Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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It’s time for another peep at that ever-popular Fortean category, Mystery Fires!  The “London Daily Mail,” February 5, 1921:

A remarkable series of fires, described in the official report as "of doubtful origin," caused the London Fire Brigade to pay four separate visits yesterday morning to Upper Frognal Lodge, Hampstead. A few minutes after 2 a.m. firemen were called to the lodge, where they extinguished with buckets of water a small fire in the front room on the second floor. At about 3.45 a.m. the brigade were again summoned and overcame a small outbreak in the back room on the second floor.

At about 5.30 a further alarm was given, and when the firemen arrived small fires were in progress in the front room on the first floor and the front room on the second floor. As in the two previous cases, buckets of water were used to extinguish the outbreak. Again, at 9.30, the brigade were called to Frognal Lodge, where three separate fires in the front and back rooms on the second floor had to be extinguished. 

The house is a large one occupied by Lieutenant-Colonel R.S. Webber. With the first call there were two separate fires, one causing damage to an armchair and the other to a sofa and four chairs. The second outbreak was in a cupboard in the bathroom on the second floor; in the third case a cupboard in the front room on the first floor and window curtains in the front room on the second floor were dealt with.

A brief sequel appeared in the “Daily Telegraph” four days later:

More mysterious fires occurred yesterday morning at 67 Frognal, Hampstead, the residence of Lieut. Colonel R.S. Webber. 

On the arrival of the fire brigade outbreaks were discovered in a cupboard in the bath-room on the first floor, a cupboard in the bathroom on the second floor, a bedroom front of the first floor, and another front room on the first floor There were, according to the fire brigade report, four separate fires. No appliances were used, the flames being quickly subdued. The cause is given as “doubtful." On Friday last, the fire brigade was called four times to the same house where ten separate “seats” of fire were discovered. The cause then was ascribed as “doubtful.”

I did not find any more reports of fires, “doubtful” or otherwise, at the home, which must have come as a great relief to both Lt. Webber and the overworked Hampstead fire brigade.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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More Mystery Fires, this time affecting a whole town, rather than one residence.  The Glasgow “Daily Record,” October 16, 1933:

Crieff police are puzzled as to the cause of the remarkable series of fires which have occurred this weekend. 

Between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon three outbreaks were reported to the police.

These outbreaks have occurred in a thickly populated area behind a narrow lane called Academy Road. 

Late on Saturday night a fire was discovered in a cellar below a dwelling-house in that area very near to a building which was destroyed by fire on Wednesday night. The alarm was raised by a neighbour who burst open the door. He was successful in extinguishing the blaze.

On Sunday afternoon in the same area an outbreak was discovered in a store belonging to Messrs. Harley and Watts Ltd., chemists. Huge volumes of smoke were observed pouring from the store in which large quantities of straw and packing material are kept. Mr. Alex Love, garage manager of Messrs. Duff and Son, motor hirers, broke down the door and with a fire extinguisher and a small hose prevented the flames from spreading to the large warehouse of Messrs. Fraser (Perth) Ltd. 

Later in the afternoon, the police were again called to deal with an outbreak of fire in a dwelling-house in Hill Street, which they managed to extinguish without summoning the fire brigade. There have been five outbreaks of fire in Crieff within a week.

Various buildings in and around Crieff continued to be plagued by these inexplicable blazes until at least the end of the year, when, as far as I can tell, they finally petered out.  I could not find any indication that the cause of these fires--whether it was a mad arsonist or something more Fortean--was ever discovered.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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It’s Mystery Fires time!  The “Reno Gazette-Journal,” August 14, 1985:

JAMESTOWN, Calif. (UPI) - A historic hotel with a colorful Gold Rush past keeps bursting into flames. Its owners blame an arsonist--one that's been dead 100 years or so. Ghost experts say it could be the work of a grudge-bearing, bald-headed, pajama-clad spirit who may have caused the great Jamestown mining disaster in the 1850s that killed 23 people. In the past decade, the 123-year-old Willow Hotel has been struck by mysterious fires five times.

Flames nearly burned it to the ground in 1975 and the most recent blaze, on July 20, destroyed the former two-story hotel-restaurant's 80-year-old annex. "I said to myself, 'Oh no, not the ghosts again,' " said Deanna Mooney, who bought the hotel with her husband, Sean, in 1972. Former bartender Mike Cusentino, 55, said he first saw the apparition in 1973.

"I woke up one night in one of the eight hotel rooms upstairs and there's this little gray guy right at the door, about 6 feet away from me," he said. "He was in his 60s, bald-headed with a fringe of hair around the top wearing pajamas and a bathrobe. "I stared at him and in a matter of seconds he was gone." 

The Willows was once the pride of the "Gateway to the Mother Lode," as the Sierra foothills town of Jamestown was known during its wild mining days, and boasted gunslingers such as Bat Masterson among its guests. Parapsychologists called in to "exorcize" any spirits said they got rid of three of nine or more ghosts pervading the hotel. Ghostbuster Frank Nocerino said the arsonist could be one of several vengeful ghostly suspects, including the bald-headed spirit who may have also caused the cave-in of a gold mine shaft that runs underneath the hotel in the 1850s.

But he also believes the series of blazes could have been set by several people who died in a fire that burned nine buildings in 1896. The town didn't have water for firefighting, so dynamite was used to put out the flames. "The rest of the town was blown up to save the Willow," Nocerino said. "I guess the people who were killed in the fire resented that."

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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This curious little news item appeared in the “Philadelphia Times,” January 30, 1892:

The home of John Grewson, which is situated just west of the Pennsylvania Railroad and south of Lehigh avenue, upon the unimproved tract lying between Nineteenth and Twenty-first streets, was the scene early yesterday morning of a startling occurrence. 

Grewson, who owns a horse and cart and does work for contractors, was awakened about half-past 2 o'clock yesterday morning by the loud and excited barking of a watchdog in the yard. Going to a window facing the stable he noticed lying upon the ground near that building a strange object which emitted a wavy light. 

At last Grewson ventured into the yard and was surprised to find that although the thing was luminous there was no heat. He applied his hands to it and took it up. It was about the size of a coconut, and was wet and sticky.

