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00:00:00You
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00:00:43Many people feel haunted by what they call evidence of evil forces in the world
00:00:48They see genocide senseless violence
00:00:52plagues and they blame demons or the devil himself
00:00:57They believe that demonic spirits can actually possess a human body and that only rituals of exorcism can lift the
00:01:04Possessed from the darkest regions of the unexplained
00:01:14In 1973 audiences filled movie theaters to see the portrayal of a girl possessed by the devil
00:01:22Few people had seen the rare and clandestine Catholic ritual depicted in the exorcist
00:01:28Fewer still knew that the screenwriter based his story on a real exorcism
00:01:35In the Washington DC suburb of Mount Rainier, Maryland a playground now stands at 3210 Bunker Hill Road
00:01:44The town long ago demolished the home that once stood there, but locals still call the corner the devil's lot
00:01:52In
00:01:56January 1949 the 13 year old boy living there seemed like a perfectly normal teenager
00:02:03Attending school
00:02:05Concentrating on his studies. He was slightly built and unathletic
00:02:09Preferring to stay indoors listening to his favorite programs on the radio and playing board games
00:02:17Suddenly witnesses say a series of unexplained events began
00:02:21Scratching sounds erupted from the walls and the floors of the family's home
00:02:25The boy's bed would shake furniture would slide across the room and dresser drawers would fly open
00:02:33At first his parents thought these strange occurrences were related to the boy's distress over the recent death of a favorite aunt
00:02:41The aunt at school the boy and her beliefs about communicating with the dead
00:02:47He had tried contacting her through a Ouija board, perhaps they thought the strange events were messages from the dead
00:02:56The parents turned first to their Lutheran minister for help and later to doctors, but nothing worked
00:03:02Then deep scratches began appearing on the boy's body that witnesses said the boy could not have made
00:03:10The minister suggested the family contacted Catholic priests
00:03:13They went to st. James Church in Mount Rainier, Maryland to meet father Albert Hughes Hughes agreed to visit the boy
00:03:21Later over dinner at the rectory Hughes told fellow priest Frank Bober about the meeting
00:03:28He said that the room would get extremely cold to the point that she would be shivering the boy was
00:03:35Obviously the weather was responsible for moving objects around the room like that
00:03:40Responsible for moving objects around the room like the phone off the desk. There was a plethora of vehement
00:03:49statements
00:03:51against God and sacred things
00:03:54Father Hughes just 29 years old at the time was unprepared to deal with the bizarre force that seemed to be inhabiting the boy
00:04:03He was certainly befuddled
00:04:06by all this in terms of you know
00:04:09contemporary scientific input, but eventually he felt that
00:04:16You know, there was no option but that he was dealing with you know
00:04:24satanic forces
00:04:25Father Hughes became convinced that exorcism an arcane ritual requiring the approval of the archbishop was the answer
00:04:33The rite of exorcism was perfectly delineated
00:04:38So
00:04:39His feeling was well, I will follow this and it should work
00:04:46The parents checked the boy into Washington's Georgetown University Hospital, he was strapped to the bed
00:04:55Father Hughes blessed the child knelt at the bedside and the ritual began
00:05:01He prayed in Latin to the Saints then calling on God he commanded that the boy be delivered from evil
00:05:10And the boy broke the strap and pulled out a spring and gashed
00:05:17Father Hughes's arm from the top to the wrist
00:05:22Hughes traumatized both physically and mentally
00:05:25Abandoned the exorcism and left st. James to recover
00:05:29The boy's parents worried now that their son could be violent
00:05:33Watched for new evidence of the supposedly evil presence
00:05:38When freshly scratched markings on the boy's abdomen appeared spelling the word Lewis the parents believed they had a sign
00:05:47They had relatives in st. Louis where the boy's late aunt had lived and they went there for help
00:05:54Within days the parents asked a Jesuit priest at nearby st. Louis University to perform an exorcism
00:06:00It was early March seven weeks into the boy's strange odyssey
00:06:07The priest said the boy had been possessed by the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit of the spirit
00:06:13The
00:06:16Priest said before the archbishop would approve the exorcism
00:06:19Doctors would have to rule out all physical and mental causes for the boy's behavior the doctors claimed they did
00:06:27The archbishop chose the 52 year old pastor of the university's Church father William Bowden as the exorcist
00:06:35Bowden had the required qualifications according to his superior. He was pious
00:06:40Prudent and mature of years just as the exorcism ritual dictated
00:06:46Bowden asked a professor and fellow priest Raymond Bishop then 43 years old to assist him
00:06:55He also included Walter Halloran I used to drive her father Bowden and
00:07:03One evening just before supper he came up to me and he asked he said would you take me someplace tonight? So I said sure
00:07:1026 year old seminary student at the time father Halloran had no idea
00:07:14He was about to assist in an exorcism until father Bowden began the prayers in the home of the boy's relatives
00:07:25And I was kneeling at the foot of the bed
00:07:27Leaning on the bed with my elbows and the bed started going up and down. I
00:07:32Guess I looked a little surprised because he stepped for me and just looked over and says don't worry
00:07:38So I went on with the prayers and then I think the next thing that happened is that a
00:07:45Bottle of holy water flew across the room
00:07:47It was sitting on a bureau and it went flying across the room crashed into the wall
00:07:52The two priests performed the ritual as father Halloran and family members held the boy down
00:07:59Night after night the priests tried to pin relics of Saints on the boy and place a crucifix in his hand
00:08:06They sprinkled holy water and repeatedly recited the prayers of the exorcism ritual
00:08:13During the prayers of exorcism the child become real agitated and thrashed around
00:08:18Holy water would always bring a reaction from the little boy, you know of anger
00:08:25Not wanting the holy water sprinkled on him and that sort of thing
00:08:29The boy also showed extreme anger toward the priests according to the author of the exorcist William Peter Blatty
00:08:37The boy was able to spit copiously and
00:08:42prodigious distances with remarkable accuracy
00:08:46he could spit across a room 20 to 25 feet and
00:08:51Hit a priest in the eye and apparently was unerring
00:08:55There were a couple of times when the child would make statements about people that were present
00:09:02He addressed one of the priests who I think was only there once
00:09:06And he said oh, he says I'm surprised to see you in hell
00:09:10He says how did you ever get down here? The ordeal usually ended well after midnight and the boy would fall asleep
00:09:19The priests recorded the night's events in a diary signed by all the witnesses
00:09:25When the boy awakened he would have no memory of what had occurred the night before
00:09:32When the exorcism in st. Louis entered its third week father Bowden suggested the boy should convert to Catholicism
00:09:39You know what a sacrament is
00:09:42The parents agreed and the boy began to take religious instruction during the day in the rectory of the st. Louis University Church
00:09:51Bowden also decided to move the exorcism there
00:09:55I'll be Maria. Grazie a plena Dominus now closer to the church the intensity of the boys reactions increased
00:10:03Bloody brandings again rose on his body in the form of words and figures
00:10:09There would be arrows. I remember arrows
00:10:12another time the word hell appeared it was very very
00:10:17Exact, you know, you didn't have to work your imagination to see what it was
00:10:22But most of the time they'd be long welts that go down his arms down his legs across his abdomen and on his chest
00:10:32One time one of the spots has looked something like the you know, the hooded drawings you have of the devil
00:10:39In one account that was so vivid father Bowden recounted in his diary that while he was speaking to the boy
00:10:46he happened to glance down at his leg and
00:10:50Before his eyes
00:10:51Was as though this tiny this was a two-pronged pitchfork ran all the way down from his inner upper thigh
00:10:58down to about the ankle
00:11:01Drawing blood all the way down
00:11:03The ritual explicitly prohibits dialogue with the demon but directs the exorcist to demand answers to two questions
00:11:11What is your name?
00:11:14And what is the day and hour you will depart?
00:11:17So you ask those and
00:11:20Then you pause for an answer
00:11:22Sometimes an answer is given like one time the child respond lead responded Legion to what is your name?
