1980, December 4: Lockwood Woman’s Fiery Death

The Legend:

On December 4, 1980, a 78-year-old woman was found dead in her kitchen in Lockewood, Yorkshire, England. She had serious burns to her legs, with only a little damage to her clothing; apart from a small hole in a rug, there was no damage to the room.

Unreliable

        This is the first listing of this incident in Anomalies, and therefore will require more research to confirm it. This is especially true because the above comes from Jenny Randles and Peter Hough's 1992 book, Spontaneous Human Combustion; this book gives almost no sources for the accounts it relates, in this case attributing the above to "Author's own investigation"... which essentially means "Just trust us." For this reason, this account is marked as both "Unreliable" and "Investigate;" I will add new information as I get a chance to dig further.

        In addition, the scant details given above by no means sound supernatural; but I will dig deeper. In the meantime, I'm marking this account as a "Mystery" rather than an "Anomaly."

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