| In The Sexual Criminal, Dr. Paul de River mentions two female pyromaniacs – middle-aged, sexually frigid women – who felt a compulsion to stoop down and urinate as they watched the fires they started, and a burglar who had to hide in bushes and empty his bowels after he had watched a fire. In all these cases, the criminal confessed to an immense feeling of relief and *purification* after the act – all of which seems to suggest the psychological explanation to this mystery. Fire is a symbol of purity, and the self-divided pyromaniac simultaneously longs for purity and is sexually excited by it.
Culled from: Crimes and Punishment: the Illustrated Crime Encyclopedia, Volume 2 |