00:11:30At other times the boy speaking in an unfamiliar voice
00:11:34identified himself as spite or the devil
00:11:41One night the voice reportedly offered to prove that it was the devil
00:11:45I
00:11:46Will awaken the boy it said and he will be pleasant
00:11:51The boy instantly awoke and he was calm
00:11:55Later the voice said I will wake him up and he will be awful. The boy woke up in a cursing fit
00:12:05The voice would often taunt the priests saying that a certain word had to be revealed before the spirit would leave
00:12:12As closely as I can remember these are the words I
00:12:18Will not go until
00:12:21He says a certain word
00:12:23And I will not him will not let him say the word
00:12:27By now according to Halvoron the battle for the boy's soul seemed endless
00:12:32Night after night the exorcist would order them to return to the rectory
00:12:37Repeat the ritual and confront the forces of the unexplained
00:12:43By
00:12:45April 1949 the teenage boy supposedly possessed by the devil had undergone almost five weeks of nightly
00:12:53exorcism rites
00:12:57The boy's physical condition had weakened dramatically and the priests feared that he was becoming dangerously ill
00:13:06As a precaution the exorcist decided to move the boy again
00:13:10This time to the Alexian Brothers Catholic Hospital near st. Louis University
00:13:17No one noticed when someone placed a statue of st. Michael the Archangel in the room
00:13:23The exorcist intensified his efforts to convert the boy to Catholicism
00:13:29He wanted him to accept communion every time father Bowden would go to give him a host
00:13:36Start acting very wildly and have to be held. He had knocked the host out of father Bowden's hands and
00:13:43he hit father Bowden and
00:13:46You know, then he gritted his teeth and just refused to accept anything
00:13:51in his mouth
00:13:52It must have taken two hours before
00:13:56He accepted the host
00:13:59Easter passed with no change in the boys behavior
00:14:03The exorcist felt an urgent need to try something different
00:14:06He decided to ask the rituals required questions in English not Latin at first
00:14:12There was the usual mix of spitting and cursing but then the boy cried out
00:14:17He said st. Michael was present st. Michael the Archangel was present and then he described him
00:14:23in a deep mature voice the boy then said
00:14:27Satan I command you to leave in the name of Dominus leave now
00:14:33The exorcist believed the boy had at last uttered the word of release
00:14:39Dominus Latin for Lord
00:14:42Suddenly according to Halloran the boy struggled and his body contorted wildly the child became very violent
00:14:51There was a huge noise
00:14:55Explosion or report
00:14:58And a very very bright light in the sanctuary of the church and that disappeared
00:15:05The boy fell into a deep sleep
00:15:08When he awoke, he said the ordeal was over
00:15:11He told of dreaming of a beautiful angel who carried a fiery sword and conquered demons then he fell back asleep
00:15:20When the boy awoke again all memories of his exorcism had vanished
00:15:25The
00:15:27Boy and his family returned to Maryland and converted to Catholicism
00:15:32For nearly five decades
00:15:35Witnesses have protected his identity now in his 60s. They say he has lived a rather ordinary life
00:15:43He named his son Michael
00:15:46Did
00:15:50An evil spirit possessed the boy did a medieval ritual free a child from the grasp of Satan
00:15:57Was successful as it shows that the power of God is certainly stronger than the power of the devil
00:16:05Skeptics dismiss Halloran's claim their explanations for the boys actions do not include the devil a
00:16:12a
00:16:14Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
00:16:18Henry Kelly a former Jesuit seminarian says he believes the boys so-called possessed behavior
00:16:24Was brought on by the exorcism ritual itself
00:16:28as soon as he began the rite of exorcism then the symptoms of possession began and I
00:16:36conclude from this that the very rite of exorcism caused
00:16:41the symptoms of possession
00:16:43this is a phenomenon that has happened in the past that
00:16:47Suggestion brings the symptoms on and suggestion cures the symptoms
00:16:53Blatty however says father Bowden tested that theory
00:16:57The exorcist would attempt to trick the boy and instead of reading the ritual in a Latin
00:17:02They would read Caesars Gallic Wars to see what the response would be and there would be a fiendish demonic reason never happened
00:17:10Others speculate that the boy and his aunt had an inappropriate physical relationship and her death triggered his condition
00:17:19Jesuit priest Francis Cleary a professor of theology at st. Louis University
00:17:24Contends the exorcism is a story of incest and psychological dysfunction
00:17:29not possession it would seem to me from what I have read and
00:17:34Encountered that we're dealing with the case of a boy who has just moved into puberty
00:17:40Who may well have had a prehistory of incestuous
00:17:45Encounters with his aunt it would be a mistake to take that experience of psychological
00:17:52sickness disease and
00:17:54Paranormal phenomena and without justification throw that into a religious context leave religion out of it doesn't belong here
00:18:02Psychiatrist, dr. David Behr says new research about brain disorders may provide medical explanations
00:18:09for the boys so-called possession
00:18:12the brain is a combination of
00:18:15electrical circuits and chemical systems
00:18:18The way one brain cell signals another in most cases is by releasing a chemical
00:18:24So abnormal chemicals in the brain can produce unusual states
00:18:29Changes in behavior a sense of possession
00:18:32Dr.
00:18:32Behr says the boy may have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy
00:18:36Temporal lobe epilepsy can be caused by things like infections encephalitis and infection of the brain and that can be temporary
00:18:44Temporal lobe seizures often begin in puberty
00:18:48Behr thinks seizures in the temporal lobe which is connected to what's known as the autonomic nervous system
00:18:54May also explain the skin welts and he's skeptical about the accounts of words spelled out on the boy's body
00:19:01And I do wonder in the case of this young boy
00:19:04Whether some of the people who observed the welts and the changes in his skin added their own interpretation of what they saw
00:19:12Halloran believes the welts like the boys so-called possession were real and cannot be explained by modern science
00:19:20I think that anyone could
00:19:22Suffer possession and I think it's basically because of the power of the Satan has and then also
00:19:28inherent weaknesses that we have my own feeling is that this particular case was an authentic case of
00:19:36possession whatever that is and
00:19:40That the boy had lucid moments
00:19:44In which he was not under that influence, but during which he did what this psychic he vamped
00:19:51Here were priests all around him
00:19:54Conducting this grand and formal impressive rite of exorcism
00:19:58Witnesses in the room. I'm
00:20:00Guessing that he just played along for a portion of it, but that
00:20:05Other than these spells he he was in the grip of something inexplicable
00:20:10neither mental illness nor
00:20:12Neurological disease can possibly explain the accounts of the shaking bed or the flying drawers
00:20:18Were the 48 priests doctors and family members mistaken when they attested to the otherworldly events they witnessed
00:20:27Skeptics say yes and argue that the roots of the boys behavior are in his brain
00:20:34Believers say the true cause stares at us from the molten depths of the unexplained
00:20:40You
00:20:44Evil for those who believe makes its mark in many ways
00:20:49Exorcist supposedly can banish a single devil or banish dozens of demons from a single person
00:20:57For many Pentecostal Christians the hushed tones of what they called deliverance
00:21:02Wrenches the demons from their unwilling host while launching a believer on a journey through the unexplained
00:21:11In September
00:21:121990 25 year old Ellen Carney moved from Hartford, Connecticut to Pasadena, California
00:21:18And enrolled in graduate school at Fuller Theological Seminary
00:21:24Ellen felt a new life beginning for her
00:21:27Stricken at birth by a severe muscle disease
00:21:30she had survived a troubled childhood with a mother whom Ellen alleges sexually abused her as
00:21:37A teenager her mother committed her to a hospital for people with physical disabilities
00:21:42There feeling abandoned Ellen turned to drugs heavy metal rock music and the occult
00:21:50Then a friend gave her a Bible and invited her to attend a local Pentecostal Church service
00:21:56For the first time in her life Ellen says she felt a personal relationship with God and became a born-again Christian
00:22:04Now at Fuller she hoped to deepen her faith, but her new life took on an ominous edge
00:22:11She says strange things began to happen her bed would shake so violently it would awaken her
00:22:18There was all sorts of strange phenomenal lights going on things moving around
00:22:23I was experiencing strange happenings like almost being hit by a car three times in the same week and
00:22:30Voices in my head that I knew weren't my own thoughts. I would get this enormous burst of loud
00:22:37Sort of antagonistic voices saying negative things about me just a lot of strange
00:22:44Things I couldn't explain and that scared me
00:22:48Confused and afraid Ellen Carney searched for spiritual guidance one of her friends recommended
00:22:54She talked to Reverend Charles craft an evangelical minister and a professor at Fuller in addition to his counseling skills
00:23:02Craft is a specialist in deliverance the Pentecostal version of exorcism. I
00:23:08Want all spirits out of mind emotions and will in the name of Jesus Christ
00:23:14During a deliverance Reverend craft says he addresses each demon naming it by its function before he casts it out
00:23:23The spirit of doubt what does this do to you?
