Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words (pûr, meaning "fire, lightning") and (kínesis, meaning "motion"), was the name, coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter. Critic S.T. Joshi describes it as a "singularly unfortunate coinage".[1]
Pyrokinesis is neither an accepted nor a studied paranormal phenomenon. It is, however, a trope in fiction, with numerous examples in films, books, and televisions series. These include the episode "Fire" from television series The X-Files, the Beyond Reality episode "Enemy in Our Midst", and the One Step Beyond episode "The Burning Girl". Several such works, such as "The Burning Girl" pre-date Firestarter, and have direct parallels with King's work. (King himself wrote that "Firestarter has numerous science fiction antecedents".) It is King, however, that first named the idea "pyrokinesis", this name not occurring in prior works.[2][3]
Parapsychologists explain pyrokinetic powers as being the ability to excite an object's atoms, increasing their thermal energy until they ignite. Gresh and Weinberg state that this is "vaguely possible", but characterize it as "generally the stuff of comic books", such as Marvel Comics' Human Torch. Without some form of electromechanical device, such as a device to release several of the compounds that do spontaneously ignite upon contact with the oxygen in air (such as silane, a pyrophoric gas, or rubidium), or some form of triggering device located at the source of the fire, there is no scientifically known method for the brain to trigger explosions and fires at a distance.[4]
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