Suddenly, as Grewson and his wife were handling the object, which was a grayish waxlike mass, it burst into flame, setting fire to Mrs. Grewson's clothing and the carpet, and burning so fiercely that it was with difficulty that Grewson succeeded in quenching the flames, which threatened the life of his wife and seemed about to destroy his property. 

The Grewsons supposed that the grayish mass which had so suddenly threatened them with destruction might be, as they termed it, "a falling star." It is thought by others that some enemy of the Grewsons, contemplating an incendiary act, and knowing that the building could not be closely approached on account of the savage dog, had resort to a mixture of phosphorus and wax, which fell short of its mark or perhaps rolled from the roof. This theory is strengthened by the fact that the substance was wet when picked up by Grewson, it being necessary to keep phosphorus in water in order to prevent ignition.

I couldn’t find any follow-up stories, so who knows what the substance was.  If the ball really was phosphorus, I can only comment that Grewson had someone who really, really didn’t like him.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

"Detroit Free Press," December 5, 1941, via Newspapers.com

It’s time for the good old Mystery Fires!  The “Detroit Free Press,” December 3, 1941:

A fire blitz was reported Tuesday night from Windsor where firemen maintained continuous watch over the Dominion Golf and Country Club, scene of 30 mysterious blazes within a period of seven hours. 

Many of the fires broke out while attendants at the Howard Ave. clubhouse stood by confused and helpless.  They started in rugs, curtains and even in the straw of a broom that leaned in a corner of the lobby.

"Only a ghost could have touched off the blazes," one of the club employees reported. "After the first fire was discovered, we were on guard, but others broke out under our very eyes." 

Nicholas White, manager and owner of the clubhouse, verified the story, although he was not inclined to believe that a "fire elemental," as occultists describe an incendiary spirit, was responsible. 

"I saw fires break out as I stood in the lobby," White said.

"First there would be a wisp of smoke, then a tiny tongue of flame would appear sometimes on the walls, sometimes on the floor. I was within a couple of feet of a window blind when it blazed up." 

Inspector Claude Anderson, of the Ontario Fire Marshall's office, who examined the premises Tuesday for traces of incendiary chemicals, declined to comment on his findings. Chemicals which ignite spontaneously under certain atmospheric conditions have been used in air raids by both the RAF and Luftwaffe.

As always seems to happen in such cases, the fires appear to have plagued the club for a few days, and then disappeared as inexplicably as they appeared.  What made this case interesting to me is that our fiery forces took their act on the road.  The “Free Press” ten days later:

JACKSON, Dec. 12--James V. Thomson, former chairman of the State Republican Central Committee, now county treasurer here, is trying to solve the origin of mysterious fires in his home, strange fires like those which sprung up in various parts of the Dominion Golf and Country Club near Windsor, Ont, early this month.

Thomson said early Sunday morning his mother-in-law, Mrs. Mary Sanford, saw smoke suddenly burst from a davenport. A few minutes after he extinguished the blaze another fire broke out in an overstuffed chair. Thomson hired an electrician to go over the home lighting equipment after the family spent an uneasy night Sunday. 

As a precautionary measure, Thomson attached a garden hose to an inside faucet. The mystery has not yet been explained, nor have there been any further outbursts of flame, Thomson said Friday. 

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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“Mystery Fires” are an unnervingly common Fortean phenomenon.  This example was reported in the “Madisonville Messenger,” June 16, 1983:

WHARNCLIFFE, W.Va. (AP) - An Appalachian Power Co. official says electricity can’t be blamed for a baffling series of fires at a house and nearby church in which objects ranging from mattresses to roller skates have inexplicably burst into flames.“There is no physical way that electricity could have caused all these fires," said Appalachian representative Paul Owens, who visited the site of the unexplained fires Tuesday.  Gilbert Fire Chief Jerry Grimmett says the fires began Monday and continued Tuesday, burning carpeting, clothes and trashcans. 

The Rev. and Mrs. Gene Clemons, who live in the modular home stricken by the bizarre blazes, told firefighters they had seen “fire shooting six inches” from electrical outlets, he said. 

Even when the power was shut off, though, the fires kept erupting in trash cans and closets, said Assistant Fire chief Kendall Simpson. And when the family moved its belongings into the church, the bulletin boards there began to burn.

"We're literally watching our house burn one piece of furniture at a time,” Mrs Clemons said Tuesday during firefighters' fourth visit to the property in 24 hours. 

Simpson said local firefighters are baffled and that the state fire marshal's office planned to send a representative to Wharncliffe today to investigate.  "All anybody's told us so far is what didn't cause the fires," Simpson said.

On Monday, the first fires began erupting throughout the Clemons home even after the power was turned off, burning mattresses, a towel on a wooden bathroom rack, trash cans and carpeting, Grimmett said. When the family began to move its belongings into the church, bulletin boards there began to burn and smoke, he said. 

On Tuesday, firefighters were called back to the church, where they were told local residents had extinguished a small fire involving a couch and an artificial Christmas tree. Despite reports that flames had been leaping from electrical sockets, Owens contended there was no way an electrical problem could have caused the wide-ranging series of fires, including clothes that burned on hangers in closets. Owens said he believed the fires were the work of an arsonist, although Grimmett and Simpson said they weren't so sure. 

“This is just like something you'd see in a movie,” Grimmett said. “It beats all I've ever seen.”

I couldn’t find any further news reports about the mystery, so hopefully the fiery ordeal the Clemons family experienced was a brief one.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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This red-hot little mystery was reported in the "Anderson Intelligencer," May 20, 1880. It was a reprint from the "Cincinnati Gazette":

Cleveland, April 28.--German residents of the Sixteenth Ward, in the vicinity of Lincoln and Lussenden avenues, have been wrought up to a high pitch of excitement for several days on acconnt of the strange happenings in the house and to the family of John Busch.