00:23:25She's getting stronger. She's getting stronger
00:23:29Hmm, that's bad news for you, huh?
00:23:31I'll give you to the count of three
00:23:34And after that the angels come after you with their swords one two three
00:23:39Ellen knew craft practice deliverance, but she doubted she could be possessed by demons when I went to see him
00:23:46I had no idea what I would say. I just went because I thought I had no other choice
00:23:52In their first two meetings Reverend craft and Carney discussed her troubled past
00:23:58By the third session craft had determined she was demonized
00:24:04Having demons sort of feels like being slimed. It just feels like being covered in
00:24:09Some kind of muck or just being bought mired down. It's just a really dirty feeling
00:24:16Craft asked Ellen if he could challenge her demons she agreed
00:24:21Next Chuck asked me to close my eyes and he directly addressed the demons in me
00:24:26All of a sudden the demon turns up and you're talking to a demon instead of to to Ellen
00:24:32When the demon spoke Ellen believed for the first time that evil spirits lived insider
00:24:39the demons answered to specific names
00:24:43fear
00:24:44depression death
00:24:46When craft asked who was in charge he says the demon of death answered
00:24:53Carney documented the deliverance in her diary death did most of the talking and had a much stronger feel and attitude
00:25:00Though Chuck didn't get louder. He got much firmer and commanded it in Jesus name to answer
00:25:05The name of Jesus now we Reverend craft believes he then took authority over the demons and ordered them to leave
00:25:13According to craft once a demon leaves it cannot return
00:25:17I've tested this several times
00:25:19including with with Ellen
00:25:21and when there's been
00:25:24Another demon that we had to deal with I've said are you the same one that we had kicked out before and said no
00:25:30That one can't come back. Why because you forbid it to come back. He would just send them away
00:25:36usually I could see that and
00:25:39I
00:25:40Felt a real difference
00:25:42Ellen met with Reverend craft every week for nine months and sensed more than a dozen demons leaving her
00:25:49But she knew others remained at night. I get awakened and I would see
00:25:55Spirits in my room and if I rebuked them in the name of Christ, they would leave but I was sometimes so terrified
00:26:03I didn't remember to do that when I had demons it felt like
00:26:09I
00:26:10Couldn't get away from that evil that pervasive sort of darkness
00:26:15After meeting with Reverend craft for more than a year the weight of the demons according to Carney finally lifted
00:26:23And when the demons left, so did the voices in her head? I
00:26:28Know that I don't have demons living in me. I feel peaceful. I feel free
00:26:34I feel calm and I also feel whole in the sense of being one person together
00:26:40I have my life. I know my memories my life makes sense now
00:26:47Did unseen demons inhabit Ellen Carney did they create violent and vicious thoughts within her
00:26:55Believers say demons are real
00:26:57Craft insists that people like Ellen often must have their demons banished before they can address underlying
00:27:05psychological issues a
00:27:08Psychological problem doesn't talk to me a demon does that's a major difference a
00:27:13Simple problem of anger doesn't talk to me
00:27:16But a demon that's reinforcing that and does the reason she had come in the first place was that she was having some struggles in
00:27:23emotional struggles and and
00:27:25So we knew that we had to deal with that and that's the important stuff to deal with
00:27:30Craft however has no professional training in psychology
00:27:34And in fact modern science and all psychological theory hold that demons do not exist
00:27:40The psychological community overwhelmingly agrees that demons are just another name for a troubled psyche
00:27:48There's no scientific evidence for demons at all
00:27:50And I personally don't believe they exist and it's really just a name and that people are putting on it
00:27:56And you know, I mean, it's no different
00:27:58From my saying well, I think all your hang-ups are caused by a large green buzzard named Fred who's right behind my back
00:28:03I mean, do you believe he's there?
00:28:05Byerstein says that in cases like Carney's
00:28:08Perception can be easily distorted
00:28:11Extreme stress can change brain chemistry under those conditions
00:28:16perception and reality can diverge
00:28:19And that individual has no way of telling whether it's something going on out there
00:28:24And in the real world of being sent up via the sensory pathways or whether it's something going on in the theater of their own
00:28:30minds
00:28:31Ellen's feeling of possession according to Byerstein could also be linked to her strong beliefs in a demon filled religion
00:28:39When somebody has urges that they don't understand and feelings that they don't understand and it's a label
00:28:45they can grasp and it then and that label brings with it a whole lot of other baggage that
00:28:51Causes people to expect certain things to happen. Some psychologists would say that all this was was
00:28:58Explainable psychologically, but then I would have to say to them that there's no way I could have caused the external
00:29:07Manifestations that happened around me. How do you explain your bed moving? How do you explain?
00:29:14Things in your house moving
00:29:16Scientists would argue that Carney only thought her bed moved. They would suggest that her brain played tricks on her
00:29:23Believers would say the tricks are part of a deadly game played by demonic agents from the unexplained
00:29:36Exorcism relies on the shrouded mysteries and candlelit rituals of religion
00:29:42Traditional psychotherapy
00:29:44derives from rational secular analysis
00:29:47Despite these vast differences some therapists have embraced exorcism
00:29:53Adding a mystical adjunct to their therapeutic regimen and entering the world of the unexplained
00:30:04In the fall of 1982
00:30:07Margaret Swift a trained hospital dietitian from Cupertino, California
00:30:11Needed a minor surgical procedure
00:30:14Margaret recalls she was in otherwise perfect health when she entered the hospital
00:30:19But when she returned home the next day, she felt new and unexplained symptoms. Oh, well, the symptoms were immediately
00:30:27after I got home my
00:30:29Legs were heavy. My feet were heavy
00:30:33It was hard to walk I seemed to be eating normally but in three days time I lost 15 pounds
00:30:41in two weeks
00:30:42Margaret returned to see her surgeon
00:30:44He said her symptoms had nothing to do with the surgery and referred her to a specialist who ordered a battery of tests
00:30:51None of which showed anything abnormal
00:30:54It was very frustrating
00:30:56Wondering if they ever were going to find something wrong and wouldn't be a terminal illness of some nature
00:31:04Weeks passed
00:31:05Then months with doctors unable to treat Margaret's strange exhaustion. She qualified for medical disability
00:31:14after six years
00:31:15Margaret became curious about an alternative therapy and read the unquiet dead by California psychologist Edith Fiore
00:31:24The book described Fiore's belief that some people afflicted with mysterious diseases may actually be possessed by
00:31:31spirits of the dead
00:31:33Fiore who says she has performed exorcisms on hundreds of patients
00:31:38Theorizes that the spirits usually enter humans at cemeteries and hospitals where lost souls linger
00:31:46Margaret noticed a similarity between her illness and those described in Fiore's book
00:31:51She was skeptical that hypnotism could remove spirits of the dead but desperate to find a cure. She made an appointment with Fiore
00:31:59All right. Have you ever been hypnotized before Margaret?
