Canneto di Caronia fires
Starting sometime in January of 2004, unusual fires were reported in the Sicilian town of Caronia, on the northern coast. The exact date that the problems began was likely January 21, but a few newspaper articles cast doubt on this date by claiming that Caronia's electrical supply has been cut off since January 4.
Appliances, starting with a television and evidently including a cooker and vacuum cleaner, were reported to catch fire spontaneously. Fires also struck wedding presents and a piece of furniture, the type of which is unknown. One article also claimed that a water pipe caught fire, though this report seems dubious.
At least one person, either a police officer or, according to one report, a scientist, was said to have observed an unplugged electrical cable ignite while he was directly observing it. Enel, the Italian power utility, cut off the town's power supply, but the outbreaks continued.
The authorites ruled out arson fairly early.
English news articles were mixed as to the reaction of the villagers: most pegged them as blaming demonic forces, while some others cast them as blaming the railroad or other man-made agencies. A Catholic exorcist, Gabriele Amorth, suggested that the causes are supernatural; others, such as (according to some sources) the mayor, Pedro Spinnato, assume a natural cause.
Authorites seem to agree that some sort of electrical anomaly is responsible, and many experts traveled to Caronia to investigate. A few people have blamed volcanic oddites, others speculate that someone was intentionaly creating an electrical phenomenon for nefarious ends, possibly including a con on the villagers, with a Tesla-type Magnifying Transmitter or similar device. (Although this begs the question of why the villagers have not heard the thunderous noise produced by it, unless it is very well hidden indeed, and the fact that no attempt at extortion has yet been reported seems odd.)
Recently, some articles have begun to report the phenomenon as having abated.
Referenced By
As of February 2004 | Current Events | Current event | February 2004 | July 11, 2002
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