Something strange is starting fires in a small village in the Gurpinar district of far eastern Turkey leaving the neighbourhood terrified, according to a report and videos posted on Turkish news site Milliyet.com on June 11.
The key question remains – poltergeist or pyromaniac? Translation below.
The neighborhood people are on edge! The secret of ‘self-burning’ houses cannot be solved.
In Gurpinar, Van district, for an unknown reason, houses allegedly burn themselves and the citizens are nervous. Because of the fires, the inhabitants… keep watch with water at hand until the morning.
Neighborhood people are on edge
The fire, which appeared in 4 houses and has affected 2 families in a hamlet of the town of Gürpınar in Uzungedik District…
The mysterious fire at the house belonging to Necmettin Sönmez, the father of three children with disabilities… is also worrying the neighborhood people.
The helpless citizen, who saw his new house ignited two months ago, went back to his old house, taking his family. Meanwhile, his brother Selim Sönmez, who had no children, began to have fires in his home. Mysterious fires with an unknown cause have now made Selim Sönmez’s home uninhabitable.
Affected by the incidents with villagers living in fear, the state Disaster and Emergency Directorate (AFAD) teams investigated. The AFAD crews who came to the scene did not find out the cause of the fires at home… the family is the subject of the investigation and the family wanted the investigation to be done and the authorities to help them as soon as possible.
Speaking to our correspondent, Necmettin Sönmez said due to the fires he kept watch with water nearby and could not sleep. Now that they have no peace, said Sönmez.
“We waited a few years, our new house started to burn. I went to a teacher in Istanbul for the resulting fire… he said the fire would stop. We don’t sleep till morning, we keep a watch with water. We run to wherever it’s burning. We are so uneasy, we are miserable.”
Sönmez, who left three children with physical disabilities in her neighbor’s house, said that her houses burned about 20 times in some days and said, “Our house is burning 6, 7, 8 and some days 20 times.It burns quilts, bedding and rugs. I left my children in my neighbor’s house for my disabled children to be afraid“ he said.
…the psychology of the entire village is broken.
Imam Abdulmenaf Özdemir said he came to Van 4 years ago. He said that he had not encountered such an event in his life.
“I witnessed the house igniting 3-4 times. That’s what amazed me. Some people say ‘maybe the kids are burning’ but there’s absolutely no such thing. Because I even witnessed it myself. Necmettin Sönmez has three children and these children are physically handicapped. It is not possible for these children to get up and walk or do anything with their hands. AFAD came in, measured gas, and found it wasn’t gas-related. There is no sleep for the burning household” he said.
Having for decades researched an documented cases of spontaneous combustion events of a nature unacceptable to – largely unaccepted by – mainstream fire science, the recent frequency of such cases like this one is unprecedented.
We so appreciate the foreign press translations being provided.
For this case, there is one point of unclarity/uncertainty. The house owner says: “We waited a few years, our new house started to burn.” Does this mean that former home had spon-com 4 years ago? Or that his new home, then his old home to which he relocated back, both had spon-com events 4 years apart? Or that “years” should instead be “days” or “weeks” and that the outbreaks ‘followed’ the family from one location to another in close proximity? All three interpretations have historical precedent, tho such atypical fires many years apart is itself atypical.
Clarification on this point, follow-ups, and speculation is welcomed by us.
great read and discovery.