1990, September: Hurstpierpoint Fiery Death

The Legend:

        In September 1990 in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England, a 34-year-old man was discovered dead in his bedroom with severe burns to his arms and legs, as well as "other parts of his body." It was speculated that a five-day-old bonfire in the garden was somehow connected with the death.

Unreliable

        This far too brief account comes from Jenny Randles and Peter Hough's 1992 book, Spontaneous Human Combustion; and this book gives almost no sources for the accounts it relates. In this particular case, they attribute the story to "Author's own investigation"... which essentially means "Just trust us." I don't, and won't... and, after several tries, have been unable to track any news items that could even be remotely considered related to the scant information given above.

        For this reason, this account is marked as "Unreliable" as proof of the paranormal. Besides, it doesn't sound very mysterious if the man died of external burns and there was a fire outside he could have been in contact with.