A short lime ago Busch moved to the city from North Amherst, O., where he had been for a number of years in the employ of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company. Busch had not been in his new home very long when he began to be troubled by fires breaking out in various parts of the house, for which no cause could be assigned, and he finally became so impressed with the belief that the house was haunted that he removed from 1177 Lincoln avenue to 77 Lussenden avenue. But his troubles did not end here. The affair had so mysterious an aspect, and created so much excitement in the neighborhood, that a Gazette man concluded to investigate, as he did yesterday and to-day, with the following results:

The house which Busch occupied on Lincoln avenue is a two story frame, formerly used as a bakery, the oven still remaining in the back part of the house. The front room was occupied as a bedroom, and in it were three beds and a child's crib, side by side, with just room enough to pass between, the bed nearest the wall being close against it and shutting off entrance to a closet. 

A week ago Sunday, while the family and one or two friends were sitting in this room, smoke was seen issuing from the closet, which contained nothing but a suit of cast off clothing. This was discovered to be on fire, and was hastily put out, while the family was astounded, as no one had been in the closet that day. 

A brother-in-law and one or two friends were told of the singular occurrence, but paid no attention to it until a child came running to tell him, Monday afternoon, that the fire had broken out again, this time in the pantry, where it had burned the paper off the shelves. The brother in-law, who is an intelligent German, hastened to the house in company with some friends, and while they were in the kitchen discussing the event the crib in the front room began smoking, and before they could put the fire out the tick was burned through. 

Monday afternoon seven fires occurred in various parts of the house. Tuesday afternoon a bed in the front room was destroyed; some wadding that was behind a door caught fire, and the contents of an old kettle in the kitchen suffered a similar fate. This was too much for them, and the next morning, with what goods the fire left them, they moved out of the house and into a story and a half frame building at No. 77 Lussenden avenue. 

That night the eleven members of the family slept on the floor. A family living next door to the Lincoln avenue house also took fright, and left the neighborhood. On the afternoon of Thursday the smell of smoke spread through the new house, and they rushed up stairs to find one of the beds, which had just been put up that morning, almost consumed. A chicken coop adjoins the shed kitchen, in which a hen's nest in a barrel took fire Friday. Saturday a coat hanging in the shed kitchen began burning in the middle of the back, and was ruined before it could be extinguished. Sunday was an exciting day for the poor people. A sister in-law laid her hat on the bed while she went to speak to a neighbor at the gate, and while there the bed began smoking and destroyed the feather on her hat. The bed seemed hot, but there was no fire visible. In a short time the bed caught fire and was burned through before it could be put out. Monday the last straw bed was consumed. This left two feather pillows, a husk bolster, and a feather-tick for eleven persons to sleep upon.

Tuesday forenoon the Gazette correspondent visited the house and found the family in a state bordering on frenzy. The mother, with twins at her breast, wandered aimlessly around a room, in which was a cookstove, two or three chairs, a feather-bed, and two pillows. A few religious prints bung on the walls.

Two hours after your correspondent left the husk bolster was consumed and he returned again to the scene of the mysteries. There is now absolutely nothing left to burn. In connection with the affair, the causes of which your correspondent does not pretend to understand, it may be said that the family are very superstitious, and one incident, which sounds more like fiction than fact, is vouched for by outsiders. Some person told them to look among the feathers, and if they found a wreath to boil it, and then burn the feathers of which it was composed, and the "spell" would be broken. They looked and found a wreath of feathers about two inches thick, and eight inches in diameter. They boiled and burned it on Monday, but the fires continued Tuesday all the same. The father, who bears a good name for sobriety and industry, is completely broken down and unable to work, and the mother and daughter keep moving from room to room, in which are vessels filled with water, looking for incipient fires.

I was unable to find any later stories about this unfortunate family, so I cannot say when these Fortean Flames finally ceased.

[Note: some newspapers gave the family name as "Bush."]

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

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Another case of Mystery Fires, this one targeting one particularly helpless woman. From the (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) "Argus-Leader," March 23, 1922:

Alva, Okla.--Blue flames, their origin a mystery, which burst into being apparently from the air itself, threaten death to Mrs. Ona Smith, 23 years old, an invalid, who lies paralyzed on a bed in a little cottage here.

The authorities are completely baffled and the woman cowers in terror. Bedside watchers, who are keeping vigil day and night, can only leap to the rescue as the mysterious fires break out at intervals in bedding, clothing worn by Mrs. Smith, wall draperies or any inflammable material in the room.

Two mattresses have been reduced to smoldering ruins, a calendar on the wall has been ignited, a shawl worn by the invalid has burst into flames and several other blazes started in bedding in the last few days.

The first fire came at midnight Wednesday. The flames, which suddenly leaped up from the bottom of the mattress on the bed were extinguished by Mrs. Smith's mother, Mrs. John Meyers. Later the mattress caught fire in another another spot.

Friday a calendar on the wall blazed. Soon afterward the carpet ignited. An aunt, Mrs. Mary Wagner, was in the room at the time.

The invalid was removed from the bed to a chair. Her shawl flamed as it touched the floor. All bedding and apparel were removed from the room and a new mattress installed. It burst into flames yesterday morning, witnessed by several among them a newspaper reporter.

Dr. C. L. Rogers, who was called in following the first blaze, failed to solve the mystery. Speculation here is rife concerning the reason for the fires. Theories advanced include spiritualism, chemical reaction from urine and incendiarism.

Witnesses say the fires seem to start in the air, blue flames jumping and crackling.

The last report on the story, dated several days later, stated that after Mrs. Smith was removed to a hospital, the terrifying blazes stopped. Sadly, however, according to findagrave.com, poor Ona died on March 20, before most of the newspaper items about her strange affliction even appeared in print.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

"Sioux Falls Argus Leader," March 8, 1978, via Newspapers.com

Most cases of "mystery fires" are blamed on mischievous adolescents or disgruntled servants. Putting responsibility on the household furniture is a welcome novelty. From the "Minneapolis Star Tribune," March 8, 1978:

Duluth, Minn.--Steve Curtis says four fires in the vicinity of an old desk he owns is enough.

"I want to get rid of this for sure. No way will I keep it," Curtis said after fire heavily damaged his new house Monday.

Fire officials blame the 8 a.m. fire on a short circuit in electric lines under the kitchen floor. But Curtis and his relatives--who say they have seen three other houses burn down around the desk--don't care. All the fires started near the desk.

