Most interesting unsolved non-serial killer cases

[Graham]

My missus spontaneously combusts every time she sees me reaching for the Blossom Hill...

Jeff,

Not that it matters, but the Ford Tri-Motor aircraft was not pressurised.

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

I don't remember any reports of ashes found on the plane so apparently Alfred didn't "go up".

[Mike Covell]

True, the case in Hull occurred in a wooden room,

It had wooden floorboards, partial carpets, wooden panels, and wooden furniture and bed, yet only the woman was burned.
Her clothes were also unaffected, which is another sign of SHC, and although she was consumed in fire, residents in neighbouring rooms heard nothing.

The lower portion of her legs and shoes were not affected, and yes, she was quite elderly.

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff and Mike,

The people are usually elderly also. It is the one so-called paranormal phenomena that is the most likely to be real. The odd thing is that the person is usually completely consumed (excerpt for the feet) while the rest of the room is virtually untouched.

[Mike Covell]

Spontaneous Combustion

Spontaneous Combustion usually is only reported when the victim is in a relaxed state, closer to sleep or actually asleep.

I have read quite a few books, and studies on the phenomena and we had a suspected case in Hull, which I was able to trawl through.

It does seem to be a genuine phenomena, however many of the cases occur close to possible sources of ignition to its always difficult to ascertain just what cases are true, and what are human error.

[Mayerling]

Spontaneous Combustion on Loewenstein's Ford Tri-Motor?

Hi Stan,

I am thinking that it is not too possible for spontaneous combustion - the
cabin of the plane was pressured. Besides, the gentleman was Alfred Loewenstein - not Crook from BLEAK HOUSE. There is a book I once read on the Spontaneous Combustion by Michael Harrison (the Sherlockian scholar who wrote the book CLARENCE: WAS HE JACK THE RIPPER? suggesting that
James Kenneth Stephen was the Ripper. Harrison's enthusiams frequently outstripped his scholarship, unfortunately, and the book on Spontaneous Combustion while readible was full of errors.

Jeff

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff,

As far as I know, the door was intact when the plane landed. The only possible way he could have accidentally fallen would have been if the plane was in a violent turn and I don't remember anyone saying anything about that.

What about spontaneous human combustion?

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff,

If A. L. was a homicide, then the list of suspects would be very finite. The idea that it could have been an accident almost sounds comical, that is falling out the plane after opening the wrong door. Barring the bazaar like alien abduction, there are only two other possibilities and those are suicide or a parachute jump.

Hi Stan,

I'm listening to Huckerbee concede to McCane, and the tight Obama - Clinton votes (each carried one of the New England States).

The aforementioned Norris book is really worth reading. There is a major problem with "accidentally opening" that door. Air currents on the outside are keeping the door shut (if it isn't locked to begin with. But if the door was tampered with so that Loewenstein, when really barely concious, was pushed against a door that was somehow loosened (the pins in the door's hinges removed, for instance), then he could have been pushed out.

Loewenstein was lucky in a way (according to Norris) - he was one of the wealthiest men in the world in the 1920s, and it was by stock manipulations that were possible in 1928, but hardly in 1930. If he had lived past the Crash, his fate would have been similar to that of his equal financial peer
Ivar Krugar. Krugar built up that cartel controling the manufacturing of matches, but Loewenstein was a traction cartel builder.

Jeff

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff,

If A. L. was a homicide, then the list of suspects would be very finite. The idea that it could have been an accident almost sounds comical, that is falling out the plane after opening the wrong door. Barring the bazaar like alien abduction, there are only two other possibilities and those are suicide or a parachute jump.

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff,

I recently found a Crippen production I hadn't heard of before on IMDb. It was on a BBC TV show called "Detective" in 1968 and was entitled Crime of Passion. I wonder if anyone in here saw it. It appears that it covered two episodes.

Hi Stan,

I haven't seen or heard of that particular show about Dr. Crippen, but there are many I keep coming upon (mostly on English television).

You and Pinkerton were discussing Alfred Loewenstein's demise in the English Channel in 1928. The incident has been used in several films (SUCH MEN ARE DANGEROUS with Warner Baxter; Gilda - when George Macready jumps out of a plane before it explodes; and CONFIDENTIAL REPORT/MR. ARKADIN where
Orson Welles - as Gregory Arkadin - jumps out of his private airplane at the conclusion). The best account of the incident is William Norris' THE MAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY. That is one possible homicide (it could have been an accident, but does not seem to be that way) that has about five or six possible suspects that are known.

Jeff

[Graham]

Reference the Lamplugh Case, one theory knocking around at the time was that 'Mr Kipper' visited Suzi's office wearing what in those days was known as a 'kipper tie'. Suzi couldn't remember his name, so wrote 'Mr Kipper' in her appointments diary. Which, for a supposedly busy estate-agent, seemed rather short on appointments....

....I don't think it was Steve Wright, either...

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

Often when they catch one of these guys, they try to clear there cold case books at his expense. They think it makes them look like they know what they're doing.

[DarkPassenger]

Re: Suzi Lamplugh, I read only yesterday that the police intend to question Steve Wright, the Ipswich Nude Murderer

Ahem! The Suffolk Strangler, if you please

Nah, I don't think Wright had anything to do with Suzy - but the other five, yeah, he definately killed those before his 2006, six-week killing spree.

[sdreid]

Maybe they had a date to eat some kippers. Kipper snacks are quite good.

[Mike Covell]

Thats correct, no one knows who gave the name but it appeared in her list of client meetings.

It would be resonable to assume, she was hiding his name due to a possible romantic liason, one that may well have gone wrong as Wright was married at this moment in time.

Mike