00:32:02No, I haven't been
00:32:03Fiore considered the strange symptoms Margaret presented
00:32:07They are usually alone at the time of the event
00:32:10In many ways, 51-year-old Beatrice Oskey fits that profile
00:32:15But a profile doesn't reveal the human drama behind the case study
00:32:24It was Thanksgiving weekend in 1979
00:32:27Mrs. Oskey kissed her son Frank goodbye and wished him a safe journey
00:32:32Frank was going skiing for the weekend and had a long drive ahead
00:32:36Ironically, it was the housebound mother's life that would be in jeopardy
00:32:43Beatrice Oskey struggled with a drinking problem
00:32:46She was also handicapped, wearing a brace on her left leg
00:32:50Years before she had broken her ankle
00:32:53Because of her condition, Beatrice Oskey had to be hospitalized
00:32:58Because she was a diabetic, it had never healed properly
00:33:02Despite these problems, her son didn't worry about leaving her alone
00:33:08She was not scared to be alone
00:33:10You know, she was a fairly brave woman, really
00:33:13She just had that, she had one fear
00:33:16And that was the fire
00:33:19The next morning, Shelly Oskey, Frank's ex-wife
00:33:22Came to pick up some belongings from the Oskey home
00:33:26Knowing Beatrice was handicapped
00:33:28She waited patiently for the door to be answered
00:33:31But at a certain point, Shelly became concerned and let herself in
00:33:36Mom?
00:33:37She smelled smoke and called out for her mother-in-law
00:33:41She was not sure what to do
00:33:43Mom?
00:33:44She smelled smoke and called out for her mother-in-law
00:33:48Mom?
00:33:49When there was no answer, Shelly became frightened and called the fire department
00:33:56It was very warm in the house
00:33:58Some smoke was still lingering
00:34:01But not any real noticeable foul odors
00:34:06Certainly not any smells that you would think would be associated with a human being, you know, being burned
00:34:13As seen in this actual photo
00:34:15The paramedics were confused by what confronted them
00:34:19It took a few minutes to actually digest the whole picture
00:34:24That there was a person actually sitting in the chair who had died
00:34:29The Bolingbrook, Illinois, Fire Department
00:34:31Backs up every paramedic team with a fire engine
00:34:35A few minutes later, Lieutenant Daryl Hafner arrived on the scene
00:34:40We didn't really know what we had sitting down there on the floor
00:34:43Whether it was a pile of papers, a bag of garbage
00:34:46And we really had to stand back and get our senses together and say, what is this?
00:34:51And then I noted a foot and I think there was a brace on one leg
00:34:56And I thought, this has got to be a person
00:34:59The area from above Mrs. Oskey's knees was burnt away
00:35:04Literally burned to the bone
00:35:06Yet things around her did not ignite
00:35:09Not a foot away was a newspaper, unburnt, a big lighter
00:35:15No other damage from fire to the room, to the area
00:35:21Just all, just completely centralized in one spot
00:35:27Frank Oskey knows his mother was a careless smoker
00:35:30And she had been seriously burned once before
00:35:33And on one occasion I guess she fell asleep
00:35:36And due to her drinking, the cigarette more or less landed on her abdomen
00:35:41And it burnt a hole right in there
00:35:45Not a deep one, but it did burn a hole
00:35:48And she was so incoherent that she never realized that
00:35:54But it never burnt her any further than maybe a two-inch radius
00:35:59Just about like this
00:36:01So that's why I do not believe that a cigarette could have caused this
00:36:06Fire investigator Carl Natal understands why the Bolingbrook firefighters
00:36:10Were so bewildered by what they witnessed
00:36:14Fire professionals rarely see burn victims
00:36:17Whose torsos and internal organs are so completely devastated
00:36:22We would expect to find a great portion of the body intact
00:36:26Or at least relatively intact
00:36:28Typically what is found is light extremities
00:36:32Such as the tips of fingers, the tip of your nose
00:36:35Your earlobes, they suffer the damage first
00:36:38And almost always they are obliterated to some extent
00:36:42The corpses are left with featureless faces and fingerless hands
00:36:46On rare occasions an autopsy might be required to determine the sex of the victim
00:36:51But in most instances they are easily recognizable as human
00:36:57Larry Arnold, author of A Blaze
00:37:00A book about spontaneous human combustion
00:37:03Has researched 400 mysterious fire deaths over the last 20 years
00:37:09In classic quintessential spontaneous human combustion cases
00:37:13The point of origin of the energy that consumes the victim
00:37:17Appears to originate in the torso, in the center part of the body
00:37:20And radiates outward, much like a human fireball
00:37:23I remember walking into the lower level or the family room
00:37:27And seeing a very clean area
00:37:31Very, very light smoke stains on the ceiling
00:37:36And about 6 inches down on the walls
00:37:41Highly irregular, there should be again more damage
00:37:46There was a couch covered with clear plastic
00:37:51And immediately next to that there was still an end table
00:37:58With a telephone and a lamp and the presence of some newspapers
00:38:04It is hard to fathom how there could be so little damage
00:38:07In a room where a fire had been so intense
00:38:10That it consumed Mrs. Oskey almost completely
00:38:14The human body is incredibly difficult to incinerate
00:38:18Crematoria placed the body in a chamber called a retort
00:38:22And subjected to heat the equivalent of a blast furnace
00:38:27What comes out of the retort after several hours
00:38:30Of exposure to temperatures as high as 22 to 2600 degrees Fahrenheit
00:38:35Is not merely dust but bone fragment
00:38:38Bone fragments which are then mechanically pulverized
00:38:41To the proverbial dust and ash
00:38:45Her bones did disintegrate and the body disintegrated
00:38:48I think she was about 170 some pounds
00:38:50And we carried out about 65 pounds of what was left of her
00:38:54Where does the intense heat come from?
00:38:57How does a fire consume a body and not consume the whole building?
00:39:01Or even ignite combustibles inches away?
00:39:04Fire investigator Pat Kennedy believes
00:39:07Spontaneous human combustion is a myth
00:39:10He begins to unravel the Oskey fire
00:39:13By looking at the possible source of its fuel
00:39:16Well the human body is not particularly combustible
00:39:19But the fat, animal fat, is combustible
00:39:23In fact it melts, turns to a liquid
00:39:26And burns as what we call an ignitable liquid
00:39:29Dr. Steve Novella of the Connecticut Skeptical Society
00:39:33Reasons that Mrs. Oskey burned like a candle
00:39:37A human body can be thought of as a candle inside out
00:39:40Where the fat is on the inside and the wick is the clothing
00:39:42Which is worn on the outside
00:39:44To demonstrate the candle effect
00:39:46Pork fat is placed in a bag
00:39:49Made from the leg of a child's cotton blend sweatsuit
00:39:55The heat from the burning cloth melts the fat
00:39:58Which oozes through the open weave
00:40:01The fat is the more abundant fuel source
00:40:04And the fire leaves the cloth relatively undamaged
00:40:08Even the bones of the body do contain a large amount of fat
00:40:12There is bone marrow within the bones
00:40:14And this again can fuel the complete combustion of bones
00:40:20If Beatrice Oskey became a human candle
00:40:23Why was the fire so localized?
00:40:26Why were the end table in Ottoman
00:40:28The only things in her home to be damaged by fire?
00:40:32A burning object must give off a certain amount of radiant energy
00:40:35To be capable of igniting an adjacent object
00:40:39In addition, the Oskey house may have been so well insulated
00:40:43That it helped to extinguish the fire
00:40:46In the Oskey house, they had gone through those efforts
00:40:52To reduce thermal loss and to reduce air exchanges
00:40:57A fire is similar to a human being
00:41:00In that it needs 15 to 16 percent oxygen to survive
00:41:04Skeptics have theorized that Mrs. Oskey's body fat
00:41:07Burned like a candle
00:41:09And that the fire extinguished because of the lack of oxygen
00:41:13But we are still left with the puzzle
00:41:15Of how this brutal fire began
00:41:20Having seen all the evidence
00:41:22There's nothing that explains it
00:41:27The firemen, they can't explain it
00:41:31No one can explain it
00:41:33No one can explain it
00:41:39Upper Darby, Pennsylvania is a quiet town
00:41:42Its stone houses were built in the early 1900s
00:41:46The house at 527 Argyle Road in the Drexel Hill area
00:41:50Doesn't stand out from the rest
00:41:53But on November 8th, 1964
00:41:56It was the scene of something quite horrifying
00:42:00The second floor sitting room, Mrs. Helen Conway
00:42:03A 51-year-old widow
00:42:05Burned so quickly that more than 30 years after her death
00:42:09Fire officials are still puzzled
00:42:13Retired fire chief Paul Haggerty
00:42:15Was fire marshal of Upper Darby at the time
00:42:18She was babysitting two grandchildren
00:42:22And her daughter and son-in-law went out for the evening
00:42:29They were going to pick the children up sometime Sunday
00:42:31Conway's granddaughter Stephanie
00:42:33Was watching cartoons on the first floor
00:42:36Mrs. Conway, an invalid, used a bell to call for help
00:42:40She asked Stephanie to bring her up a book of matches
00:42:43The child brought them and went back down
00:42:45To watch TV around 8.30 a.m.
