Vietnam’s supernatural fire girl
A tangle of electrical wires on a neighborhood pylon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on January 2012.
Somewhere in Ho Chi Minh City, a team of paranormal investigators is attempting to verify that an 11-year-old girl can set objects alight with her aura.
The Vietnamese Research Center for Potential Human Abilities — yes, that apparently exists — is shadowing the girl to ascertain the nature of her abilities, acccording to VietnamNet. A flurry of news reports contend that the girl has caused walls, appliances and bundles of clothing to spontaneously burst into flames.
She doesn't have to touch the objects or even harness her mental concentration, according to the reports. The objects just light up in her presence.
The girl remains anonymous. Outlets such as Tuoi Tre News and Thanh Nien have published photos of charred fans, walls and clothing.
VietnamNet reports that she now must sleep next to a pail of water in case she nocturnally erupts.
The girl has undergone a battery of tests. The director of a local university says she has an odd streak in her brain that typically occurs in philosophers or priests.
The police, according to Tuoi Tre, have an alternate explanation: bad wiring. Anyone who has seen the tangled nests of power lines strung above Ho Chi Minh City's streets will be sympathetic to their theory.
If the cops are wrong — and this anonymous girl truly possesses comic book-worthy powers — she should really consider opening a YouTube account.
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