An event that could be considered as a central and driving force to the unravelling of peculiar events in Brown’s Wieland, is the father’s spontaneous combustion followed by his unfortunate death. A while back, i had come across an article about a case of a Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) that shares some similarities with the event narrated in Wieland.
In 1951, 67 year old Mary Reeser was found combusted in her apartment under unknown circumstances. Both spontaneous combustions report the appearance of a blaze or a light from an unknown source, in Wieland’s narration, this light is described as “a light proceeding from the edifice, [that] made every part of the scene visible. A gleam [that] diffused itself over the intermediate space (29). This describes the scene that Wieland’s mother had witnessed as she was anticipating her husband’s delayed return from the temple. To add on, Goldfarb’s article on “The Curious Case Of Mary Reeser And Spontaneous Human Combustion” explains: “Reports said that [Mary Reeser’s] body was disintegrated by a blaze of “white-hot intensity” (2018). The surroundings in which the blazes or explosions occur remain undamaged in both recorded cases. According to Wieland’s uncle’s account of the incident: “No part of the building was on fire” (31). It was only a concentrated area in which the combustion had occurred. Similarly, Reeser’s surroundings were undamaged. According to Goldfarb, “the rest of the room was seemingly unaffected by the flames that engulfed Mary Reeser” (2018).
In Wieland’s case, the father does not die at the scene, but suffers substantial injuries due to the combustion: “[H]is skin throughout the greater part of his body was scorched and bruised. His right arm exhibited marks as of having been struck by some heavy body” (25), and he later dies as a result of the inflicted injuries. That could mean that the impact of the combustion in Wieland was not as powerful (that it could eradicate a human body) as reported in Reeser’s case: “Not much of Reeser remained. There was one slippered foot, which curiously showed no signs of charring, as well as a part of her spine. A piece of her skull remained and was described as shrunken” (Goldfarb). The Reeser case does propose scientific explanations to this phenomena, and to my surprise, “there have been accounts of alleged human combustion since 1663” (Goldfarb 2018). This perhaps explains the relevance of a human combustion case in a 16th century novel.
This event back then could have lacked familiarity, or had been exposed to limited perspectives. Such perspectives were usually associated with the supernatural world or the works of a deity. Fact or fiction, the similarities between both cases and the mysterious circumstances that they both occur under are astonishing. Such events are not constricted with one explanation, but are rather fairly open to numerous perspectives that can be religious, scientific or fiction. similarities between both cases and the mysterious circumstances that they both occur under are astonishing. Such events are not constricted with one explanation, but are rather fairly open to numerous perspectives.
Thanks for sharing the link, Fatima!
This is fascinating. Examples of phenomena like “spontaneous combustion” that seem to subvert our rational explanations of the world — and here I am also thinking of “UFO” sightings, ghosts, Yetis and the Loch Ness (monsters!) — are so enticing to so many.
How much of it is harmless entertainment or escape? Or a desire to believe in a world that isn’t fully knowable?
On the other hand, are these things used to fuel conspiracy theories that obscure or distract from real-world problems and institutional failings?
[edited…add on]
OR does belief in these things REVEAL real-world problems and institutional failings? (Thinking about the cultural role of the Gothic to highlight fears, anxieties, and repressed desires).
This is very interesting, Fatima! To be honest, I did not really know much about spontaneous human combustion before reading this post, so I decided to do more research in order to fully understand the concept and look into why as well as how it happens. I then decided to search and look into the first cases of spontaneous human combustion and to my surprise, the cases are very similar to the one you described as well as the case of the father in Weiland! For one, the first known case was of a woman in Paris who was consumed by fire and smoke. Despite her body being completely consumed and burned by the fire, her mattress was untouched! (The Irish Times, 2011). Now, some cases seemed to be realistic and logical, such as the person accidentally sleeping with a lit candle or cigarette, while others were inexplicable and thus assumed to be the work of the supernatural. Another explanation was done through a concept called “the wick effect”. The theory states that the moment a cigarette or any other heated object or source is lit near the body, the body immediately acts like an inside-out candle. In this case, the person’s body fat is the flammable part and their clothing or hair is the wick or candle. In other words, the flame or lit object seeps through the person’s clothes and burns the first thing it can find: body fat; the fire then continues until the body runs out of fat (explains why the hand, bones, and feet are usually unaffected by the fire) (Gizmodo, 2011). To be honest, I think it’s only logical to assume that there is always a forgotten or accidentally lit object around each human before the incident happens. Perhaps they were burned in the fire and thus, we or others never saw them through the ashes? The other theories are interesting, however, do you think “the wick theory” applies to the cases you and I mentioned, or that it at least affected the degree of the fire and burns experienced by the victims (Reeser being completely burnt vs. the father’s temporary survival)?