(Image Source: Flickr / Pedro Moura Pinheiro)

BY ADAM FALK

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

You're watching multisource science news anlaysis from Newsy.

It sounds straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. An Irish man sitting alone in his home is found burned and dead – no clear explanation. After more than a year, the coroner’s explanation is raising as many questions as it’s answering. Here’s WABC.

ANCHOR: “A coroner in West Gallway has ruled that a man died of spontaneous human combustion. Take a look at the house where 76-year-old Michael Faherty was found burned to death last year.”

So, this isn’t something that only happens to fictional, Victorian Era alcoholics? The Telegraph isn’t ruling it out. The paper explains the only damage found was to the body, which was totally burnt, the floor below him and the ceiling above him.

“The latest case bore many of the hallmarks of the classic case – the victim was found on his back by the fireplace, with his head intact but the rest of his body entirely consumed.”

Reports note the fireplace behind Michael Faherty has been thoroughly examined and ruled out as a possibility. But Mike Green, a retired professor of pathology, tells the BBC, don’t jump to fiery conclusions; it might have been a match or cigarette.

“There is a source of ignition somewhere, but because the body is so badly destroyed the source can’t be found … I think if the heavens were striking in cases of spontaneous combustion then there would be a lot more cases. I go for the practical, the mundane explanation.”

NPR spoke with a forensic pathologist who agrees with Green and says there is simply not enough well-documented evidence that spontaneous combustion is possible.

Don’t tell that to Dr. Trail. The Guardian reports history tells a different story. The doctor explored the theory in 1825 with this report in the Manchester Guardian. 

BBC reports, the corner said it was the first time in 25 years of investigating deaths he’s recorded a death by spontaneous combustion.

Transcript by Newsy.