Cold Water That Catches Fire

At Wigan in Lancashire there is a sulphureous spring that burns. Hold a lighted candle to the surface and a large flame springs up and burns vigorously, while the water itself stays perfectly cold^[1]. Earth soaked by the spring will burn the same way once it has dried.

The better story is Broseley in Shropshire, June 1711. The spring announced itself in the middle of the night with a noise witnesses described as a thunderstorm underground. Neighbours went out and found the ground shaking and a little water bubbling up through the grass. One of them had the nerve to force a spade into it. The water flew up to a great height, somebody put a candle to it, and it caught — burning fiercely, going out soon after, and proving on examination to be entirely cold.