The tragedy left investigators baffled. There was no reason to suspect foul play. The Rooneys had been relaxing and drinking whiskey that evening. A farmhand who had spent a few hours with them hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Furthermore, no source of ignition could be found for the blaze. Although the flames had been intense enough to reduce Matilda Rooney to ashes and a few fragments of bone, they had not spread to the rest of the room. The fire seemed to have started in her body and stayed confined to her body.
It appeared that the Rooneys had fallen victim to the rare and enigmatic phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion.
For several centuries, people have debated whether human beings can spontaneously combust, or burst into flames without being ignited by an external source. Though the first known accounts of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) date all the way back to 1641, the phenomenon gained wider exposure in the 19th century after popular author Charles Dickens used it to kill off one of the characters in his novel “Bleak House.” When critics accused Dickens of legitimizing something that didn’t exist, he pointed to research showing 30 historical cases. More recently, cases of SHC have been suspected when police and fire department officials have found burned corpses with unscathed furniture around them. For instance, an Irish coroner ruled that spontaneous combustion caused the 2010 death of 76-year-old Michael Faherty, whose badly burned body was discovered near a fireplace in a room with virtually no fire damage.
Retired professor of pathology Mike Green said he had examined one suspected case in his career.
He said he would not use the term spontaneous combustion, as there had to be some source of ignition, possibly a lit match or cigarette.
“There is a source of ignition somewhere, but because the body is so badly destroyed the source can’t be found,” he said.
He said the circumstances in the Galway case were very similar to other possible cases.
“This is the picture which is described time and time again,” he said.
“Even the most experienced rescue worker or forensic scientist takes a sharp intake of breath (when they come across the scene).”
Mr Green said he doubted explanations centred on divine intervention.
“I think if the heavens were striking in cases of spontaneous combustion then there would be a lot more cases. I go for the practical, the mundane explanation,” he said.
Nearly every reported case of spontaneous human combustion has occurred without witnesses — which is exactly what you would expect if the fires were the result of drunken or sleepy accidents.
With nobody else around to stop the fire, the ignition source burns, and the resulting ash looks inexplicable.
The mystery fans the flames of speculation — but in the end, the myth of spontaneous human combustion is smoke without fire.
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