Dr. Gee's Investigation
The Legend:
In November 1963, an old woman in Leeds, England, was found dead on the hearth in her living room, her body completely burned except for the right foot. Other than the furniture being covered with soot and the paintwork being blistered, there was very little other damage. A tea towel hanging on the oven door close-by was hardly singed, and the dry firewood stacked inside the oven was untouched.
Details and Theories
This case was presented as a case of spontaneous combustion in Joyce Robins' book The World's Greatest Mysteries; she stated that the case had been investigated by a Dr. D.J. Gee, whom she describes as a lecturer in forensic medicine at Leeds University. And, as it turns out, this is exactly right: I have managed to find a print version of the lecture he gave about this case in particular.
was of the opinion that when the woman fell onto the hearth cinders had set fire to her hair, after which the body was slowly consumed as it burned its own fat like a candle; the draft from the chimney drew the flames up and prevented them from spreading to the rest of the room.
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