(Messina) - The mysterious phenomenon of the spontaneous fires that provoked fear and surprise among the residents of Canneto on the Tyrrhenian coast of the province of Messina has come to a standstill in the last twelve hours. The thirty or so inhabitants of the village who were evacuated for security reasons have not yet been able to go home. Experts of the State Rescue Services continue to carry out checks whilst awaiting special machinery from Milan in order to get more precise results.
Yesterday the fires had become paradoxical and were even breaking out in water pipes or between pieces of electrical wire which had been cut and were lying on the ground without being connected to any source of energy. The electricty has been turned off in Canneto for several days but this did not stop the fires breaking out. In the course of the last few days the flames developed again and again without any plausible explanation in domestic appliances, intercoms, plugs, meters. Checks by electricity company ENEL and technicians from the RFU have for the moment excluded any link between the fires and the electrical pylons of the Palermo-Messina railway line which passes only a few metres from the houses and which the residents believe are in some way responsible.
Comment: Before we get into some of the high strangenss from this current incident, we will take a look at a similar phenomena that occurred in northern Italy in 1990:
The Berici Hills Mystery
The trouble started in San Gottardo, a mountain village of 500 people above Vicenza in northern Italy, on 14 February 1990. Aldo Calgaretto saw the fuse box outside his house start to burn. Electricians found no faults, but even before they left, the new fuse box was in flames. Within two days, other bizarre events struck nearby houses on the narrow winding lane called Via Calora. Televisions switched themselves on and off, indicator lights flashed on a locked car, and armchair caught fire, as did a pair of ski boots and a plastic canopy. The electricity men returned with a sophisticated machine but the plastic switches melted.
When the fires started, Lucio Donatello, one of the joint mayors of San Gottardo, thought the village was affected by mass hysteria, but he soon changed his mind. 'One day I discovered my car engine running with all the doors locked. Then the right front door burst into flames in front of my eyes. Another time, I was given a jolt when the electric razor I was using caught fire in my hands!'
Mr Donatello and the other mayor, Giancario Zuin, visited Via Calora to restore confidence. As they stood talking, the parked car they had arrived in caught fire. 'We watched the rear plastic light slowly melt in front of our eyes,' said Mr. Zuin. 'There was more and more smoke and then it burst into flames. I couldn't believe it.'
The next event was Bertilla Moran's house filling with acrid smoke. The wheelchair used by his disabled father and kept under the stairs had caught fire and was destroyed. Dozens of people began to complain of headaches, sickness, stomach pains, and skin inflammations that seemed to be resistant to medication. Pets went off their food, while sheep, goats and chickens became restless.
Police, firemen and electricity men were unable to explain the events. Reaction in the village ranged from bafflement to terror. There was talk of the devil, UFOs, Martians, the supernatural. Some experts suspected 'excess electricity produced by high-power generators at a nearby US communications base.' The only reason many refused to leave was the fear that their homes would burn down in their absence and they would lose everything. Many families took turns to sleep so there was always someone to watch for fires. Sunday Express 11 March; Guardian 22 March; national Enquirer 9 April 1990. [The World's Most Incredible Stories: The Best of Fortean Times, New York 1992, p. 54]
On February 11, 2004 we have the following articles with more information. Panic is setting in, and wild emotional theories are being tossed around:
