Man Tries to Kill Spider, Burns Down House

We tried to warn you, spider-slaying arsonists. A Seattle house went up in flames last night after a tenant tried to flush out an eight-legged foe in his laundry room by setting it on fire using a lighter and spray paint, KOMO News reports. A spokesman for the Seattle Fire Department says that the man couldn’t put out the fire himself and that firefighters originally fought the fire from a distance because there was speculation of ammunition inside the home—that threat was later ruled out, according to KIRO-TV. There were said to be no injuries, but the rental home and its contents reportedly sustained $60,000 worth of damage.

While all this was going on, neighbors scrambled to hose down their own homes and yards to keep the fire away. “I saw flames coming out of the side of the house and heard popping sounds,” one of the neighbors tells KIRO-TV. Another neighbor adds, “There were giant clouds of smoke pouring out of the windows.” The Red Cross is said to be helping the man and a second tenant (his mother) find new lodgings. And in case you’re wondering who would actually try to kill a spider this way: There’s sufficient proof here, here, and here to show this case wasn’t an outlier. (More spiders stories.)