"That damned desk. We're all through with it now," said Curtis' mother, Rose Juntenen. The desk was in a house, a former Methodist church, the family bought 20 years ago in Carlton, Minn., and was given to Curtis.

In 1973 the house was destroyed by fire, but the desk and three other pieces of furniture survived. The desk was moved to Curtis's house in Cloquet, which burned down a year later. Again the desk remained intact.

Last June Curtis asked his brother-in-law, Rick Thyen, to store the desk at his home in Rice. In December that house was destroyed by a fire that started in a hallway where the desk was standing.

The desk was not damaged.

At this point Juntenen got worried and urged the family to "get rid of the desk."

But when Steve moved into a new home in Duluth, he took the desk with him. Less than a week later, fire struck.

He awoke Monday smelling smoke and ran out to see the kitchen ablaze, just a few feet from the desk. Damage was $1,000 to the house and $1,000 to the contents. The desk was unmarked.

"I'm taking any offer I can get," said Curtis, who says at least one antique dealer valued the desk at $3,000-$5,000.

"I'm sure a desk can't start a fire," said Thyen, "but it sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

I haven't been able to find any follow-up stories, so it's anyone's guess what became of the firebug desk.

The Ghosts of Antigonish

Most real-life ghost stories start suddenly, unexpectedly. Life is normal one moment, and awash in The Weird the next. A notable exception is one of Canada's most well-known hauntings, usually known as "The Fire-Spook of Caledonia Mills." This paranormal tale started with a lethal curse, which should have given everyone involved fair warning.

The site of our tale is the isolated farm of Alexander MacDonald, in the remote rural village of Caledonia Mills, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. According to legend, trouble began in 1900, when MacDonald's wife Janet got into a bitter argument with her mother, Mary Cameron. In her fury, Janet snapped, "I hope the devil in hell comes and takes you before nine o'clock tomorrow morning!"

Yes, indeed, the next morning Mrs. Cameron suddenly died. Before nine.

Anyone familiar with such tales knows that when you summon the aid of Satan, it can be very hard to get the fellow to leave. Unnerving things began to happen at the MacDonald farm. Household belongings mysteriously vanished, later reappearing in remote spots on the property. MacDonald's horses and livestock would somehow be set loose from their stalls, and nothing MacDonald did seemed able to stop it. During the night, horses and cattle switched places, with the cows in the stables and the horses in the cattle areas. The animals' tails were found elaborately braided. The poor creatures were always left terrified after these occurrences. Heavy farm equipment would be moved about, as if by invisible hands. Passers-by often noticed a weird blue light playing around the barn.

In 1910, the MacDonalds adopted a two-year-old girl named Mary Ellen. She was the daughter of a local woman who could no longer take care of her. The child rarely attended school and had no outside friends or interests. She grew up in the morbidly private world of this increasingly eerie farm.

The family's private descent into hell became very public on January 6, 1922, thanks to what became known as "The Night of 38 Fires." Mary Ellen braved walking through a fierce blizzard to seek out the neighboring farm of Leo MacGillivray. Her family, she pleaded, needed help. Fires kept breaking out at all sorts of different locations in their home, and the MacDonalds were unable to control them.

When MacGillivray and other neighbors arrived at the MacDonald's, they saw immediately that these were no ordinary house fires. MacGillivray later said that the place would suddenly become illuminated as if by a short circut on a high-tension wire. Then, bluish blazes would suddenly appear on the unlikeliest places--including soaking wet papers, rags, and wood. The wallpaper would periodically shoot out flames. As soon as the fires were extinguished, new ones would pop up to take their place. There was a strange lack of heat to the fires. No gasoline or other flammable materials were inside the house.

Perhaps the most curious occurrence was reported by two neighbors, Michael McGillivray and John Kenney. One day, as they were approaching the MacDonald home, they saw a hand grasping a piece of white cotton projecting from an upstairs window. The white cloth was waved three times, as if giving a signal, before it disappeared. Residents of the house swore that no one had been upstairs at the time.

The MacDonalds were exhausted from battling the unremitting blazes, and in a state of confused panic about what was happening to them. By January 12, the family, terrified that they might be burned alive, had no choice but to flee. They took shelter with the MacGillivrays.

Naturally, word soon spread of the peculiar events at the MacDonald farm. Harold Whidden, a reporter for the "Halifax Herald" was assigned to visit the farm. With him was a retired police chief, Peter Carroll. The men spent two nights at the farmhouse. They were spared the mystery fires, but reported hearing footsteps and other eerie noises. A...something angrily slapped them on their arms and faces.

Peter Carroll (above) and Alexander MacDonald

Whidden, increasingly convinced that the farm was plagued by paranormal forces, turned to automatic writing. He soon felt his mind "controlled by some unseen power. Every movement [of his hand] appeared to be dictated or automatic. The writing was not of my own violation."

The invisible tormentors were asked, "Who set the fires in Alexander MacDonald's house?"

"Spirits!" Whidden's hand wrote on the paper.

It was then asked, "Did you slap Harold Whidden on the arm the second night he and Mr. Carroll were in the house?"

Whidden wrote "Yes," explaining, "Because I wanted to show him that the mystery fires were caused by spirits!"

Whidden wrote for over two hours, receiving what he believed were many different messages from the "spirits." However, he never revealed their full contents, explaining that most of them "were of the utmost significance and not a few of them were of an entirely personal character." Whidden concluded, "I will...believe to the hour of my death at least, that the fires in Alexander MacDonald's house and the mysterious unfastening of his cattle were caused by spirits." Carroll agreed. He later described the MacDonalds as "straightforward, substantial and God-fearing...I firmly believe that neither the fires nor other strange occurrences about the farm were the cause of human hands."

So...what did cause them?

Walter Franklin Price, a scientist at the American Research Society of New York, believed he had the answer. He spent nearly a week at the MacDonald farm, and returned convinced that Mary Ellen was responsible for the fires. He wrote that Mary Ellen may have been in an "altered state of consciousness" and in the grip of a "discarnate intelligence" when these seemingly occult acts were committed. However, he absolved her from conscious guilt, writing that "I am emphatically of the opinion that the girl was not mentally culpable. She is mentally exceedingly young for her years and witin the past year has had singular 'dream' states, from which it was difficult to rouse her. It is very probably that she was the victim of altered states."

