Who killed Michael Faherty? The Curious Case of the Burning Irishman.
CBS) What killed Michael Faherty? The 76-year-old retiree was found burned to death in his Galway, Ireland home on December 22, 2010, the Irish Herald reported. Since his body was burned but the rest of the house wasn't, investigators drew a surprising conclusion. That the cause of death was spontaneous combustion (READ STORY).
The Curious Case of the Burning Irishman by Isaac Legend....
The air of death filled the streets, welcoming the blackness of the underworld. "Right this way detective," came a voice that disappeared into a tidy little house where a char-covered corpse decorated the middle of the carpet. I walked into the sepulcher and stared into the visage of the death that lay in front me. "What happened here,' I asked. A frail Irishman handed me a corroded clip board with some notes scribbled on a few pieces of paper before disappearing in the shadows. I glanced at the report. It detailed the preliminary notes of the Coroner, Dr. Kieran McLoughlin. "I'm left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion," the notes read causing me to rub my eyes and adjust my bifocals before vanquishing my disbelief by reading it again. I had never worked on any of these cases before. I thought this kind of case was only a science fiction idea, the fruits of the lonely thoughts of a brilliant mind trapped in the world of the unknown.
Michael Faherty was an elderly man, he lived alone and a quaint, little abode was all he had to show for 72 years on this planet. The Fire Marshall walked over to me. He had a serious face and piercing eyes that burned a hole on the back of my head. He hurriedly explained that he could not determine what caused the fire. "I'll be damned if could tell ya. There's a fire going but no way that caused it. Also no accelerant, no fire damage?! Better call Moulder and Scully for this one," he said, before chuckling and walking purposefully out the door. I looked around for traces of anything. Any clues that death may have left over when it carefully took this man's life were nowhere to be seen. No luck. The case was beginning to feel colder than the back of a meat refrigerator. I was losing hope.
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door as several officers tried to restrain a passionate man that would stop at nothing to enter the room. I recognized the man. I had seen him on TV. Dr. Joe Nickell, I think. Dr Joe Nickell was widely renowned as a brilliant man who fell captive to the folly of his over active mind. Turning down a future in biogenetics, Dr Nickell chose to spend his life chasing ghosts. Trying to prove to the world that Spontaneous Combustion was not real and was nothing more than fanciful fiction created by a fool with too much time on his hands. Dr Nickell was forced out of the room but not before he managed to get a few words in.
"FOOLS, FOOLS," he screamed. "This is not science! Let me guess! He was an old man? He was alone? There were flammable materials next to him? Right? Right?"
"Get this creep out of here and book him!" I said.
"On what charges?" Came a response from a beat cop standing by the door.
"I don't like him...."
Later that night, I sat on my chair rocking back and forth having an internal dialog with my honored guests emptiness and confusion. It pained me to say that the mad man had a point. How come spontaneous combustion never happened to young people or in public places. Historical records showed victims were often elderly, infirmed or alone in most cases. Also all too frequently spontaneous combustion occurred in cold weather with flammable materials nearby.
Only the lord knows what happened and I doubt he'd be willing to share the secret. With nothing but morbid fragments of a blackened, burnt body I had nothing. Looks like the Curious Case of the Burning Irishman would remain a mystery for ever.
