Church Set Ablaze on Christmas Day With Worshippers Inside. But Who Did It?
A true crime tale from Finland
In my last post, I promised you some fresh true crime tales from the frozen North. Here’s the first story in what I hope will be a new mini-series.
The Christmas Day service at the old wooden church on the shore of Rautjärvi lake, South-Eastern Finland began as usual at 8 am on the morning of December 25th, 2022.
It was still completely dark outside. The dawn would not come for an hour or so yet.
In the middle of the service, the 30 or so attendees began to smell smoke. At 8.30 am the church’s fire alarm rang through the building.
The church’s Chaplain, Timo Kälviäinen, abruptly stopped his sermon and announced that the church was on fire.
Smoke was coming into the church through cracks in the building’s main door. A fire had been started on the outside of the church door and those inside could not get out that way.
Those inside the building instead quickly exited via two side doors and the vestry. They found that two of the doors had been tied shut from the outside with rope.
This tying closed of the doors was a deliberate attempt to trap church-goers inside the building as it burned down. This was not only…