Dr. Price did not bother to explain why, if such was the case, Whidden and Carroll experienced weird phenomena when Mary Ellen was nowhere in sight.

An even less likely theory was offered by Edward O'Brien, of St. Francis Xavier University. O'Brien proposed that the so-called "Fire-Spook" was really due to wireless currents that ran through the area from nearby radio towers. The commotion with the livestock, he scoffed, was just Mary Ellen playing pranks on her gullible family. No one else, however, managed to take O'Brien very seriously, particularly after Guglielmo Marconi himself publicly dismissed the idea.

Poltergeist tales rarely have a happy ending, and sadly, this was no exception. Neighbors indignantly refuted Dr. Price's suggestion that Mary Ellen was in any way to blame for the chaos that had engulfed her family. They described her as a sweet, good-natured girl who loved her adopted parents and was incapable of playing such sadistic "pranks." The strange events at her home, coupled with the common tendency to place responsibility for them on her shoulders, proved to be too much for Mary Ellen. In October 1922, she was temporarily committed to an insane asylum. After her release, she eventually married, and did her best to put the horrific experiences of her youth behind her. The MacDonalds abandoned the farm for good. Some years later, it mysteriously burned down, and no one showed any inclination to rebuild on the notorious plot of ground.  To this day, there is a belief that the land where the farm stood is "cursed," and that if anyone removes any item--no matter how small and insignificant--from the site, the "Fire-Spook" will prey on their home, as well.

When asked what he thought of the events at the MacDonald farm, Harold Whidden would invariably answer, "It is beyond me. The solution of the mystery may be quite simple, but to me it is a very strange affair, and I would not offer a suggestion."

That may have to remain the final word on the matter.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Here's one for the Mystery Fires file.  This account of a red-hot puzzle in New Brunswick, Canada, appeared in the Bangor, Maine, "Daily Whig," August 10, 1887:

Woodstock, N.B., is greatly excited, says a "Boston Herald" dispatch, over the strange and inexplicable scenes which have been enacted in a little, two-story frame house on Victoria street, occupied by Reginald C. Hoyt, a picture frame dealer, who does business on Main street, a few doors above the Wilbur House. His family, consisting of his wife, five children and two nieces, are in a state of mental fear, dread, and anxiety, and will probably vacate the house at once. Between eleven o'clock, Friday morning, and noon, Saturday, no less than forty fires broke out in various parts of the house, and bedding, furniture, window shades, clothing, and various household articles were partially destroyed. Only untiring vigilance has prevented the house and its contents from burning to the ground, and this would also have caused the destruction of other wooden buildings in the vicinity.

These fires can be traced to no human agency, and even the scientists are staggered. Without premonition and with no lamps lighted or stoves in use, various articles would burst out in flames. Now it would be a curtain, high up and out of reach; then a bedquilt in another room would commence to smoke and smoulder, and as if to still further nonplus the theorists, a carpet covered lounge was found to be all afire underneath, among the jute stretched above the springs.

A basket of clothes in the shed burst into flames, and the basket itself was partially consumed. A child's dress hanging on a hook, a feather bed, a straw mattress, no two articles in the same room were ignited and would have been consumed but for water copiously poured on them.

News spread quickly that Hoyt's house was haunted, and great crowds flocked there. One of the visitors was a leading physician and druggist, whose only theory was that of electrical or gaseous combustion. But the fact that the fire burst forth in rooms, the windows of which were wide open, seems to refute this supposition. Mr. James Walls, editor of the Carleton "Sentinel," the leading newspaper in town, went to examine into the strange affair, and while standing in the parlor talking with Mrs. Hoyt, was astonished to see a white cotton window curtain burst into flames at a point near the ceiling, and when no one was present. He rushed to the spot, climbed a chair, and with his hands, which were somewhat burned, extinguished the fire, only to see it break out anew at a point far removed from the original blaze. He came away puzzled and completely nonplussed.

Mr. William S. Jones, of Boston, in company with Mr. Jarvis, of the Halifax Banking Company, called at the fire haunted house this morning, and, while seated in the front room talking with Mrs. Hoyt and Mr. George Connell, the lawyer, a child's shriek was heard in the adjoining room, and the party rushed in to find a basket of clothes in a blaze. Like all the others, they came away mystified.

The house presents a strange appearance. In every room, partially burned garments, sheets, and articles of furniture were lying around drenched with water, and walls and ceilings blackened and smoked. The children were huddled about their mother, everyone dreading a visit of the fire spook and anxiously glancing about.

No evidence of human agency was discovered in any of these fires. On the contrary, it was discovered that on one occasion fire had broken out when no one was in the house. Mr. Hoyt returned from a neighbor's, where he had taken his family, to find a bed on fire.

Mr. Hoyt is a sober, industrious man and bears a good reputation. His property is not insured. The house is insured, but is not owned by Mr. Hoyt.

The best anyone could do for an explanation to the mystery was that, "A few weeks ago an inmate of the house is said to have been attacked with typhoid fever and after recovery, quantities of sulphur were used as a disinfectant up to a recent period. The fumes from the burning sulphur impregnated the cotton articles around and bad ventilation and the peculiar state of the atmosphere contributed to bring about the mysterious breaking out of fire in sundry articles. "r A parallel case occurred in a provincial town in the north of England some years ago."

[Note: In response to an article on the Hoyt mystery published in the "Woodstock Press," a Hanford Wolhaupter wrote the paper with his own similar experience. He said, "In your issue of the 9th instant I read with much interest of the mysterious fire that occurred lately in the house of R. C. Hoyt, Woodstock. It brings vividly to my mind a subject of which I was an eye witness. My father's family consisted of seven persons. I was at the time I have reference to nearly twenty years of age, and remember the circumstance as well as though it happened yesterday. It occurred in the year 1834, I think; we resided in Richmond, Carleton County. There would be fire start up in four, five or six places, all at once, in different parts of the house, up in the chamber and in different rooms. We all took part in extinguishing these at the time, and in a few minutes we would observe a number more in different parts of the house. At last we all became quite alarmed, and could not arrive at any conclusion of the cause. Rev. Samuel Joll was stationed Wesleyan Minister at Woodstock at the time, and expressed the belief that these singular fires would be followed by strong spiritual manifestations, which soon proved to be the case."