00:42:49Mrs. Conway's next-door neighbor was going to church
00:42:52And saw a glow at the window
00:42:54She ran over to the house and Stephanie answered the door
00:42:58Because the heat was so intense
00:43:01The neighbor could not make it to the top of the stairs
00:43:04And she called the fire department
00:43:06So approximately 8.50, 8.55, somewhere around there
00:43:12The fire company responded
00:43:15So that doesn't give you much of a window
00:43:19So it had to be very fast
00:43:23When the firemen got there, the fire was out
00:43:26The heat was there, the doorknob was red-hot
00:43:28The door itself was hot
00:43:30And when they opened the door, the smoke that hit them was hot
00:43:36Here was a fire scene even more macabre than the Oski case
00:43:41There in the corner were the remains of Mrs. Conway
00:43:45As seen in this photograph taken in her sitting room
00:43:50When they arrived, they didn't have to put any water on the body or anything
00:43:55It was out, there was smoke coming from the chair and so forth
00:43:59But there was no flame, no nothing
00:44:03Her upper torso was consumed to, one could say, ashen rubble
00:44:08Her left arm was burned right down to the bone
00:44:11So that a bracelet could be seen dangling from her wrist bones
00:44:16I think she's on her toes a little bit
00:44:19The position of her legs
00:44:22I know they weren't blistered, there were blisters on them
00:44:26But they weren't burned
00:44:29Paul Haggarty's years of arson investigation training
00:44:32Taught him not to overlook this important piece of evidence
00:44:37So when I broke two blisters on her leg, the blisters were wet
00:44:42I mean, the fluid didn't come out, but they were wet
00:44:46They weren't dry
00:44:50And according to what I learned, she was alive at the time of the fire
00:44:55The fire was so intense that there was suspicion initially
00:44:59That perhaps foul play was involved
00:45:01Because it seemed that certainly accelerants must have been present
00:45:04To fuel this intense combustion
00:45:07No accelerants were ever determined to be at the fire scene
00:45:10No gasoline, no fuel oil, no kerosene
00:45:13Nothing that could have fueled the intense ferocity of this place
00:45:17In contrast to Mrs. Conway's body
00:45:20Only minor damage was apparent in the room
00:45:23The telephone had started to melt
00:45:25Though nothing else on her end table seemed to be damaged
00:45:29Her pack of cigarettes remained on a low table about three feet away
00:45:34In the adjoining bedroom there is little amiss
00:45:37The bed sheets appear to be spotless
00:45:40But on a mirrored dresser there is a bizarre juxtaposition
00:45:44Everything on the television set had begun to melt down
00:45:47Next to the TV set was a little doll
00:45:50Dressed in tulle fabric, a mesh that is highly flammable
00:45:53It's intact
00:45:55That type of fire you would remember all your life
00:45:59I mean, it's something you would never forget
00:46:06The cause of death listed for Helen Conway
00:46:09Was improper use of smoking materials
00:46:12Could Mrs. Conway burn so completely in as little as 20 minutes?
00:46:16It's impossible
00:46:20You could stand there with a blowtorch
00:46:23And you wouldn't be able to consume her body that fast
00:46:27In the time frame
00:46:29There may be an explanation for the intensity of this fire
00:46:33All cloth and upholstery materials are flammable
00:46:37The fiber content and the openness of the weave
00:46:39Determine that flammability
00:46:42In essence, the artificial clothes, the plastic clothes
00:46:47The polymers, polyesters, rayons
00:46:51And those created from cellulosics
00:46:55Are more flammable than, say, cotton
00:46:57And certainly more than wool
00:47:00In addition, 15 to 20 years ago
00:47:02Furniture was built with highly flammable
00:47:04Petroleum-based foam products
00:47:07A deadly combination
00:47:09But there's another element to be considered here
00:47:13A chair burning in the middle of a room
00:47:15Can radiate heat in all directions
00:47:18A full 360 degrees
00:47:21Helen Conway's chair was in the corner of the room
00:47:24The radiant energy in this instance
00:47:26Was compressed into only 90 degrees
00:47:28Which would intensify the fire
00:47:32This could account for the speed of the fire
00:47:34But not her disembodied legs
00:47:37What people find unusual
00:47:39In the cases that they attribute to spontaneous human combustion
00:47:42Is that the extremities aren't burned
00:47:44Because they are outside of the perimeter of the burning liquid
00:47:47And they see this horribly burned body
00:47:50And then the foot or feet
00:47:53And or hands and lower arms are not burned
00:47:56They find it, oh, that's very unusual
00:47:58We find a clue to the macabre puzzle
00:48:00In the corner behind Mrs. Conway's chair
00:48:04Fire investigators note two plumes on the wall
00:48:08This may indicate that during the fire
00:48:10The chair collapsed back
00:48:12Taking the upper portion of the body with it
00:48:15The lower legs were then well outside the fire's radius
00:48:19All the mysteries surrounding Helen Conway's death
00:48:22Seem to lead us back to one question
00:48:25How did the fire start?
