A. William Underwood (born c. 1855) was a young

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

man from

Paw Paw, Michigan Paw Paw is a village in and the county seat of Van Buren County, Michigan. The population was 3,362 as of the 2020 census. Overview The village is located at the confluence of the east and south branches of the Paw Paw River in the northeast ...

purported in his time to have

pyrokinetic Pyrokinesis is a psychic ability allowing a person to create and control fire with the mind. As with other parapsychological phenomena, there is no conclusive evidence in support of the actual existence of pyrokinesis. Many alleged cases are hoa ...

abilities. In January 1882, Dr. L. C. Woodman of Paw Paw wrote in the ''Michigan Medical News'' of Underwood, whose purported abilities had made him a local celebrity:

I have a singular phenomenon in the shape of a young man living here, that I have studied with much interest, and I am satisfied that his peculiar power demonstrates that electricity is the nerve force beyond dispute. His name is Wm. Underwood, aged 27 years, and his gift is that of generating fire through the medium of his breath, assisted by manipulations with his hands. He will take anybody's handkerchief, and hold it to his mouth, and rub it vigorously with his hands while breathing on it, and immediately it bursts into flames and burns until consumed.

Woodman claimed to have performed comprehensive scientific testing on Mr. Underwood's abilities, proclaiming them a genuine phenomenon. His story became a topic of discussion in many medical and scientific journals of the day, including ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

''. Gaddis, Vincent H. (1967). ''Mysterious Fires and Lights''. New York: David McKay Company, Inc. pp. 173-174. Skeptics later suggested that Underwood would hide a small piece of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

in his mouth, then spit it out into a handkerchief. The heat from his breath and rubbing his hands together would ignite the phosphorus, which burns in air at about . Skeptical investigator

Joe Nickell Joe Herman Nickell (December 1, 1944 – March 4, 2025) was an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. Nickell was a senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and wrote regularly for their journal, '' Skeptic ...

has written that Underwood may have used a "chemical-combustion technique, and still other means. Whatever the exact method—and the phosphorus trick might be the most likely—the possibilities of deception far outweigh any occult powers hinted at by

Charles Fort Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...

or others." Nickell, Joe. (2004). ''The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files''. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 56-60. A century later, the tale of Mr. Underwood was brought to the public eye again as the subject of a 1974 song by musician

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, entitled "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch", from his debut solo album ''Here Come the Warm Jets''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, A. William 1850s births Year of death missing Telekinetics People from Paw Paw, Michigan