Mystery Of The Fire Starters

Cases of people with the strange ability to cause fires by breathing.

Holiday Beach, Texas - In the year 1882, in Paw Paw, Michigan, Dr L. C. Woodman heard rumors of a man with a remarkable ability. It was said a 24 year-old man, named A.W. Underwood, had to take great care whenever he breathed, apparently to avoid causing fires.

At first the doctor thought the stories were mere exaggerations, but one day there was a knock on his door, and in walked A.W. Underwood himself, looking for help.

Dr. Woodman was persuaded to make tests in the presence of himself and some of his colleagues, and to their amazement Underwood performed incredible feats which they could not explain. In an article from Michigan Medical News, dated September 11, 1882, Doctor Woodman stated:

“He will take anybody’s handkerchief and hold it to his mouth rub it vigorously with his hands while breathing on it and immediately it bursts into flames and burns until consumed. He will strip and rinse out his mouth thoroughly, wash his hands and submit to the most rigid examination to preclude the possibility of any humbug, and then by his breath blown upon any paper or cloth envelop it in flame. He will, while out gunning and without matches desirous of a fire lie down after collecting dry leaves and by breathing on them start the fire..  ”

Dr. Woodman stated publicly that he was sure that Underwood’s ability was authentic.

The doctor also noticed that Underwood would hold the cloth or other material against his mouth so that he could force his breath through it, thus condensing whatever strange process it was.

The doctors washed Underwood’s mouth out with various mixtures, and obliged him to wear surgeon’s rubber gloves - but it made no difference - the phenomenon carried on as normal.

A similar case was reported In 1927, when Vice President of the U.S., Charles Dawes, personally investigated the case of a car mechanic in Memphis, Tennessee, who supposedly had the mysterious ability to set inflammable material alight merely by breathing on it.

The man took General Dawes’ handkerchief, breathed on it, and it caught fire.

No reasonable explanation could be found, but Dawes and his colleagues decided it was a genuine ability and not a trick.

If genuine, these cases are unusual in that both Underwood and the anonymous car mechanic seemed to be able to control the phenomenon and produce it at will.

Paranormal researcher Charles Fort wrote of an incident which took place at Bridgewater, Scotland, in May 1878. Mysterious fires were being started with no apparent cause, loud raps were heard and household items such as dishes and loaves of bread moved about. After a police investigation a servant girl, Ann Kidner, aged 12, was arrested, and accused of tossing lighted matches, but was released by the magistrate because of insufficient evidence.

In October 1886, a 12 year-old boy named Willie Brough, of Turlock, Madison County, California, was accused of setting things on fire ‘by his glance,’ and was expelled from Turlock School after five unexplained fires had started in his presence. His parents thought him possessed by the devil and sent him away.

References:
Frank Edwards, Strange People. London, Pan Books. 1966.
Charles Fort, The Complete Books of Charles Fort. New York, Dover, 1974.

Source - South Texas Anomalies Investigative Network