Man bursts into flames and burns to death after attempting suicide. Thoughts?

Murder. Guy escaped through the loft into the adjacent building. Took the fuel and tools with him. Case closed. Didn't even need a raging clue.

a reply to: GemmyMcGemJew

Doors and windows were all locked from the inside.

originally posted by: 1MisterLeonard1
a reply to: GemmyMcGemJew

Doors and windows were all locked from the inside.

It is either mad science by the owner that got himself killed. Or simply mad science that got him killed. Must have inventing some sort of gas that set him on fire. Kind of like Methane but, doesn't cause shock waves.

a reply to: makemap

Hard to do that when your wrists and ankles have been slit.

He was also a considerable alcoholic. So being suicidal, very drunk, having cut his wrists in the kitchen he staggers back to the chair, perhaps beside the fireplace and drifts off.

Being a firefighter and since this happened in 1952 in the very early days of fire forensics i would guess the fire was caused by spilled alcohol where the flash point was caused by the fumes reaching a open flame.

By the time the fire fighters and cops got there alcohol on his clothing had burned off and the cops could only find the smell of alcohol on his body and put that down to him being drunk not to him having spilled a large amount of alcohol on his clothing.

Any alcohol over 100 proof burns very good and clean.
Things like high proof(150+) moonshine burns better then gasoline and with a hard to see lite blue flame in a well lighted room.
You can run a car on 180 proof moonshine.

Bootleggers sometimes had two fuel tank in there cars and if the cops were behind them and they needed to get rid of the moonshine they would run it in the engine giving them a boost in horsepower just like they do now in NASCAR.

a reply to: ANNED

Any fuel or fuel cans were looked for, and the investigators found nothing. There was no trace of fuel on the body, which is the only thing that burned.

Here's the case of Peter Vesey, who appears to have blown up after attempting some kind of occult meditative rite - www.joshuablubuhs.com...

originally posted by: 1MisterLeonard1
a reply to: ANNED

Any fuel or fuel cans were looked for, and the investigators found nothing. There was no trace of fuel on the body, which is the only thing that burned.

It may have been just a large drinking glass or mason jar and it may have been in another room empty
unlikely to have been a fuel can but more like a drinking glass.

Sounds a bit like Henry Glover. Did this gentleman die near or in New Orleans after pissing off the NOPD?

a reply to: 1MisterLeonard1

Unfortunately spontaneous human combustion(SHC) has been known to happen.

Current consensus through is that most cases of SHC involve overlooked external sources of ignition.

a reply to: andy06shake

What about the Glen Denney and Peter Vesey cases?

a reply to: 1MisterLeonard1
Why respond without reading the post. Lol. He locked all windows and doors, went in the loft to the next building and exited through there house. Why wouldn't the doors and windows remained locked this way?

a reply to: 1MisterLeonard1

When all options are exhausted in an investigation, it doesn't mean all options have been investigated.

A decorated Detective retired solving every case he ever opened, save for one. What makes it increasingly more impressive is that he retired in the 1950's before DNA testing or a vast fingerprint data system existed. The case ate away at his conscious in retirement. The case was about an old man who was hanged in his barn. It was initially ruled a homicide because there was no chair or anything for him to have hung himself. The case went dry for two decades before the Detective retired.

Then one day, in retirement, the old Detective thought of something outlandish but he couldn't put it to rest. He had the idea that the homicide could've been a suicide all along. What if the victim had been standing on a block of dry ice? Over time that block would have disappeared hiding the evidence of the suicide.

The detective was able to go back to the barn with a scientist and they tested the wood panels and found traces of the chemical formula of C02.

My point, place your bets that they haven't found the reason for the anomaly... yet.

AAC

a reply to: AnAbsoluteCreation

That's just an old riddle no? They based a long standing riddle on that case or he actualised that riddle? Strange.

Next your gonna say that someone escaped from prison by sawing a table in into 2 halves, 2 halves make a whole and he escaped through the hole.

a reply to: 1MisterLeonard1

What about them?

I don't have any definitive explanation as to how SHC occurs i'm afraid.

It's possible that some kind of metabolic chemical reaction takes place in the body just as its also a possibility that some other form external ignition source has been overlooked.

SHC is easy to explain;
Separate the oxygen and hydrogen in the body via electrolysis, causing Brown's gas and ignite. The body will burn at 6000 degrees, higher than crematorians burn bodies but will not burn the house down because at a few feet away from the body, the air will be cool.

Told you it is easy to explain BUT how it happens in the body I have forgotten, I knew for certain how, years ago but I didn't write it down. It is something to do with Metabolic acidosis.

Drinking alcohol willl suppress respiration. So will meditaion.

Inadequate ventilation of the lungs causes respiratory acidosis. The rate at which carbon dioxide is eliminated from the body fluids through the lungs falls. This increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the body fluids. As carbon dioxide levels increase, excess carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid. The carbonic acid dissociates to form hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. The increase in hydrogen ion concentration causes the pH of the body fluids to decrease (become more acidic). If the pH of the body fluids falls below 7.35, symptoms of respiratory acidosis become apparent.

If the victim has kidney disease or diabetic ketoacidosis, then excess hydrogen ions build up in the body. Hydrogen is flammable and all it takes is a spark. Low potassium levels can lead to misfiring electrical impulses.
So the victim will actually be ill to start with. That's my best guess.


I remember a case in an Unsolved Mysteries book I own, where a lady was a passenger in a car, suddenly saw a flame erupting from her thigh. She managed to put it out but had to be driven to the hospital. It happened once more and if she had been alone, she would have died.

So I would make sure you avoid acidosis, low CO2 levels and don't wear man made fibres at the same time.

Remember this is just a theory, so only postive comments please.

originally posted by: AriesJedi
SHC is easy to explain;
Separate the oxygen and hydrogen in the body via electrolysis, causing Brown's gas and ignite.

Most people die immediately when you run sufficient electrical current through their bodies to electrolyze the water in their tissues into hydrogen and oxygen.

BTW, "Brown's gas" is woo.

The body will burn at 6000 degrees, higher than crematorians burn bodies but will not burn the house down because at a few feet away from the body, the air will be cool.

It won't look a lot like a body once you've converted all the water in the body with your electric current.

If the victim has kidney disease or diabetic ketoacidosis, then excess hydrogen ions build up in the body. Hydrogen is flammable and all it takes is a spark.

See also: stochiometric mixture. Also, if the hydrogen ions are dissolved in a fluid, then you're not going to get combustion either. Or every acidic solution would be flammable.

a reply to: Bedlam

Was about to say that, hydrogen ions aren't flammable. If that were the case salt would be incredibly dangerous.

There's apparently a SHC case dating back to the 1500's where a 114 year old yogi died after spontaneously combusting while he was meditating. I'll try and find it.

originally posted by: 1MisterLeonard1

There's apparently a SHC case dating back to the 1500's where a 114 year old yogi died after spontaneously combusting while he was meditating. I'll try and find it.

Do. I have a sort of shaggy dog explanation of it but it's sort of tied into a novel series I never did anything with. But have been re-looking.

a reply to: Bedlam

It's mentioned in this article at the end, which I also found interesting. esotericjenavi.wordpress.com...

It's also mentioned in Larry Arnold's book.