Unfortunately, Wolhaupter apparently did not elaborate on these "strong spiritual manifestations."]

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Yet another case of Mystery Fires, as reported in the "Pittsburgh Press," August 20, 1948:

Macomb, Ill., Aug. 20--There wasn't much left for the "mystery fires" to destroy on Charlie Willey's farm today.

The "ghost flames" destroyed the second barn last night. Mr. Willey now has lost his five-room frame cottage and two barns to the fires, which seem to come from nowhere.

Mrs. Willey said she and her husband were sitting in their yard, next to the charred ruins of their home at 6 pm when the blaze broke out.

"I just looked up and the barn had burst into flames," she said. "We just stood and watched. There was no chance to save it."

The barn, which contained hay, burned in 26 minutes, Mrs. Willey said. Fireman were too late to save it.

"You wouldn't have been able to save it if you had been right there with the fire hose," James Peak, a passerby, told Macomb firemen.

The Willeys also reported an outbreak of small fires in their milkhouse. They have lived in a makeshift tent since their house burned last Saturday, and use the milkhouse as a dining room.

Mrs. Willey said that she opened the door to the milkhouse yesterday morning and noticed smoke. She put out a small blaze in shelf paper in a cupboard.

Like the other fires which have plagued the Willeys for two weeks, yesterday's blazes seemed spontaneous.

Just six buildings--three chicken brooders, a chicken house, a smokehouse and granary--remain on the Willey farm, about twelve miles south of here.

The blazes began two weeks ago, when the Willeys first noticed brown spots on their wallpaper. The spots spread and then burst into flame.

The Willeys doused the fires but more appeared--200 in a week.

Finally the Willeys moved out of their home. Saturday the house burned and the next day their first barn went up in flames.

Mr. Willey said the wallpaper couldn't be blamed since he had torn it off the walls and the barns weren't papered. It couldn't be defective wiring because the house was not electrified.

The family was virtually isolated by the fires today. In order to talk with them by telephone--which was moved to the granary--it was necessary to have the operator relay the messages.

Mrs. Willey said the family still wasn't frightened by the fires.

"There must be some natural explanation for them," she said. "And we're not going to let them lick us. We're still going to rebuild on the foundation of our old home."

Soon afterward, a "natural explanation" was indeed offered for the fires. Newspapers reported that Willey's 12-year-old niece, Wonet (or Wanet) McNeil, admitted to having set all the blazes. She had been living at the farm with her father, Mrs. Willey's brother Harold McNeil, ever since her parents divorced. Wonet said she had recently visited her mother in Bloomington, Illinois, and "didn't want to go back to the farm." She said she had set all the fires using nothing more than matches.

There were doubts expressed about this oh-so-tidy solution. Her aunt Lou Willey commented that Wonet must have been "awful slick" to set all those fires--over two hundred of them--without anyone spotting her. How could she have used only matches to set off these baffling, incredibly intense blazes? (No trace of flammable liquids were found at any of the fires.)  How to explain that many of the fires had started when Wonet was nowhere in sight? Mrs. Willey insisted that her niece was an amiable, obedient girl who had seemed happy with them.

There were suspicions that the Deputy State Fire Marshal, John Burgard, had "trapped" the child into admitting guilt, allowing him to quickly wrap up an increasingly frustrating crime.  When he first accused her of being the arsonist, she denied it. When Burgard continued to insist that she must be the culprit, she burst into tears and refused to talk. It was not until she was interrogated--alone--by Burgard and the District Attorney that she broke down and "confessed."

In the end, however, everyone had no choice but to accept this as the solution to the mystery. Whether it was an entirely credible one is, of course, a matter of personal opinion. Custody of the girl was given to her maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Johnson, and the Willeys disappeared from the headlines.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

This "extraordinary case" was reported in the "Royal Cornwall Gazette," January 22, 1820. It difficult to know for sure if the authorities were dealing with something from the Mystery Fires file, a classic "poltergeist centers destructive activity around young girl" episode, or simply a junior psychopath.

On Saturday last an investigation, which excited the greatest interest, and lasted till a very late hour, came on at this office before J. E. Conant Esq., the Sitting Magistrate.

Elizabeth Barnes, a girl 16 years of age, was brought up in the custody of Plank, the officer, charged by Mr. John Wright, linen draper, of Foley place, Mary-le-bone, on suspicion of having at several times set fire to his house and furniture. She was also charged with having, by some extraordinary means, set fire to the wearing apparel of Mrs. Wright his mother, at various times, by which her clothes were burned off her back, and injured her so dreadfully that her life is despaired of. The office was crowded to excess.

Mr. Wright stated, that the prisoner had been servant in the house for some time past but they never suspected her of any thing wrong until they were induced, from the following most extraordinary circumstances, to entertain an idea that she had intentions of destroying the house and family by fire. Wednesday morning, Jan. 5, about half past 8 o'clock, his mother was sitting in the parlour by herself, and the prisoner was in the shop alone; his mother was seriously alarmed by a fire which broke out in the shop, which did considerable injury, and it commenced by some means in one of the drawers in the counter. Friday, Jan. 7. about eleven o'clock in the morning, his mother was sitting by the fire in the kitchen, the prisoner being the only person with her, and on rising she had not gone as far as the door before all her clothes were on fire, and had it not been for speedy assistance in putting out the flames, she would have been burned to death; she was burned dreadfully. The next day (Saturday) about 12 o'clock in the morning, on witness's return home, he had not been long in the place before he was alarmed by the dreadful screams of his mother, who was in the kitchen; he proceeded there, and again found her enveloped in flames; he succeeded in putting them out: there was scarcely any fire in the grate at the time. The prisoner was the only person with her, and when her clothes caught fire his mother was more than eight feet from the grate. No suspicion was at this time formed on the prisoner, and she was ordered to protect his mother; on the Sunday he was in the parlour, and his mother and the prisoner were in the kitchen together, but being alarmed by her screams, he ran down stairs, and found her again covered with flames; he put a rug over her. and put the fire out, by which he saved her life. Part of her clothes were burned to a cinder, and, her flesh was materially injured; the prisoner had just left the kitchen at the time this happened and when his mother was crossing the kitchen she found herself again in flames; her clothes were burned off her back; she did not know by what means she caught fire, but was fully confident that no spark flew on her; she thought something supernatural attended her. She described when the flames touched her skin, that she felt it like knives crossing her. The prisoner when this happened burst out laughing, although Mrs. W.'s life was in peril; the presumption on his mind was, that the prisoner had thrown something on her to cause the burning.

