Article by Dan Foley, as provided by Kyle Yadlosky
Photography by Eleanor Leonne Bennett
Pine Lane, New Jersey, was rocked yesterday afternoon, when neighbors heard an explosion from one of the houses in the gated community. Apparently, a two-month-old Jack Russell terrier was responsible for the explosion, barking what residents claimed was “fire.”
“I saw that–that Peterson boy walking the dog back from the neighbor’s yard. The thing was real quiet then. I watched them go in. Not two hours later–bam! The whole place was up in flames. The last thing I heard was that little dog rapping out his mouth,” a resident stated.
The Petersons were all home at the time. The father, Raymond, was a college professor. Son and daughter, Ray and Lila, were 11 and 2, respectively, and going to a local private school. And the mother, Lidia, was a stay-at-home mom. No one survived.
Police arrived on the scene around 5:00 pm, roughly a half hour after the explosion.
“The house was on fire, burning rapidly. Firefighters burst in. We pulled out buckets of human remains, ashes. Most had already been burnt down to the bone. This is highly unusual so soon into a fire,” Police Chief, Mike Hutchinson said. “We also found the ashes and teeth belonging to a neighborhood cat.”
We pulled out buckets of human remains, ashes. Most had already been burnt down to the bone.
To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Summer 2012 collection.
Ever since graduating from Rowan University, Dan Foley has been reporting the stories that matter in New Jersey. Over the past decade, he’s covered floods, fires, plane crashes, and riots. He loves to investigate and will never stop uncovering the truth.
Voodoo, sideshows, and a good ghost story—if it’s outside of the everyday, Kyle Yadlosky revels in it. He lives in-between corn fields in Pennsylvania and has been published on Dorkly.com and in Shoofly and Essence literary magazines.
Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16 year old internationally award winning photographer and artist who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature’s Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland trust and Postal Heritage. Her photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News Website and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. Her art is globally exhibited, having shown work in London, Paris, Indonesia, Los Angeles, Florida, Washington, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Germany, Japan, Australia and The Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition (2011) amongst many other locations.
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