This article sounds like a poltergeist with a grudge against an entire region, not just the usual single household. 🙂
The Sydney Morning Herald 11 Jul 1945 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17946617
In 1945 residents of Almeria, Spain, were having a slight problem with white things left out in the sun.
Laundry left out to dry, and even white washed walls would burst into flame without warning. Not only that, people wearing white clothing would find themselves on fire! Eeeek!
I am not sure I agree with the peasants suggestion that the recent drought was followed by these unexpected fires because “God must be very angry with Spain”.
Hmmmmm… No. If there was a vengeful god up there, shooting fiery arrows, it would only seem that he was angry with the colour white.
If their god really was angry with Spain in general he was being quite selective as to who in Spain he was sending his grumpy message to, wasn’t he?
I am not sure how whitewashed walls could easily and spontaneously catch fire, and this article is punctuated in a slightly confusing way; “….laundry laid out to dry in the fields, and threshing floors have mysteriously started to blaze under the hot sun.”
Thanks to that comma I’m not sure if they mean it is laundry laid on the threshing floors to dry, or the threshing floors themselves which caught fire!
I wonder what really caused this fire from the heavens? The scientific explanations given, St. Elmo’s Fire, the area being a good electrical conductor, or static discharges are a little unimaginative for me. Surely they could have come up with something better!
This article is not very satisfying is it? They mention “arrows of fire” targeting people running towards the fires. Really? Did someone actually see a flaming arrow plummeting down? Surely the danger of the arrow would be more talked about than the fire!
I wanted to know more about the walls. Did they burn completely down, or was it just a small flame? Do the whitewashed walls and white washing have something in common, some sort of chemical that might react to the heat of the sun?
C’mon Staff Reporter! That Peasants’ Stories Confirmed header is a bit of an exaggeration isn’t it? Maybe a more accurate one would have been just a plain old Peasants’ Stories …
Curiouser and curiouser.
So many unanswered questions!
articles from yesteryear are mesmerizing to me!
It is so interesting to get a look at how people back then viewed the world, isn’t it. Imagine what people will think of our culture when they look back at old newspapers in the future. All sex scandals and drug crimes…. what a great legacy we are leaving!
Oh God. Don’t get me started. haha I just wrote an interesting blog on that very topic: http://alesiablogs.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/brain-teasers-from-the-grave/
God’s wrath ? Hmmm. Well there was that 1588 Spanish Armada thing.
Gee, he took his time working out which side he was on, didn’t he? 😉
I just found this online. “Cotton and linen. When these materials come into contact with polyunsaturated vegetable oils (linseed, massage oils), bacteria slowly decompose the materials, producing heat. If these materials are stored in a way so the heat cannot escape, the heat build up increases the rate of decomposition and thus the rate of heat build up increases. Once ignition temperature is reached, combustion occurs with oxidizers present (oxygen).”
In 1945 cotton and linen would have been used in clothing and maybe linseed oil was used in the whitewash? On a very hot day after a long drought, humidity would be very low so excess heat might not be able to ‘escape’. It’s a possibility at least. 😀
Well done! I had a quick look last night to see if lime was flammable as I expected it was used in the whitewash and maybe to bleach the linen but it appears that it isn’t. I couldn’t find anything else that jumped out at me so I gave up.
All the more reason to avoid housework on a hot day!
Couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact it’s such good advice I’ve been following it for weeks! lol
Purely for your own health and safety of course! 😉
-innocent look- But of course!
As New Yorkers are notorious for wearing black — I’m safe.
Very strange phenomenon… a hoax?
I’m not sure is if was a hoax or some kind of unexpected chemical reaction. It was probably a combination of that and hysteria and I bet there were others who just joined in with the breathless story tellers so as not to miss out on their share of gods wrath….
Melbournians are also well known for their love of black too, we’d all be safe! 😉