On the Sunday his mother was placed under the protection of his sister, but happening to go into the kitchen, where the prisoner was, her clothes, by some unknown means, again caught fire; her violent screams alarmed Miss Wright, who went down stairs and found her mother all in flames, she tore off her clothes as well as she could, but she was injured so dreadfully by the fire, that she was put to bed; they left her apparently asleep, but in a short time after they were again alarmed by her screams, and on going up stairs they found her in bed surrounded by fire, the bed and the curtains being all in a blaze, and she attempting to extinguish them; the house and property were much injured. The prisoner was afterwards sent up stairs, and she came down again saying the room was all on fire. They went upstairs and found one of the rooms all in flames; they were with much difficulty put out; the next alarm was on Tuesday evening, at half past eight o'clock, when he returned home his sister met him and said the place had been in the utmost confusion, and again on fire; the counter (a fixture) was literally destroyed, and the place was filled with smoke and fire: there are two drawers belonging in the counter, the one marked A. and the other B.; the fire commenced in the the drawer A., which was injured, and that marked B., without the least symptoms of fire in it, was given to the prisoner to take into the coal vault; she took it down, but shortly returned, saying the vault was all on fire; on proceeding thither he found the coals all on fire; engines arrived and it was put out; the drawer was lying there; the family were now in a serious state of alarm, and Mr. Edon, a neighbour, proposed sitting up all night with Miss Wright to watch the house. The prisoner was ordered to go to bed at eleven o'clock, at which time she went, but she shortly returned, begging them to go up stairs, that Mr. Bannister's room (one of the lodgers) was on fire; they went up stairs to Mr. Bannister's room and found him going to bed, and calling out fire; they were not satisfied, as they smelt fire, and witness opened his sister's bed room door, when he was nearly knocked down by the flames and smoke rushing upon him; the room was filled with smoke, thick and dense, and the room all in a blaze. He went to a mahogany chest of drawers the day after, all of which were locked except one, on opening which the flames rushed out on him, and the drawers partly were burnt to a cinder.

At four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, another fire broke out in the same room, although firemen were employed to stay in the house, and had stopped up the preceding night.

The following morning, about eleven o'clock, another fire broke out in an apartment up stairs, and did considerable injury. The prisoner, on the discovery of the fire, was seen close by the door, under very suspicious circumstances, and he ordered her instantly to quit the house. He spoke to Mr. Lockin of the Fire Office. The officers of this establishment were employed to make every inquiry, and since the prisoner had quitted the house they had not undergone the least alarm. His mother was confined to her bed, and was under the care of a surgeon, without the least hopes of recovery.

Miss Wright attended in a very weak condition, and corroborated every thing her brother had stated.

Plank, the officer, here stated that he had made every inquiry into the characters of the lodgers, which were very good.

Mr. Bannister, one of the lodgers, said he was porter in the employ of Mr. Irwin, hatter, of Oxford street. On the night of the fire be heard some person walking in the apartment over him, and afterwards heard them come down and heard them enter Miss Wright's chamber. He thought it was the prisoner. Shortly after he was alarmed by hearing the chamber was on fire, it was adjoining his apartment.

Mrs. Bannister corroborated the above.

The prisoner, in her defence, denied the charge, and said her mistress's clothes caught fire accidentally. She knew nothing of the other accidents.

Mr. Conant said, of all the cases he had ever heard of, he never knew of one to equal the above in atrocity, and he had no doubt but the prisoner was guilty of something which he was afraid could not he brought home against her, without the attendance of Mrs. Wright; the evidence was defective, unless it came from her own mouth. She being unable to attend, and taking the prisoner's youth into consideration, he would order her to find bail to keep the peace towards her until Mrs. Wright was able to attend herself. Mr. W. assured the Magistrate that he would use every entreaty to make her come forward, but her situation at present was most dangerous.

I have been unable to find anything further about this case. I assume poor Mrs. Wright died before she was able to give her testimony, which might--or might not--have helped cleared the matter up. If this was the case, presumably Elizabeth Barnes was released for lack of evidence, leaving the mystery of what happened in the Wright home forever unsolved.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

via British Newspaper Archive

Here's one from our Mystery Fires file. This account of strange--and very unnerving--"spontaneous combustions" appeared in the "Cambridge Independent Press" for August 23, 1856:

Mr. Blower and Dr. Barker applied the Bench for their sanction to an inquest being held on a fire, articles having been several times on fire in an extraordinary manner in the house of Mr. Moreton, in the employ of the Messrs. Howard. The gentlemen were informed that the Coroner had of himself full powers to hold an inquest, and such course met the approval of the Bench. The following appeared on this subject in the "Times"of Thursday:—

