Sorry about the cod 'Oirish' accent but I was trying to get across the flavour of the tale told by an Oirish Irish coroner, Dr Ciaran McLoughlin, as reported by the BBC:
A man who burned to death in his home died as a result of spontaneous combustion, an Irish coroner has ruled.
West Galway coroner Dr Ciaran McLoughlin said it was the first time in 25 years of investigating deaths that he had recorded such a verdict.
Well, you could 'blather my blarneystone', as the don't say in Oire... Ireland, it must have been the fairies 'wot dunnit' - and don't tell me that fire fairies don't exist! You just go here and read all about it:
As well as the many house fairies that live in the hearth or behind the stove, there are spirits that represent the fire itself. In Northern European countries, they were called drakes, salamanders or dragons. They are said smell like rotten eggs, and their presence is usually only betrayed by the stench, though they are sometimes glimpsed as a flaming ball. They only take on the character of fire when they fly, when they look like streaks of flame or fiery balls with long tails.
So the next time the 'Memsahib' complains about the nasty smell emanating from my end of the sitting-room after dinner I shall blame it on the fire fairy! Anyway, back to the poor old codger who, so to speak, lit up all on his own, he was found, apparently, lying burned in front of the fireplace but no trace of any source for the fire could be found by the experts. Er, 'fireplace', 'fire', does that ring a bell? Anyway, me? I blame the fairies; nasty, smelly, little brutes and I don't care if I am accused of 'fairyism', so there!
Comments