Spontaneous Human Combustion, Is It A Paranormal Event Or A Real Medical Issue?

Not-So-Spontaneous Human Combustion
Joe Nickell
www.csicop.org...

Originally posted by Pauligirl
Not-So-Spontaneous Human Combustion
Joe Nickell
www.csicop.org...

About the skeptic Joe Nickell ?? Why has he only limited his theories to the explainable SHC cases ? On what grounds did he dismiss the professional and qualified observations and reports of the St. Petersburg Fire and Police Chief re the Mary H. Reeser case ?

St. Petersburg Fire Chief Nesbit said that he had never seen anything like it in all his years of investigating fires. Police Chief J. R. Reichart received an FBI report stating that there was no evidence that any kind of inflammable fluids, volatile liquids, chemicals, or other accelerants had been used to set the widow's body ablaze. A spokesman for a St. Petersburg mattress company pointed out that there is not enough material in any overstuffed chair to cremate a human body. Cotton, he said, comprises the basic stuffing of such a chair, and this material is often combined with felt and hair or foam-rubber cushions. None of these materials is capable of bursting suddenly into violent flames, although they do possess properties that enable them to smolder for long periods of time.

Krogman remarked that he had never seen a skull so shrunken or a body so completely consumed by heat. Such evidence was contrary to normal experience, and he regarded it as the most amazing thing he had ever seen. If he were living in the Middle Ages, he mused, he would suspect black magic.

The embellishments of reports by people pushing the notion of SHC is part of the reason these cases seem inexplicable. The same happened with the Bermuda triangle. If it didn't seem weird enough the facts got bent. The Joe Angel case is an example of where hot water scalding became charred flesh.

If you notice in the photographs,(From a variety of sources) the subjects are typically in the kitchen near the stove, near a fireplace, were smoking, or in some way associating with heat or fire.

The subjects also generally have a high fat-content in the body.

I believe it is indeed, "the wick effect".

Interesting material, though.

Thank you everyone for your well thought out intelligent posts.

I do not believe the Angel case was Hot scalding water. A very good point was brought up, how does hot water char an arm?

I am interested in hearing more about the repressed emotions theory. When I spoke of an autopsy earlier, I was speaking in the traditional sense of autopsying the brain, but you made a good point regarding forensics and bones.

Does a medical forensic specialists actually study the ash? Maybe someone could answer that for me.

I appreciate everyone's contributions.

kindly'

Pax