Krook spontaneously combusts in Bleak House by Charles Dickens — An illustration from Dickens' Bleak House shows the discovery of alcoholic rag and bone man Krook, a victim of spontaneous combustion Photograph: Getty Images

Spontaneous human combustion a hot topic once more

This article is more than 12 years old

The elusive, seemingly unverifiable phenomenon, has made a rare appearance in the headlines. But spontaneous human combustion has a media profile stretching back almost 200 years - not bad going for something that may not even exist.

The cause of Michael Faherty's death baffled police, fire officers and pathologists for almost a year but few expected the verdict handed down by West Galway coroner Dr Ciaran McLoughlin on 22 September 2011: that the 76-year-old was a victim of spontaneous human combustion.

A glance through the the 19th century pages of the Manchester Guardian reveals a host of references to 'spontaneous combustion', almost all involving warehouses, ships, and cotton mills. Unlike the disputed human variety, there was little mysterious about these conflagrations: in a thriving industrial centre damp straw, coal dust, and oily cotton waste were all volatile and plentiful hazards that could explode or ignite with no apparent catalyst.

The notion that a person could simply burst into flames, on the other hand, has always been treated with suspicion, despite the discoveries of a Dr Trail, whose theory was reported by the Manchester Guardian in 1825.

Dr Trail's theory — The Manchester Guardian, 19 November 1825

According to the study published in a French medical journal a few years later, not all incidences of 'preternatural combustibility' resulted in a grisly end for the victim.

Lancet report — The Manchester Guardian, 5 February 1828

Charles Dickens used the phenomenon to resolve some pesky plotlines in Bleak House and for a while spontaneous human combustion became a favourite analogy for newspaper satirists and parliamentary wags. But by 1905, when this piece was published, doctors and scientist were still no nearer to reconciling its apparent impossibility with its rare but regular occurrences.

1905 report — The Manchester Guardian, 26 September 1905

Incredibly, the debate was still alive in 1986, as in this article from the Guardian's Body & Mind section, which contains a description in keeping with the scene of Mr Flaherty's death.