00:48:29Larry Arnold believes that it came from within Mrs. Conway herself
00:48:34It appears in some cases
00:48:35There was what we would call the human Hiroshima effect
00:48:38That at the subatomic level in the human body
00:48:42A chain reaction begins to unleash itself
00:48:45It radiates outward, literally outward
00:48:47From the subatomic level to the atomic level
00:48:50To the physical structure of the human body
00:48:53And in doing so, the tremendous amount of energy
00:48:56Released instantaneously
00:48:58Literally vaporizes the moisture content of the body away
00:49:02These people become their own self-immolators
00:49:05Their own crematoria
00:49:07I had people, cases where people
00:49:09Poured gasoline on themselves
00:49:11Set themselves on fire
00:49:13And it was a fire from without
00:49:17I mean, outside the body
00:49:19They burnt the body
00:49:21And this is altogether different
00:49:25Joe Nickel, editor of the Skeptical Inquirer
00:49:28Suspects cigarette smoking was the origin of the fire
00:49:31Which consumed Helen Conway
00:49:33She was a heavy smoker
00:49:36Secondly, she was a careless smoker
00:49:39As evidenced, and this was in the reports by the officials
00:49:44That there were burn marks all over her apartment
00:49:47From careless cigarette burns
00:49:49Mrs. Conway did smoke, admittedly, no problem
00:49:52But people die from smoking accidents every year in this country
00:49:55And indeed around the world
00:49:57In America, some 5,000 people a year
00:49:59Unfortunately die as fire fatalities
00:50:01Many of those as a result of smoking mishaps
00:50:05But we don't find bodies burned as completely as Mrs. Conway was
00:50:10George Mott
00:50:18George Mott had been a fireman in upstate New York for 30 years
00:50:22And escaped injury from deadly flames hundreds, perhaps thousands of times
00:50:28Tragically, on March 25th, 1986
00:50:31In Crown Point, New York
00:50:33He met with a fire he could not control
00:50:37Mott had recently retired
00:50:40And had been hospitalized for lung problems
00:50:43He had just returned home
00:50:46Since his illness, his nightly routine had changed
00:50:49He kept track of new medications
00:50:51And learned to use an oxygen enrichment machine
00:50:56He got that after he got out of the hospital
00:50:59They gave it to him so that at night when he was laying down
00:51:02And, you know, it would make it easier for him to breathe
00:51:05The air would go into his nose so he could breathe clean air during the night
00:51:10What happened the night of March 25th, 1986
00:51:13Has been cause for much speculation
00:51:20George's son, Kendall Mott, had checked in on his father every night
00:51:24Since his father's return from the hospital
00:51:28Because he had to work late on March 25th
00:51:31Kendall wasn't able to make his regular visit
00:51:35The next evening, he went to his father's house directly after work
00:51:39I reached for the door handle and the door handle was warm
00:51:42So, you know, I automatically knew something was wrong
00:51:45And when I opened the door, it was warm inside the house
00:51:48And there was a burnt smell, like a metallic smell
00:51:52I guess my immediate reaction was, you know, oh God
00:51:56Because you walk in and the whole house was black
00:51:58Because the windows had all been brown from the heat
00:52:01And so it was really dark inside the house
00:52:03It was like walking in a dungeon
00:52:05So I went back to the back bedroom, went through the house
00:52:07I called his name a couple of times
00:52:09And from what I could see, I didn't have a flashlight or anything
00:52:12But it was just getting dark
00:52:14What I could see, I could tell, you know, he was dead
00:52:17You could see where the burn marks were on the bed
00:52:20When the fire department arrived
00:52:22They found a scene unlike any other they had ever confronted
00:52:25Bob Purdy was among the firefighters that day
00:52:29I've seen a lot of fires
00:52:30I've seen quite a few fatalities where people were burned
00:52:33But I've never seen anything like this
00:52:35Never
00:52:40These photos taken in the Mott bedroom that night
00:52:43Reveal what firefighters witnessed
00:52:46The man was laying in bed and just, he disintegrated
00:52:50You can see the V in the bed where he rendered down
00:52:56Body fats, etc, bed clothing, whatever
00:53:01And right down through the floor
00:53:04And the house didn't catch on fire
00:53:07And there's the matches
00:53:09Sitting right on that aerator
00:53:11And just six inches above them, you see the brown spot
00:53:16But the matches never ignited
00:53:19As firefighters moved through the house
00:53:22They were confronted by incredible scenes at every turn
00:53:26A greasy coating covered every horizontal surface
00:53:30The water had evaporated from the toilet
00:53:33And the tub was ringed with soot
00:53:35As if someone had taken a bath in black paint
00:53:39The house itself was unburned
00:53:41But objects within had been severely damaged
00:53:46When investigators opened the refrigerator
00:53:48They found a surreal scene
00:53:50Not only the butter
00:53:51But the plastic butter dish itself had melted
00:53:55There was an unopened package of hot dogs
00:53:57That appeared to have been boiled in the wrapping
00:54:00We looked for accelerants
00:54:01We looked at gas
00:54:03We looked at electric
00:54:04We looked at fuel
00:54:06There's nothing
00:54:07We even looked for maybe a lightning strike or something
00:54:11There was nothing there
00:54:14When investigators approach a fire scene
00:54:16They look for patterns
00:54:17To help them determine the origins of the fire
00:54:21These fire investigator training photos
00:54:23Show that fires burn in upward cones
00:54:27Leaving tell-tale V-patterns scorched on nearby walls
00:54:32In the Mott living room
00:54:33Several of the interior walls were covered with cedar shingles
00:54:37The New York State Police pointed to a V-pattern on the wall
00:54:40Surrounding an electrical outlet
00:54:43They theorized that an electrical arc
00:54:45Leapt from the outlet
00:54:46And started George Mott on fire
00:54:49Mott then stumbled to his bed
00:54:51And died engulfed in flames
00:54:54We had several meetings
00:54:55And the State Police stayed with their story
00:54:58And I couldn't buy that
00:55:00My investigators couldn't buy that
00:55:03Where they showed the V-shaped pattern
00:55:05Was underneath a window
00:55:07Where the curtains had caught fire
00:55:09And dropped to the floor
00:55:10And then burnt back up again
00:55:12That's what that V-pattern was from
00:55:14It wasn't from electrical
00:55:17To prove their point
00:55:18Purdy's men took apart the wall
00:55:21Fire damage had come from the room's interior
00:55:24Not from within the outlet
00:55:26We went through them receptacles
00:55:28There was no shorts in those receptacles
00:55:31We took them apart
00:55:32There was no short
00:55:34I mean we looked at all aspects
00:55:36We looked at homicide
00:55:38We looked at suicide
00:55:39We looked at all the aspects
00:55:41Of how this could happen
00:55:43And nothing added up
00:55:45The only thing really left of George Mott
00:55:47Identifiable as a human being
00:55:49Were A, his lower right leg
00:55:52Burned from the kneecap
00:55:55His skull that people who knew him
00:55:58Told us had mysteriously shrunken
00:56:00The rest of George Mott was really powder
00:56:02Calcined dust
00:56:04And you do not get that
00:56:05Even under normal cremation circumstances
00:56:10Larry Arnold contends that it was a misfunction
00:56:12Of George Mott's body chemistry
00:56:14Which caused the fire
00:56:17The body temperature is regulated
00:56:19By a gland called the hypothalamus
00:56:21The hypothalamus not only regulates
00:56:24The body's furnace so to speak
00:56:26But it's also the seat of emotions
00:56:28Which in terms of spontaneous human combustion
00:56:30Is very interesting
00:56:31Many of the victims are depressed
00:56:33Or morose
00:56:35They're lacking the desire to live
00:56:37Or they're hot under the collar so to speak
00:56:42Could a human being's body temperature
00:56:44Produce enough heat to have caused this bizarre death?
00:56:49There are cases of hypothermia
00:56:51Caused by dysfunction of the hypothalamus
00:56:55But there are no cases
00:56:56Where the temperature is raised
00:56:58Beyond maybe 106 at the outside
00:57:01And again the temperature would have to be raised
00:57:04To over 200 degrees Fahrenheit
00:57:06Before say body fat for example would ignite
00:57:09So there is nothing even close to that
00:57:12Reported in the medical literature
00:57:15Another puzzle still remains
00:57:17What could have caused the strange fire selectivity
00:57:20Seen on the objects in the Mott home?
00:57:23Science offers one explanation
00:57:25Heat rises in a column
00:57:28When it hits the ceiling it spreads out
00:57:30First in a thin layer
00:57:32And then that layer thickens
00:57:34Consequently objects on the floor near a fire
00:57:37Do not necessarily burn
00:57:39While an object near the ceiling
00:57:41Two or three rooms away will be damaged
00:57:45The heat that night in the Mott home was intense
00:57:49Mattress materials would become a flammable liquid
00:57:51And drip under the bed
00:57:53Eventually forming a pool
00:57:56Mott's wooden flooring was easily ignited
00:57:59One of the ways we identify
00:58:00Flammable or ignitable liquid fires
00:58:03Is that they do tend to burn downward
00:58:05That the liquid falls to the floor
00:58:07Often burns through it
00:58:09That there are sharp lines of demarcation
00:58:11Or sharp edges between what's burned
00:58:14And what's unburned
00:58:16Once the fire burned through the floor
00:58:18It gained access to the oxygen
00:58:20In the crawl space below
00:58:22The resulting draft would have intensified
00:58:24The fire like a bellows
00:58:28We know how the fire progressed
00:58:30But if it wasn't spontaneous
00:58:32Human combustion
00:58:34What started it in the first place?
00:58:36We know Mott used to smoke
00:58:38We know he was depressed
00:58:40And we know two other facts that strike me
00:58:42As being difficult to explain
00:58:44Unless we adopt the hypothesis
00:58:46That he might have resumed smoking
00:58:48And that is that
00:58:50He had the oxygen enricher unit
00:58:52Going full blast
00:58:55But he was not wearing the mask
00:58:57And secondly
00:58:59Why have standing of all places
00:59:01On your oxygen enricher unit
00:59:03A canister of matches?
