Can a person just burst into flames? The phenomenon is called spontaneous human combustion (SHC) and its a mystery that has baffled many, yet Kennington has one of the most famous cases within this field.
‘There’s one mystery I’m asked about more than any other: spontaneous human combustion. Some cases seem to defy explanation, and leave me with a creepy and very unscientific feeling. If there’s anything more to SHC, I simply don’t want to know.’
Arthur C. Clarke (1994)
The case of Robert Francis Bailey
At 5:19am on 13th September, 1967, emergency services were called to 49 Auckland Street, SE11 5HT after a group of office workers waiting for a bus had noticed flames in an abandoned building. Arriving at approximately 5:24 am, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) discovered the burning body of Robert Francis Bailey, a local homeless alcoholic.
Doubled up in Agony
Describing the scene on arrival one of the firefighters reported that, as they entered the building, Bailey was lying on the bottom of the stairs half-turned on his left side with his knees were drawn up into his stomach. Bailey had been conscious as he burned to death and evidence suggests that he had been convulsing in agony as the fire consumed him. It is believed that Bailey’s pain was so intense that he had bitten into the solid mahogany post on the stairs. His teeth were embedded so deeply into the wood that his mouth had to be pried open by the fire department to remove his body.
Picture from the Scene
Blue flame emerging from a slit in his belly
LFB Fire officer Jack Stacey who first on scene describes what he found.
“There was about a four inch slit in his stomach and the flame was emanating from that four inch slit like a blow torch. It was a blue flame. The flame was actually coming from the body itself. From inside the body. He was burning literally from the inside out. And it was definitely under pressure. And it was impinging on the timber flooring below the body, so much so that the heat from the flame was charred into the woodwork.”.
Jack Stacey, London Fire Brigade – Fire officer
Minimal Fire Damage
Fire damage to the property itself was minimal. The only fire damage in the house was on the floor, directly below where the body had been burning. Aside from the abdomen area where the fire had originated, Robert Francis Bailey’s clothes were intact and unaffected by the fire.
To extinguish the flame completely the hose had to be placed within the slit in Bailey’s stomach.
Cause of Death
Robert Francis Bailey’s original cause of death was determined to be “asphyxia due to inhalation of fire fumes” but after reviewing the case further his death was deemed to have been due to “unknown causes”.
Unwilling to recognize spontaneous human combustion as a reason for his death; investigators cite that Bailey’s alcoholism as being the probable contributor to the fire. As an homeless alcoholic he may have drunk Methylated Spirits as cheap available source of alcohol. One theory was that all of the ‘Meths’ l in his gut somehow reacted with an igniter of some sort, however no external means of ignition were found on his body, and he was a non-smoker.
