Hammy,

Going back to the story you related about the fires in Sicily, they returned on 17 March, as recounted in FT185/05. After certain electrical appliances caught fire, the village was evacuated on 10 February amid calls for an exorcism, while some experts put the fires down to electrostatic interference from pylons.

The fires started up again as villagers began moving back home. Italy's utility firm, Enel, cut off power to the village and hooked it up to a generator-but that caught fire also. Disconnected fuse boxes burst into flames, car central locking systems seized and mobile phones burst into flames.

Massimo Polidoro, the head of the Committee for the Control of Paranormal Claims - Italy's answer to CSICOP, made a breif visit and ruled out polts and demons, at least for the time being. 'The fact that the phenomenon occurs only when there are people present makes it hard to believe that it is a natural, or even a supernatural, phenomenon,' he said. Police rukled out pyromaniacs or pranksters after they saw wires burst into flames.

2 fire engines, a police jeep and a van with antennaon top to measure radio waves sat at the edge of the village on alert for the next wave of fires to start. Also, placed at strategic points were instruments to measure geomagnetic, meteorological, electromagnetic and electrostatic forces.

Hypotheses ranged from a build-up of electrical energy caused by grounding wires from the railway to surges of electricity rising from the earths core; but if these applied why does it not happen more frequently and in more places?