00:59:07His lungs were getting pretty bad at that time
00:59:09So he put up a no smoking sign
00:59:11And he'd even make me go out on the porch and smoke
00:59:13When I wanted to have a cigarette
00:59:15Because he wouldn't let anybody smoke inside his house
00:59:17George took care of his health
00:59:19He was a fireman
00:59:21He knew the effects of fire
00:59:23He knew the dangers of fire
00:59:25Whatever struck down George Mott
00:59:27He was ill prepared to deal with that night
00:59:29As a drop of cigarette
00:59:31That George Mott died in a fiery inferno
00:59:33Is known
00:59:35The actual ignition point of that fire
00:59:37Will continue to be unexplained
00:59:39But for believers in
00:59:41Spontaneous human combustion
00:59:43The source of the fire will always be
00:59:45George Mott himself
00:59:51Those who are skeptical about
00:59:53Spontaneous human combustion
00:59:55Say the victim is always alone
00:59:57There is never any eyewitness testimony
01:00:01Don Carroll
01:00:03Painter decorator from London
01:00:05Wishes that were true
01:00:07Carroll witnessed the horrifying death of his sister-in-law
01:00:09Jean Saffin
01:00:15It happened on September 10th 1982
01:00:19At 82 Chalfont Road in Edmonton
01:00:21A quiet London suburb
01:00:23It was a warm evening
01:00:25John Saffin and his daughter Jean
01:00:27Were in the kitchen
01:00:29Jean was 60 years old at the time
01:00:31Don Carroll
01:00:33Her brother-in-law
01:00:35Remembers her fondly
01:00:37She was mentally retarded
01:00:39From birth
01:00:41But she was a lovely
01:00:43She was a lovely kid
01:00:45She used to help her mother
01:00:47She was always with her mother
01:00:49Since her mother's death
01:00:51Jean was taken care of solely
01:00:53By her father John Saffin
01:00:55She would sit in her favorite chair
01:00:57Most of the day
01:00:59She couldn't read but she liked to look
01:01:01Through the newspapers
01:01:05As Mr. Saffin
01:01:07Sat relaxing after dinner
01:01:09He noticed a flash of light
01:01:11Out of the corner of his eye
01:01:13When he turned to see what it was
01:01:15He discovered that Jean was spewing fire
01:01:17From her mouth
01:01:21Saffin leapt to his feet and tried to put out the fire
01:01:27Don Carroll
01:01:29Who was visiting at the time
01:01:31Heard the commotion and rushed to the kitchen
01:01:33I pulled myself together
01:01:35And I rushed there and I got bowls of water
01:01:37And I literally
01:01:39Had to duck
01:01:41Underneath
01:01:43To stop getting burned
01:01:45By the flames that were coming out
01:01:47Of her midriff and her mouth
01:01:49Put it this way
01:01:51As a child you see
01:01:53Fairy tale stories of a dragon
01:01:55A dragon breathing fire
01:01:57You might see it on films
01:01:59When you were a kid
01:02:01But it's just what I walked into
01:02:03The flames were coming out
01:02:05Of Jean's mouth
01:02:07A good
01:02:09Two feet maybe more
01:02:11And that was a roaring sound
01:02:19We put the flames out
01:02:21And she was just standing there
01:02:23And she didn't cry
01:02:25Pain or anything
01:02:27She didn't murmur
01:02:29Don Carroll phoned for an ambulance
01:02:31Jean was taken to Mount Vernon
01:02:33Hospital's burn unit
01:02:35Where she went into a coma
01:02:37The hospital staff told the family
01:02:39Jean's chances of survival
01:02:41Were slim
01:02:43It may sound cruel
01:02:45But to see her suffer
01:02:47I think
01:02:49Would it have been better
01:02:51If she'd have
01:02:53Gone straight away
01:02:55Six days later
01:02:57After Jean Saffin died
01:02:59The London police sent Constable Lee Marsden
01:03:01To investigate
01:03:03Upon arriving there
01:03:05I remember seeing members of the family
01:03:07Who were obviously upset and distressed
01:03:09As they would be
01:03:11Appeared to be very genuine people
01:03:13Constable Marsden interviewed
01:03:15John Saffin and Don Carroll
01:03:17About the incident
01:03:19Based on their comments
01:03:21He prepared a formal report
01:03:23Which they confirmed and signed
01:03:25It would be normal
01:03:27Practice when looking at the scene
01:03:29Of this sort of incident
01:03:31To examine
01:03:33To see whether there were any cigarettes
01:03:35Lying around, any matches, ashtrays
01:03:37To ask whether
01:03:39The person in fact herself
01:03:41Smoked
01:03:43John Saffin never smoked
01:03:45And Don Carroll thought she wouldn't even know
01:03:47How to strike a match
01:03:49John Saffin told Constable Marsden
01:03:51That he had a pipe
01:03:53With a fresh pack of tobacco in it
01:03:55When the incident started
01:03:57He never used to smoke in the kitchen
01:03:59When Jean was in there
01:04:03When Mr. Saffin smoked his pipe
01:04:05He used to go into the front room
01:04:07With that knowledge
01:04:09Constable Marsden tried to discover
01:04:11A source of ignition
01:04:13Which may have started the fatal fire
01:04:15No plug sockets, electrical sockets
01:04:17No gas points within reach of that chair
01:04:19The floor was a hard floor
01:04:23There was a gas cooker
01:04:25Across the kitchen
01:04:27You couldn't reach it by stretching
01:04:29Or reaching your foot across
01:04:31As far as I was concerned
01:04:33I couldn't explain how this lady
01:04:35Had gone up in flames
01:04:38Did Jean Saffin indeed
01:04:40Breathe fire like a dragon?
01:04:42Is this a verifiable case
01:04:44Of spontaneous human combustion?
01:04:48Suppose that a few moments before
01:04:50These tragic events
01:04:54The father with his pipe
01:04:56Going away
01:04:58Burning well
01:05:00Went over
01:05:02And knocked out
01:05:04The hot ashes on the windowsill
01:05:07And now the breeze
01:05:09Blows one of those hot embers
01:05:11In on her clothing
01:05:13If Jean Saffin's clothing
01:05:15Caught fire
01:05:17It is certainly possible
01:05:19That the flames may have spread
01:05:21To her face
01:05:23And somehow her flesh was
01:05:25There was fire in front of her mouth
01:05:27In any case
01:05:29Either from her clothing
01:05:31Or her own burning flesh
01:05:33And if she were hyperventilating
01:05:35Excitedly or something like that
01:05:37That might give the impression
01:05:39You might have seen bursts of flame
01:05:41Coming apparently from her mouth
01:05:43Confirming this
01:05:45The coroner's report states
01:05:47That there was no evidence of burning
01:05:49At the back of Jean's mouth
01:05:51It notes that she had
01:05:5330 to 40 percent surface burns
01:05:55The cause of death
01:05:57Bronchopneumonia
01:05:59Fluid in the lungs
01:06:01Which is often the cause of death
01:06:04Larry Arnold believes
01:06:06That the wording of the coroner's report
01:06:08Does not truly reflect the entire incident
01:06:11We were told that she had
01:06:13Some burn damage inside her mouth
01:06:15It appears that the medical documentation
01:06:17Isn't completely thorough in this case
01:06:19Because Don Carroll, the son-in-law
01:06:21And John Saffin in their statements
01:06:23To the police authorities
01:06:25Mentioned things to us
01:06:27And in those statements
01:06:29That do not appear in the medical literature
01:06:31All the inside of her mouth
01:06:33That was completely burnt
01:06:35All the inside of her mouth
01:06:37It was...
01:06:39I've never seen anything like it
01:06:41If no one knows how the fire started
01:06:43Don Carroll wonders why the police
01:06:45Never accused him
01:06:47Or Mr. Saffin of setting Jean on fire
01:06:49Because they know
01:06:51It was human combustion
01:06:53That's why
01:06:55They know
01:06:57But they will not tell anybody
01:06:59What it is
01:07:03Don Carroll's belief in spontaneous
01:07:05Human combustion is unshakable
01:07:07And he is not alone
01:07:09Even the 19th century novelist
01:07:11Charles Dickens
01:07:13Found the mystery which surrounds
01:07:15Spontaneous human combustion intriguing
01:07:19Why did the author's fascination with this phenomenon
01:07:21Cause an uproar in Victorian England?
