Abstract:
On January 30, 1932, in the town of Bladenboro, at the Elm Street home of Council H. Williamson and his wife Lydia, a series of fires occurred in five different rooms of the house. A window shade and a curtain would burn. After this fire was put out, another window shade would catch fire. The most serious happening was when a young girl's dress suddenly ignited. She escaped injury. Later a pair of trousers hanging in a closet took fire. There were twenty fires in all, the last occurring on February 1, 1932. Tomlin discusses the theories that surrounded the fires, from the scientific to the paranormal.