Just before 3 a.m. on December 22nd, 2010, Tom Mannion of Galway, Ireland, woke in the middle of the night to a shrieking smoke alarm.

As he leapt out of bed, he quickly realized the noise wasn't coming from his own home.

It was coming from his own home.

It was coming from the little red brick house next door, where 76-year-old retiree Michael Fyertie lived. Tom rushed to check on his neighbor. As soon as he got outside, though,

his heart dropped. Clouds of dark smoke billowed from Michael's home. Tom raced up the

cobblestone walkway, heat radiating off the house, and he pounded on the front door. But there was no

reply. He kept trying, banging so loudly that nobody could possibly sleep through the racket.

Still, there was no sign of Michael. And Tom was

really worried. Michael was older. He had diabetes. What if he was inside unconscious? Eventually,

the police arrived on the scene, but as they pulled up, they noticed the first strange thing about what was

going on. Though black smoke poured from the windows, there wasn't actually any flames, like whatever

had caught fire had already been put out inside. But with Michael nowhere to be found, they were going to

have to go in to be sure.

They forced their way into the smoke-filled house, but when they got in, they still didn't see

anything on fire. The kitchen and everything around it looked worse for wear, but again,

nothing was engulfed in flame. And that's when they

noticed the next strange thing about the scene. There, on the floor, was what looked like the source

of the fire. And it took them a moment to realize that they were looking at Michael Ferdie himself,

or at least what was left of him.

Almost all of his body had been reduced to ashes.

Yet, aside from the scorched floor directly underneath him and some fire damage on the ceiling

directly above him, nothing else in the room

...