Spontaneous human combustion in Galway?

danniemcq

Galway pensioner died from spontaneous combustion
September 23, 2011 - 7:15am
Mystery death is blamed on 'inexplicable' phenomenon
by Dearbhla Geraghty

The inquiry into the death of a 76 years old man found badly burned in his home just before Christmas last year, concluded yesterday that he had died of the unusual phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion.

Photographs taken in the aftermath of the fire at the home of Michael Faherty of Clareview Park, Ballybane, show a packet of matches sitting on the mantelpiece, which had escaped damage – as had most of the sitting room, where he was found.

Garda Gerard O’Callaghan of the divisional crime scene investigation unit who visited the preserved scene told the Inquest: “The ‘seat’ of the fire was around the body of Mr Faherty, and confined to this area – the rest of the house was smoke damaged.

“I took samples of the fire debris and forwarded them to the forensic science laboratory at Garda headquarters in Dublin to establish the presence of accelerants (eg. petrol, diesel, paraffin oil) – there were none found – and I found no evidence to suggest any foul play had occurred.”

The Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, noted from the photographs taken by the senior Garda that there were items such as matches, a mobile phone, and a razor very obviously untouched by fire. He asked Garda O’Callaghan if he had ever witnessed anything like this before, and the reply was a firm ‘no’.

Pathologist, Dr Grace Callagy stated that, due to burning, Mr Faherty’s stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart, and some of his bones – the fire would need to be between 700-1,000°C to cremate bones – were not present, and that toxicology examinations could not be carried out on his blood or urine for the same reason.


She said, however, that there was no evidence of oedema in the lung – which the coroner explained meant that he did not suffer a heart attack – and there was no evidence of a haemorrhage.

Significantly, Dr Callagy found no carbon material/soot in his trachea or a sample from his lung. “These suggest that he did not suffer from inhalation (smoke) injury and may not have been alive when the fire began,” she stated.

“The extensive nature of the burns sustained precludes determining the precise cause of death.”


Dr MacLoughlin told Mr Faherty’s family that he had given a lot of consideration to that very question. “I’d say that the death was thoroughly investigated by the most experienced fire experts in the country, and I’m of the view that it fits in with spontaneous combustion, for which there is no scientific explanation,” he said.

Dr MacLoughlin said afterwards that this was the first such case that he had come across in his 25 years as coroner for West Galway.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.

well thats one way to keep the pensioners warm this winter with all the cutbacks

FatherLen

he shouldn't have held his farts in.

biko

That's how I want to go. Hope he didn't suffer.

Guill

Turkey and Ham gives me awful heartburn too.

CardBordWindow

Was he a former drummer with Spinal Tap?

A relative of mine lost her partner who had MS, when he dropped a cigarette on himself and couldn't remove it or get away from the flames.

It was only his body and that of the wheelchair that were burned, this sounds like a similar incident.

Strange.

KTRIC

biko wrote: »

That's how I want to go. Hope he didn't suffer.

With your bowels burning, oh yeah sounds f*cking peachy to be honest :rolleyes:

foxyboxer

You could say he "went down in a blaze of glory"

howamidifferent

Sounds like a flash in the pan...

RiseToMe

Pics or gtfo

seamus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion#Natural_explanations

The fact that there was smoke damage seems consistent with the explanation there.

Captain Darling

CardBordWindow wrote: »

Was he a former drummer with Spinal Tap?

I hope they 'dusted' for vomit.

MagicSean

Sounds like a ridiculous verdict to me.

Deus Ex Machina

Explaining an unknown with an unknown? I think you can do better than that.

foxyboxer

John Creasy?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eCeLBv5lJdg/TUHFFZXKLMI/AAAAAAAACsU/dvoZScr0f08/s1600/Man_on_fireposter.jpg

Weylin

i blame the Poteen, he added too much turps.......:pac::pac::pac:

Ghandee

All joking aside.

The man didnt die from heart attack/Haemorage (<<<possibly spelt wrong, I know)

This means the poor sod BURNED to death, hope he wasnt conscious when it happened, terrible way to go, must have been terribly painful!

chin_grin

biko wrote: »

That's how I want to go. Hope he didn't sulpher.

That's how I initially read your post. :pac:

Orando Broom

The Guards have established that the American woman who was found after four days missing in Donegal was taken by the faeries

Sergeant

Captain Darling wrote: »

I hope they 'dusted' for vomit.

You can't really dust for vomit. There might have been some type of globule left.

parrai

What's strange though is this is a bit 'twilight zone'... With the coroners' verdict as well... Always thought this was not a true phenomenon...

Lord Trollington

A MAN who burnt to death in his own home died from spontaneous human combustion in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country.

Michael Faherty (76) -- also known as Micheal O Fatharta -- died as a result of the phenomenon, spontaneous human combustion, according to west Galway coroner Dr Kieran McLoughlin.

He said it was the first time in his 25 years of investigating deaths that he had returned such a verdict.

An experienced garda crime scene investigator and senior fire officer both told Mr Faherty's inquest in Galway that they could not explain how he came to be burnt to death. Nor had they come across such an event before.

Assistant chief fire officer Gerry O'Malley said fire officers were satisfied that, after a thorough investigation, an open fire in Mr Faherty's fireplace was not the cause of the blaze which led to his death.

