Pyrokinesis

The magician Henry R. Evans wrote that the coal handling was a juggling trick, performed by Home using a hidden piece of platinum.

[9] Hereward Carrington described Evans hypothesis as "certainly ingenious" but pointed out William Crookes, an experienced chemist, was present at a séance whilst Home performed the feat and would have known how to distinguish the difference between coal and platinum.

[10] Frank Podmore wrote that most of the fire feats could have easily been performed by conjuring tricks and sleight of hand but hallucination and sense-deception may have explained Crookes' claim about observing flames from Home's fingers.

[11] Joseph McCabe has written that Home's alleged feats of pyrokinesis were weak and unsatisfactory, he noted that they were performed in dark conditions amongst unreliable witnesses.

[13] In March 2011, a three-year-old girl in Antique, a Philippines province with important mysticism and folklore, gained local media attention for the supposed supernatural power to predict or create fires.