Bursting Blazes

A family in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is being terrorized by freakish self-igniting fires. Naysayers contend it must be arson or some other 'natural' type case. But spontaneous fires happen and they are more common than you might think. 'Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible and the Ignored' lists many such instances.

On January 5, 1820 in London, England clothes and beds burst into flames. On April 16, 1963 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia the home of the Douglas MacDonald family continually erupted in blazes, even after the electricity was cut off. On August 7, 1948, in Macomb, Illinois, the farmhouse of Charles Wiley experienced over 200 self-igniting fires in one week. Other locations for this phenomena include Ontario and Indiana. For more details see pages 4, 81,169,289 and many others.

As to their origins - who knows? They could be many explanations that seem 'supernatural' to us but in the ethers or netherworlds make perfect sense. And who cares about making sense anyways. The 'reason' behind such phenomena is the least important thing about them. It's the 'why' behind the 'why' that we need to pay attention to.