No trace of an accelerant was found at the scene and there was no sign that anyone else had entered or left Mr Faherty's home at 64 Clareview Park, Ballybane, Galway city.

The inquest heard that the smoke alarm in the home of Mr Faherty's neighbour, Tom Mannion, had gone off at about 3am on December 22 last year.

In his deposition, Mr Mannion said he went outside and saw heavy smoke coming from Mr Faherty's house.

He banged on the front door, but got no response and then banged on the door of another neighbour. Gardai and the fire brigade arrived quickly on the scene.

Garda Gerard O'Callaghan said he had gone to the house after the fire had been extinguished and found Mr Faherty lying on his back in a sitting room, with his head closest to an open fireplace.

The fire had been confined to that and the rest of the house sustained only smoke damage. No accelerants had been found and there was nothing to suggest foul play.

In reply to the coroner, Gda O'Callaghan said the only damage was to the remains, to the floor underneath him and to the ceiling above. The body had been totally burnt.

Dr McLoughlin asked the garda if he had ever seen anything like this and he replied "no". The inquest heard that fire officers were unable to determine the cause or the origin of the fire that killed Mr Faherty.

Asked if he had ever seen anything like it, Mr O'Malley replied, "I can't say that I have."

Pathologist Professor Grace Callagy noted in her post-mortem findings that Mr Faherty had suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension but she concluded he had not died from heart failure.

His body had been completely cremated, and because of the extensive damage to the organs, it had not been possible to determine the cause of death.

The coroner said he was satisfied nobody had entered or left the house.

While a fire had been burning in the fireplace in the home, he was also satisfied that the fire itself was not the cause of the blaze that had burnt the deceased.

Dr McLoughlin said: "This fire was thoroughly investigated and I'm left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation."

Afterwards, Ms Faherty's daughter, Mairin, said that the family were satisfied with the extent of the investigation.

c_man

Probably just an extreme case of the Fear

J. Marston

What an awful way to go.

Unique User Name

whycliff wrote: »

Michael Faherty (76) -- also known as Micheal O Fart harder

FYP

ejmaztec

This topic spontaneously combusted earlier.

Saila

he had firelighters and matches in his pocket didnt he

SEPT 23 1989

Vodka and Vindaloo

squod

Ah here. Scroll down OP.

InTheTrees

Thats pretty creepy.

:eek:

stupidusername

how can they say that when they've already said he had been cremated and had no organs,so couldn't determine COD?

SoupyNorman

What more shocking to me is that it has it's own acronym.

Ciaran500

SHC?

Is this a common enough acronym that you thought it would make sense in the title?

rubadub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion#Survivors

In September 1985, Debbie Clark was walking home when she noticed an occasional flash of blue light.[11] As she claimed, "It was me. I was lighting up the driveway every couple of steps. As we got into the garden I thought it was funny at that point. I was walking around in circles saying: 'look at this, mum, look!' She started screaming and my brother came to the door and started screaming and shouting 'Have you never heard of spontaneous human combustion?'" Her mother, Dianne Clark, responded: "I screamed at her to get her shoes off and it [the flashes] kept going so I hassled her through and got her into the bath. I thought that the bath is wired to earth. It was a blue light you know what they call electric blue. She thought it was fun, she was laughing."

:eek:

amacachi

That's me not sleeping for a few weeks.

Lord Derpington

I bet he was lighting his farts

What a horrible way to go, RIP

cocoshovel

"no"

Quote of the year. Bravo! Applause!

J. Marston

rubadub wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion#Survivors

:eek:

I don't understand. What's the blue light about?

stovelid

amacachi wrote: »

That's me not sleeping for a few weeks.

Yeah stories like that make me briquette.

Saila

J. Marston wrote: »

I don't understand. What's the blue light about?

lady boy at work

chakotha

c_man wrote: »

Probably just an extreme case of the Fear

I was just thinking that as I was reading the OP!


RIP

Darkginger

Same thing happened about 20 years ago in the house I now live in - I was over here on holiday at the time and heard the tale from one of the people who helped remove the body from the house. We didn't realise it was THIS house until a couple of years after we bought it. Similar circumstance - man alone in house, found next to open fireplace. He was (allegedly) fond of a drink (and the piles of empty whiskey bottles we found on the land would support that theory). I think perhaps he died by the fire, and an ember caught in his clothes and ...well... smouldered his remains.

We don't light that fire often...

Isnt SHC just a theory though ? How can the doctor say that was the cause ?

mickdw

This seems crazy to me. Seeing as he was completely burned, I could they rule out that his clothes caught fire while attending the open fire, couldnt put out the fire, then burned that way?

RichieC

CardBordWindow wrote: »

Was he a former drummer with Spinal Tap?

Best left unsolved...

Wildlife Actor

I thought it was a reference to the hurling... losing to Dublin and all that...

EDIT: Ah feck ya OP, it did say SHC in the title til ya changed it!!

The doctors probably came to the conclusion because the Gardai search turned up no other excuse. It must feel ridiculous for a coroner to use the words, spontaneous human combustion.

Killer Pigeon

I'm a little confused. Did he just catch fire for no reason?

Tar.Aldarion

J. Marston wrote: »

I don't understand. What's the blue light about?

fire

Simon Adebisi

Whats with the jokes? He could have family posting here. Have a bit of fúckin cop on.