The Legend:
In May 1953, the remains of 30-year-old Mrs. Esther Dulin of Los Angeles were discovered; although her body and chair had both been virtually consumed by fire, no other rooms or objects in the house were damaged.
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he found in Vincent H. Gaddis' Mysterious Fires and Lights (1967); a copy of which I will find. Nickell says that (according to Gaddis) the armchair was "overstuffed" and that Dulin had "apparently fell asleep" in it. Far from the rest of the house being undamaged, the remains of Dulin and her chair had fallen to the floor below through a hole burned into the floor. Nickell laments over the lack of mention of whether or not Dulin smoked cigarettes, but says "If we adopt this as a hypothesis, we have a plausible explaination of the case..."
Sources:
| Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
In May 1957, Mrs. Anna Martin was found by her son Samuel, a fireman, completely incinerated in their home in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The room was cold and there was no fire.
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he found in Vincent H. Gaddis' Mysterious Fires and Lights (1967); a copy of which I will find. Nickell describes the condition of Martin's "completely incinerated" body as consisting reportedly of "only the torso, burned beyond recognition," the limbs having been totally consumed except for her shoes (and, presumably, her feet). The body was lying in an area of about four square feet that was stained with "not oil, as it first appeared to be, but residue from the consumed body." The body was found in the basement of the two-story house, in front of a coal furnace that had no fire in it, and was cold to the touch; however, as Nickell points out, any fire in it may have died previous to the discovery of the body, or Martin may have set herself on fire while trying (unsuccessfully) to light the furnace.
Sources:
|
Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. World's Greatest Mysteries,The, Joyce Robins, 1989 Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
On January 31 1959, 72-year-old Jack Larber, a patient at the Laguna Honda Home in San Francisco, had his clothing mysteriously catch fire a few minutes after being fed, while his attendent was out of the room. Said attendent put out the fire with blankets immediatly, but Larber died on February 2 of third-degree burns. Larber was a non-smoker; no explaination was ever found for how the fire started.
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he compiled from two sources: Vincent H. Gaddis' Mysterious Fires and Lights (1967), and an article from the San Francisco Examiner of 1959; I will locate copies of both of these. Nickell finds it interesting that Gaddis neglects to mention that Larber was lying in bed at the time, and that Larber was in a psychiatric ward for senile patients; according to the San Francisco Examiner, "Because of their mental state, none of the five fellow inmates of the ward could relate what happened." Also according to the Examiner, a police inspector "said it appeared one of the inmates may have unwittingly tipped a burning match which ignited Larber's clothes."
Sources:
| Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
In December 1959, Billy Peterson, an autoworker, was found dead in the front seat of his car in Pontiac, Michigan. The exhaust pipe had been bent to lead into the car's front seat in what appeared to be a suicide, but Peterson's body displayed third-degree burns on the back legs and arms; and while his flesh was burned, neither his clothing nor the front seat of the car were damaged in any way. In fact, hairs on the charred portions of the body were not even singed.
The official cause of death was listed as carbon monoxide poisoning; the burns were ignored.
Sources:
| Charles Berlitz's World of the Incredible but True, Charles Berlitz, 1991 Ballantine Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
In November 1960, five men were found charred beyond recognition in a car along a rural road in Pike County, Kentucky. Murder had to be ruled out because autopsies revealed a significant amount of carbon monoxide in their bodies, which proved the men had been breathing when they were consumed by the flames.
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he compiled from two sources: John Michell and Robert J. M. Rickard's Phenomena: A Book of Wonders (1977), and three articles from the Pike County News for November 23 and December 1, 15 (1960); I will locate copies of all. Nickell mentions some other puzzling details of the event: the right front door was open, and blood was found nearby. He also says that no tests were made for traces of flammable liquids such as gasoline, and that the coroner's jury ruled the deaths as accidental, though the cause of fire was not determined. Nickell suggests, since the car had "gone over a slight embankment" and "was badly damaged by fire," that the logical explaination is that the gas tank was ruptured and caught fire, killing the men.
Sources:
| Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
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London Fiery Death | |||||
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The Legend:
In 1964, an unknown woman mysteriously burned to death somewhere in London. The only evidence is a photograph belonging to Tony McMunn.
Sources:
See Also:
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The Legend:
In October 1964, 75-year-old Olga Worth Stephens of Dallas, Texas, was seen to burst into flames while sitting in her parked car. By the time help reached her, she had been burned beyond recognition; yet nothing else in the vehicle was damaged. Investigation was unable to explain the fire.
Sources:
| Charles Berlitz's World of the Incredible but True, Charles Berlitz, 1991 Ballantine Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
On March 13, 1966, John Greeley, helmsman of the SS Ulrich, was burnt to a cinder some miles west of Land's End. Only Greeley was burnt; his surroundings were unharmed.
Theories
According to Colin Wilson, Michael Harrison in his book Fire From Heaven, expresses his belief that there is some form of connection between this case and the fiery deaths of two other men on the same day -- George Turner and Willem ten Bruik. Harrison asserts that the three men were at the points of an equilateral triangle whose sides were 340 miles long.
Sources:
| The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc. |
See Also:
|
General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion Specific Event: Willem ten Bruik's Combustion Specific Event: George Turner's Combustion |
The Legend:
On March 13, 1966, George Turner, a lorry-driver, was found in his overturned lorry in a ditch at Upton-by-Chester, burnt to death at the wheel. Only Turner was burnt; his surroundings were unharmed.