During the last few days public curiosity has been excited to a very unusual pitch by a series of occurrences that would be by no means out of place in one of Mrs. Radcliffe's romances, but which will read strangely in the matter-of-fact columns of a newspaper. The several theories of spontaneous combustion have often been revived, and, in the opinion of most wise men, have been successively and repeatedly exploded. But just as late years have witnessed a revival of ghost stories, spirit communications, and direct demoniacal agency, it seems not a little likely that the old theories of spontaneous combustion are coming in for another day in their turn, if we are to judge from the extraordinary revelations which have been not only retailed in gossip, but most gravely and fully inquired into under the coroner's warrant, and before 13 men honest and true, and, we may add, picked men, of this highly educated borough. A sketch of the principal facts will probably answer the same end as report of the depositions taken before the coroner, for the result of this last course would probably be only the awakening of half-incredulous wonder and a wild curiosity. On Tuesday night, the 12th instant, an alarm of fire was raised, and, on proceeding to the scene of danger, a house abutting on the large storeyard belonging to Messrs. Howard, the celebrated implement makers, and tenanted by one of their servants, it appeared that the family had taken the opportunity of the master's absence from home to have a good cleaning down, with an especial view to the riddance of a certain pest better known to Londoners than the happy dwellers in the country. In furtherance of the latter part of this truly housewifery design recourse was had to fumigation. A vessel containing broken roll sulphur was placed in what was deemed a safe position— viz., in a bisinette, which was removed from its usual place and set the middle of the room. The sulphur was duly ignited, and the room of course vacated except the obnoxious vermin. In the space of two hours it was discovered that the sulphurous fluid had escaped the basinette, had burnt through the bottom, fired the floor, and eaten its way through the planks. Timely observation and alarm availed to arrest the progress of the fire. All was deemed safe. But on Saturday evening the head of the family returned, and on retiring to rest, and having innocently thrown his damp stockings on the carpet, what was his astonishment at seeing them ignited! Something like a panic seized the household, but at length their fears were pacified and they went to rest. On Sunday morning, while the master was attending Divine service at the Methodist Chapel, fire was again discovered in the house. Considerable consternation was occasioned to the assembly by the calling out of a fireman during service, and also the master's disappearance from the pew. These fires were suppressed: but in the course of the day no less than thirty fires broke out in different parts of the house—in the presence of visitors, most respectable and intelligent men.

Every part of the furniture in every room of the house appeared to be charged with some mysterious self-igniting gas. Smoke issued suddenly from cupboards, large and small, from almost every drawer, and even from boxes of linen and woollen materials which had not been opened for some length of time prior the Tuesday's fire. Some of the statements made before the coroner are so startling as to be nearly incredible. One gentleman laid his handkerchief down upon the sofa when it forthwith ignited. Another gentleman, while discussing the marvels of the day and washing his hands, discovered that the damp towels on the horse in the bedroom were on fire. A lady, anxious to prevent further mischief, had a short time previously examined a box containing articles appertaining to feminine apparel, and pronouncing it safe had shut it up, but going to remove it felt that it was hot, and on re-opening it discovered the contents in a blaze; but is impossible to enumerate all the strange fantasies played by this subtle and mysterious fire. Of course suspicion was soon awake, but the closest investigation afforded no ground on which to rest the surmise of foul play. On the Monday morning the phenomena, somewhat abated, reappeared, and it was found that the greater part of the property in the house was charred or burnt to tinder. Two medical gentlemen--Dr. Barker and Mr. Blower—visited the scene of the fiery mystery, and at noon made an application to the sitting magistrates (in the absence of the mayor), for sanction to their proposal submitting the matter to the coroner. The coroner lost no time summoning a jury, which consisted of the most respectable tradesmen of the town, and which proceeded to business at the George Inn. The inquest commenced at 3.30 p.m. Monday afternoon, and at 7 o'clock was adjourned to Tuesday morning at 10. On Tuesday it was resumed and concluded by 6 o'clock p.m.

In the course of this prolonged inquiry the whole of the incidents (some of which we have mentioned above by way of specimens), were deposed to, and every effort made to account for the singular occurrences. At one time there was some slight hope of establishing connexion between the fire Tuesday night and the numerous outbreaks of the following Sunday, but this idea was abandoned perforce—so far, least, as any ordinary connexion between the two sets of events was concerned. The medical testimony of the two gentlemen named above was by far the most important, inasmuch as it most distinctly abolished all preconceived explanations, and also because it indicated a most remarkable and important class of truths in practical chemistry. Without venturing to give a formal solution of the phenomena, these gentlemen were of opinion that the sulphurous fumes, in connexion with the gas of the charred wood, had charged the entire house with inflammable gas, which, in some cases by friction, in others electricity, had been from time to time ignited.

No suspicion of any person survived the first few hours the inquiry, although the jury felt that there was not ground for a distinct opinion of the matter. The depositions will doubtless be submitted to some eminent manipulators of chymical science, and it is to hoped that they will be able to give a more precise solution to the mystery which has filled many a wise head with misgivings as to the spiritual geography of the somewhat lonely house.

The verdict of the jury was as follows:—"The fire was accidentally caused by incautiously placing and setting fire to a quantity of brimstone in a pot, the same being placed a basinette, situate on the first floor of the said premises; but as the cause of the continuation of fires on the same premises, we have not sufficient evidence to shew."

This extraordinary occurrence will undergo a further scientific investigation.

As a footnote, I really miss the days when phrases like "misgivings as to the spiritual geography" would appear in your local newspaper.

This is the last known word on the matter. If these "eminent manipulators of chymical science" were able to devise a definitive solution to the mystery, I have found no record of it.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

On this blog, I have presented tales of homes plagued by Mystery Blood, Mystery Explosions, Mystery Doorbells, Mystery Shaking, Mystery Floods, and Mystery Satanic Garden Hoses.  This series of domestic Fortean horrors continues today with a Mystery Fire.  This account of a baby's peculiarly horrifying death comes from the (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) "Democratic Banner" for September 22, 1916:

Funeral services were held today for the seven-months-old child of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Nauman, north of here which was cremated yesterday while lying in its crib, by a fire of singular mystery.

The mother of the child was away from the house, leaving her children in charge of the baby. Charles Little, enroute to Fredericktown with a milk shipment, noticed smoke issuing from the Nauman home and rushed in. He proceeded to the room where the infant child lay and, seeing that the crib was the only thing afire, grasped the child therefrom and rushed out into the yard. The child died in his arms.

The origin of the fire is an utter mystery. The flames were confined entirely to the little crib.

I have not found anything more about the Nauman baby's death, so it is hard to even make a guess what happened. I would also like to know the ages of the other children who were left "in charge" of the infant, as well as where they were when the fire started.

From this little information we have, one of the first things that comes to mind is "spontaneous human combustion." Of course, there probably was a more "normal" explanation for the fire, but evidently everyone who was on the scene at the time had no idea what that explanation may have been.

As we like to say around this blog, make of it what you will.