A mysterious, though not spontaneous, case of human combustion was
reported by Dr. De Brus in the Edinburgh Meical and Surgical Jounal dated
March 1829. The subject's hands burst into flames when he attempted to help
his brother, whose clothes were on fire. The blue flames continued for several
hours over the hands, and only constant immersion in water finall extinguished
them.
--Theodorick R. and John Beck, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, 10th ed,
Vol 2, pp98-99
An old soldier climbed up into a hayloft in Colchester, England, on
Sunday, Feb. 19, 1888. He was found completely consumed by fire, while the
highly flammable dry hay around him, both loose and in bundles, was not even
scorched.
--The British Medical Journal, April 21, 1888, pp.841-42
Some odd things happened in Binbrook, Lincolnshire, England around the end
of 1904. In December the Reverend AC Custance said that objects were being
hurled about and sometimes catching fire at the rectory. A month later a
Binbrook farmer saw the servant girl busy sweeping, oblivious to the flames
leaping from the back of her dress. He shouted to her and rushed to smother
the flames, but she had been badly burned.
--Charles Fort, The Complete Books of Charles Fort, pp.663-65
Two constables found the burned corpse of a woman in the village of Manner,
near Dinapore, India, in 1907. The two men carried the corpse, still
smolderingh inside UNSCORCHED clothes, to the district magistrate's office.
The Indian press said that the officers had seen no signs of fire in the room
where the body was.
--Charles Fort, The Complete Books of Charles Fort, p.930
The burned body of Allen Small, age 52, was found in his home at Deer Isle,
Maine, on Jan.13, 1943. The carpet beneath the body was scorched, but there
was no other sign of fire anywhere in the house. In the kitchen the stove lids
were all in place, and Small's unlit pipe was resting on a shelf.
--Vincent Gaddis, Mysterious Fires and LIghts, P.227
The body of Waymon Wood of Greenville, South Carolina, was found "crisp
black" in the front seat of his closed car on March 1, 1953. The car was
parked on the side of Bypass Route 291. Although little remained of Wood, the
car, which contained a half tank of gas, was uneffected except for the
windshield, which had bubbled and sagged inward from the intense heat.
--Vincent Gaddis, Mysterious Fires and Lights, P.112
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