Dickens' Bizarre Burning Belief

The British novelist Charles Dickens believed in the possibility of spontaneous human combustion: the concept that a living human body can ignite and burn completely without external causes. In "Bleak House", Dickens' serialized novel (1852-53) about a complex legal case of conflicting wills, a gin-loving character, named Krook, dies from spontaneous combustion. In the Victorian Era, Dickens was not alone to view death by spontaneous human combustion as a sort of moral punishment for drunkenness. Indeed, sensational newspapers in the 19th century published numerous reports of people who had suddenly gone up in ravaging flames for no apparent reason. A portion of Dicken's readers were annoyed, or even outraged, by the way Krook dies in the story. They argued that scientists already debunked superstitions and that similarly to the rules that apply to heat or gravity, the physical laws of nature govern the human body, too. While some critics were amused, others protested. Writing in the newspaper "The Leader", George Lewes attacked the novelist for ignoring the laws of physics and giving "credence to a scientific impossibility". However, Dickens mocked his critics as eggheads. Not only because, as he said, his characters have the right to die in the described manner, but also because several cases of spontaneous combustion had been reported throughout history, including the Italian Countess Cornelia di Bandi's fiery death. The countess allegedly spontaneously combusted in 1731.