Theories
According to Colin Wilson, Michael Harrison in his book Fire From Heaven, expresses his belief that there is some form of connection between this case and the fiery deaths of two other men on the same day -- John Greeley and Willem ten Bruik. Harrison asserts that the three men were at the points of an equilateral triangle whose sides were 340 miles long.
Sources:
| The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc. |
See Also:
|
General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion Specific Event: Willem ten Bruik's Combustion Specific Event: John Greeley's Combustion |
The Legend:
On March 13, 1966, eighteen year old Willem ten Bruik was burnt to death at the wheel of his car in Nijmegen, Holland. Only Bruik was burnt; his surroundings were unharmed.
Theories
According to Colin Wilson, Michael Harrison in his book Fire From Heaven, expresses his belief that there is some form of connection between this case and the fiery deaths of two other men on the same day -- George Turner and John Greeley. Harrison asserts that the three men were at the points of an equilateral triangle whose sides were 340 miles long.
Sources:
| The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc. |
See Also:
|
General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion Specific Event: John Greeley's Combustion Specific Event: George Turner's Combustion |
 |
The last time 92-year-old Dr. John Irving Bentley was seen alive was on the evening of December 4, 1966, when friends visiting him at his home in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, said goodnight to him at about 9:00 P.M.
On the following morning, December 5, Mr. Gosnell, a meter reader, let himself into Bentley's house and went to the basement to check the meter -- since Dr. Bentley could only move about with the help of a walker, Mr. Gosnell had permission to enter as necessary. In the basement Mr. Gosnell noticed a strange smell and a light blue smoke, so he went upstairs to investigate. The bedroom was smoky... and in the bathroom he found Bentley's cremated remains.
All that was left intact of the aged doctor was the lower half or his right leg with the slipper still on it, lying next to a blackened foot hole in the floor; apart from that, all that was left of Bentley was a pile of ashes on the floor in the basement below. His walker lay across the hole; inexplicably, the rubber tips on it were still intact, and the nearby bathtub was hardly scorched. Gosnell ran from the building to get help.
The first theory put forward was that Bentley had set himself on fire with his pipe, but his pipe was was on its stand by the bed in the next room. Perplexed, the coroner could only record a verdit of 'death by asphyxiation and 90 per cent burning of the body.'
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he got from Larry E. Arnold's article "The Flaming Fate of Dr. John Irving Bentley," printed in the Pursuit of Fall 1976; I will find a copy of this article. Nickell mentions that the hole in the bathroom floor measured 21/2 feet by 4, and details the remains as being the unburnt leg, the pile of ashes, a kneecap found on top of a basement post, and Bentley's skull. Nickell also adds that Bentley's robe was found smoldering in the bathtub next to the hole, and that the broken remains of "what was apparently a water pitcher" were found in the toilet; add to this the facts that the doctor had "many times before" dropped hot ashes from his pipe onto his clothing (which "were dotted with burn spots from previous incidents"), and that burns were found on the bedroom rug that seemed to indicate Bentley had set his clothes afire and made his way to the bathroom with his walker. Nickell believes that Bentley set his clothes on fire, wlked to the bathroom, removed his robe, and passed out before he could extinguish the flames.
Sources:
|
Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. The World's Greatest Mysteries, Joyce Robins, 1989 Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
On January 6, 1980, a man's body was discovered in a living room in Blackwood, Ebbw Vales, Wales, by police and forensic officers. The corpse was almost totally consumed by a fire that had hardly damaged the armchair in which he sat; nearby plastic objects were completely undamaged. Despite this lack of related damage, the fire that had killed the man had been of a sufficient intensity to leave a coating of vaporized flesh on the ceiling.
Sources:
| Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, Jenny Randles, 1994 Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
In October 1980, Jenna Winchester, a naval airwoman, burst into flames while sitting in a car next to Leslie Scott, a friend. They were driving Seaboard Avenue in Jacksonville, Florida, when Winchester burst into yellow flames and screamed "Get me out of here!" Scott tried to beat out the flames with her hands, and the car ran into a telephone pole. Winchester survived the experience, with 20 percent of her body covered by burns.
Sources:
| The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Mysteries, Colin and Damon Wilson, 1988 Contemporary Books, Inc. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
The Legend:
On August 5, 1982, an unidentified Chicago woman was seen to burst into flames for no apparent reason as she was walking down a street. An eyewitness was quoted as saying they "saw her burning and then she fell."
Theories
Joe Nickell, in his book Secrets of the Supernatural, gives an account of this event he found in two articles from the Orlando Sentinel of August 6 & 10, 1982; copies of which I will locate. Nickell states that the initial reports that the woman had burst into flames was in a City News Bureau bulletin, as was the claim of the eyewitness; the CNB later added the suggestion of spontaneous human combustion as a cause. Later than the bulletin, however, the autopsy showed that the woman had been dead before she was burned, and the Chicago crime lab found traces of hydrocarbon accelerants on her clothing... which suggests murder, not SHC.
Sources:
| Secrets of the Supernatural, Joe Nickell (with John F. Fischer), 1988 Prometheus Books. |
See Also:
| General Article: Spontaneous Human Combustion |
