It’s true – there was once a man from the Michigan town of Paw Paw that could actually breathe fire…just like the fire-breathing dragons you always read about.
His name was Asberry William Underwood, an African American man born in 1855. His abilities were attributed to pyrokinetic abilities, which made him a local celebrity.
Underwood was 27 years old in 1882 when he was being studied by Dr. L. C. Woodman of Paw Paw. The doctor wrote, “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.”
Download the WFMK Mobile App Now
Of course there were those who scoffed at this, claiming it was all a trick. The disbelievers claimed Underwood would hide phosphorus in his mouth, spit it into a handkerchief, and the heat from his breath – combined with rubbing his hands together – ignited the phosphorus. There were other kinds of “chemical-combustion” techniques that could have been used but using phosphorus was most likely. The different ways this trick could be implemented are far more believable than the actual fact of breathing fire…