her half of a duplex, Hutchinson News reports.

The woman told police that she had used a cigarette lighter to set some towels on fire to kill a spider.

Deputy Fire Chief Doug Hanen said in a statement that firefighters had found light smoke coming from Griffith's half of the duplex with some clothing smouldering just inside the doorway.

He said fire-fighters found multiple other points of origin for the fire and managed to bring it under control within minutes.

Despite the fire causing no structural damage and only light smoke depreciation, Griffith was hauled off for aggravated arson because the other half of the duplex where the fire took place was occupied.

Griffith is being held in the Reno County jail in lieu of a $7,500 bond for her quest to exterminate the offending arachnid.

- UK Independent