I doubt I spelled that right, and also doubt this is on the appropriate board, but please excuse me, I'm new. Anyway.

Spontainious combustion, you know, where people who're just too angry simply burst into flames. Here's a little article a found, but it's kind of bull****y and I'd really appriciate it if anyone could give me more info on this subject.

Spontaneous Human Combustion is a phenomenon in which a human body purportedly catches fire as a result of heat generated internally by some type of chemical reaction. This phenomena has been reported for hundreds of years. Indeed, belief in the past was that if a person possessed too much anger or drank too much brandy, he or she might burn to death internally - literally combusting into ash within a matter of minutes.
In 1996, several of the world's top fire experts came together to investigate some of the most renowned spontaneous human combustion cases. The most amazing factor in these cases was the fact that though of the bodies of the victims were burned almost completely (give or take a few intact limbs), the items surrounding them were left untouched and undamaged.

In a crematoria, where temperatures reach from 700 to 1,000 degrees, human bones are not destroyed - making cases of spontaneous combustion an even more mind-boggling phenomena. In the 1980's Dr. John de Haan reported that this phenomena is likely caused by the melting of body fat. This is known as the "wick effect," which makes human body fat literally burn like a candle. Because pigs have similar fat content to humans, Dr. Haan experimented by using a dead pig, wrapping it in a blanket with a small amount of petrol poured onto it, and placing it in a controlled indoor environment. He then set fire to it to simulate a human body being burned. Within 5 hours, the charred remains were identical to those in the spontaneous human combustion cases, with items placed in the same room untouched, other than a nearby television, which was warped from the heat - but not from the fire itself.

Dr. Haan's experiment revealed that a small flame can indeed consume a body through the help of burning fat. This study purportedly demonstrated how a person who has been knocked unconscious, unable to extinguish a flame, could be burned almost entirely through natural processes without attracting any attention to passersby or igniting anything else in the vicinity. The remaining limbs that may be left were reported to be due to the fat content in them not being as rich as the rest of the body, thereby making them less likely to burn.

The problem with this experiment - though it was quite innovative - was the fact that it completely disregarded the cases in which people have actually witnessed these types of events. There are records of people who experienced them first-hand and lived to tell their stories.

Article ends there. Told ya it was bull.

Sounds about right to me

Much more plausible than some one bursting into flame because their angry .

Also you should probably include the link to the original article



[edit on 12-8-2005 by Burgess]

spontanious human combustion (shc) is when people well burst into flames, and i dont think anyone has ever seen it happen (but i was watching unexplained mysteries and is said like "stay tuned for an interview with someone who saw a shc" but then i went to bed it also said someone survived but i missed that too) but it has been recorded since i think the 1800's and is usually unexplainable except some cases might be able to be blamed on smoking. also when found the victime of it is burnt to ash's but usually a small part of the body left like a foot or finger. also the damage done to the rest of the room/area is q very small area around were the ashes of the victim lay

I saw that episod. The guy who lived threw SHC was in an RV in a some parking lot when it happend. He fell asleep Satrday and woke up monday to find half of his body chard and red. The docters couldn't explain it. They showed one of his arms all red and some chunk of skin looking all melted. It was quite nasty looking.

And thats how I remember it.

But correct me if i'm wrong....It was quite a long time ago

i just saw a tv show on discovery about the top 10 mysteries of the world and this was #4 and it said a couple of name who i think i remember it saying this person was a witness to it the name was Jack Angel is anyone wants to search it up (im to busy now i might be able to later if no one else does)

According to Randy Marsh spontaneous combustion is caused by holding in methane gas, however if we humans were to just allow ourselves to pass this gas without any regulation, it would cause the ozone to be depleted.

So you must fart in moderation to avoid this.

I heard way back when doctors would tell patients not to drink alcohol in fear that it would aid spontaneous combustion.

Personally I think the melting body fat theory is quite possible. After all what if you were to set fire but knocked out/killed by the fumes before burning?

Of course the anger thing, well it seems far fetched but I personally think that untapped psychic forces might actually play a role. But until we can prove that true I'll go with the body fat theory.

hey! this is my thread! hoorah this was just before the huricane... since then i saw something about this on mythbusters or sumthin...

I seen that guy do the studyon the ONE channel with a pig and it worked over the course of day or so the pig eventually was burned almost all the way to ashes.

In my opinion it is entirley possible for this to happen like if someone was asleep or passed out dropped a smoke and burned to death in their sleep. I noticed also that most of these cases happens in beds or when someone in on some type of furniture.

Yeah, but didn't it need some sort of spark to light the piggie or was it lit from the inside out? Cause then that'd mean it'd be outside influence that caused the piggie to burn...