'Spiderwoman' dies in 15-story plunge

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Canadian police on Vancouver Island are investigating why a woman tried to climb from a 15th-floor apartment balcony to one below before falling to her death.

Victoria Police spokesman Grant Hamilton said the incident started Sunday afternoon when an unidentified woman in her early 30s knocked on the 15th-floor apartment of 88 year-old Fay sage, the Victoria Times-Colonist reported.

The woman told Sage she had just moved into the building but had lost her front door keys, and asked if she could scale down from Sage's balcony directly below, the report said.

"I said 'This terrifies me,' but she said 'I've climbed mountains. This is easy,'" Sage said.

Ninth-floor resident Lewis Wilson told the newspaper he heard the falling woman scream twice.

"She fell right by my window ... (then) I heard the most god-awful noise that I will never forget," he said of her landing.

Police said they couldn't confirm the woman's claim of being a new resident and were investigating Tuesday.