01:07:23Charles Dickens
01:07:25The beloved 19th century
01:07:27British novelist
01:07:29Is known for his many fine works
01:07:31Including A Tale of Two Cities
01:07:33And Great Expectations
01:07:35In 1852
01:07:37He wrote the novel Bleak House
01:07:39Which originally appeared
01:07:41In monthly installments
01:07:43Bleak House depicts the poverty
01:07:45And hopelessness of the urban poor
01:07:47During the Industrial Revolution
01:07:49At the time
01:07:51At the time
01:07:53Public drunkenness was a problem
01:07:55And temperance advocates
01:07:57Wrote about terrifying cases
01:07:59Of drunkards dying of spontaneous
01:08:01Human combustion
01:08:03Temperance society loved to cite
01:08:05These cases of
01:08:07Alcoholics and drunks
01:08:09And people like that
01:08:11And to try to convince the public
01:08:13That this boogeyman of spontaneous
01:08:15Human combustion
01:08:17Might get you
01:08:19Drinking and you better sober up
01:08:21And turn to religion
01:08:23Dickens was so
01:08:25Taken by this topic
01:08:27And he thought he was
01:08:29It was a scientific fact
01:08:31And so he chose
01:08:33In his great novel Bleak House
01:08:35To kill off the evil
01:08:37Sinister Mr. Crooks
01:08:39With the
01:08:41Specter of spontaneous human combustion
01:08:45Are you there crook?
01:08:47Dickens described Mr. Crook
01:08:49As continual in liquor
01:08:53And in the December installment of Bleak House
01:08:55He sends this sinful drunk to the devil
01:08:57In a fiery blaze
01:09:17When the December 1852
01:09:19Issue came out
01:09:21It caused quite a stir
01:09:23Dickens was immediately
01:09:25Confronted by his friend
01:09:27The scientist George Lewis
01:09:29Lewis thought that
01:09:31Spontaneous human combustion
01:09:33Was an impossibility
01:09:35What Lewis was concerned about
01:09:37In the account of spontaneous combustion
01:09:39Is that when such a powerful figure
01:09:41Argues that something like
01:09:43Spontaneous human combustion
01:09:45Is possible
01:09:47He will be believed by
01:09:49Thousands and thousands
01:09:51Dickens shot back his response
01:09:53In the next installment of Bleak House
01:09:55He inserted a long list of authorities
01:09:57Who supported the possibility
01:09:59Of spontaneous human combustion
01:10:01It's clear
01:10:03From some of the mistakes he makes
01:10:05In citing the cases
01:10:07And the particular cases that he cites
01:10:09That he got them all
01:10:11Or almost all of them from one book in particular
01:10:13A popular medical text
01:10:15The Anatomy of Drunkenness
01:10:17Was part of Dickens library
01:10:19In fact
01:10:21All 30 cases that Dickens cites
01:10:23Are from that text
01:10:25Skeptics say
01:10:27This single source of information
01:10:29Is not definitive proof of spontaneous
01:10:31Human combustion
01:10:33For Don Carroll
01:10:35The recurring memory of Gene Safin's death
01:10:37Is proof enough
01:10:39You might
01:10:41Laugh at it, I don't know
01:10:43But I never believed in
01:10:45The supernatural or anything
01:10:47Until I see this
01:10:49My wife believes
01:10:51And I'm inclined to believe
01:10:53With her
01:10:55But she was always with her mother
01:10:59Her mother died
01:11:03Shortly after her mother died
01:11:05This happens to Gene
01:11:07We believe
01:11:09It could be
01:11:11Psychic suicide
01:11:13In other words
01:11:15What she's saying is
01:11:17That Gene brought it on herself
01:11:19Because she missed her mom
01:11:21For many years
01:11:23Researchers have been doing studies
01:11:25About the mind-body connection
01:11:27Now we know how self-destructive
01:11:29Rage when it's contained
01:11:31Can be
01:11:33We know that people
01:11:35In a state of emotional disturbance
01:11:37Can hurt themselves dramatically
01:11:39We've seen people become ill
01:11:41We've seen
01:11:43Immune systems shut down
01:11:45Because of extreme rage
01:11:47Extreme depression
01:11:49There's a great deal of evidence to suggest
01:11:51That the brain state
01:11:53Affects the immune system
01:11:55Stander believes
01:11:57There may be a correlation between the brain's ability
01:11:59To affect the body's functions
01:12:01And spontaneous human combustion
01:12:05We ought to take cues
01:12:07From
01:12:09Those investigators in the east
01:12:11Who've attributed
01:12:13Such phenomena to
01:12:15Mysterious forces
01:12:17Such as chi or the kundalini
01:12:19In the human body there is an energy
01:12:21Quasi-electric in nature
01:12:23That is called kundalini
01:12:25Also ki or prana
01:12:27It's the life force that makes us
01:12:29An animate living organism
01:12:31Eastern physicians have dealt with
01:12:33The kundalini and ki and prana for millennia
01:12:35During the making of a documentary
01:12:37In Java
01:12:39The filmmakers met an acupuncturist
01:12:41With remarkable talents
01:12:43Through meditation and practice
01:12:45He had learned to harness the electrical currents
01:12:47In his body
01:12:49To the point that he could give another person a shock
01:12:53He could also channel his energy in another way
01:12:55He could produce fire
01:12:57With his naked hand
01:13:03Larry Arnold has studied the works of many eastern mystics
01:13:05He discovered accounts of unbalanced kundalini
01:13:07Causing the sensation of excruciating internal heat
01:13:09His research has led him to believe
01:13:11That if a person blocks this powerful energy
01:13:13They might spontaneously combust
01:13:15Anyone who becomes familiar with
01:13:17Skepticism in general
01:13:19Whether it's with regards to
01:13:21The power of the mind
01:13:23Or whether it's with regards to
01:13:25The power of the body
01:13:27They might spontaneously combust
01:13:29They might spontaneously combust
01:13:31Skepticism in general
01:13:33Whether it's with regards to spontaneous human combustion
01:13:35Or any of the myriad other paranormal
01:13:37Or pseudo-scientific beliefs
01:13:39At one point faces
01:13:41What we call the psychology of belief
01:13:43And part of that
01:13:45Is the need to believe in something profound
01:13:47Something beyond or outside of ourselves
01:13:49Or even just the fascination
01:13:51With the marvelous
01:13:53Or the fantastical
01:13:55There are a lot of reasons to believe
01:13:57That the psychological need to believe
01:13:59Is hardwired into our brains
01:14:01For example, neurologists are very familiar
01:14:03With the phenomenon
01:14:05That we encounter in seizure patients
01:14:07Known as hyper-religiosity
01:14:09Patients who have seizures
01:14:11In their temporal lobe
01:14:13Can sometimes
01:14:15Have profound
01:14:17Religious epiphanies
01:14:19During their seizures
01:14:21When that part of the brain is seizing
01:14:23It generates for them
01:14:25A profound sense that they are
01:14:27In the presence of God
01:14:29Or somehow in the presence of the universe itself
01:14:33A lot of belief in paranormal
01:14:35Is driven by a need for a sense of control
01:14:37If
01:14:39You can't explain something
01:14:41Or some phenomenon about the universe
01:14:43You would invent an explanation for it
01:14:45Some will look at the cases
01:14:47Of alleged spontaneous human combustion
01:14:49And find answers in the supernatural
01:14:51While others will point
01:14:53To everyday human mishaps
01:14:55And seek the explanation
01:14:57How these fires ignite
01:14:59May always be a source of contention
01:15:01Only the victims know for sure
01:15:03And they have taken that secret
01:15:05With them
01:15:07The puzzle of spontaneous human combustion
01:15:09For now will remain
01:15:11Unexplained
01:15:25Unexplained
01:15:27Explained
01:15:29Explained
01:15:31Explained
01:15:33Explained
01:15:35Explained
01:15:37Explained
01:15:39Explained
01:15:41Explained
01:15:43Explained
01:15:47Explained
01:15:49Explained
01:15:51Explained
01:15:53Explained
01:16:01Explained
01:16:03Explained
01:16:05Explained
01:16:07Explained