Spontaneous human combustion, unknown fact?

Spontaneous human combustion is something that used to interest me greatly. I always thought the idea of a body losing it's "mind" and bursting into flames for a biological reason sounded plausible. After all, our bodies do create a fair amount of heat from normal cell reproduction. It will always have people on both sides of the fence, but let's look at a few of the more interesting cases that can't be disproved with any real evidence.

Mary Resser

The last person to see Mrs. Reeser alive was her landlady, Mrs. Pansy M. Carpenter, who lived in another apartment in the four-unit building (the two units between them were unoccupied). Mrs. Carpenter saw Mrs. Reeser briefly at about 9 PM. She was wearing her nightgown, a housecoat, and black satin slippers and was lounging in a comfortable chair smoking a cigarette. The bed covers had been turned back. Mrs. Reeser's last night was a typical summer night in Florida: the sky was overcast with occasional flashes of heat lightning in the distance.

When Mrs. Carpenter woke up Monday morning at 5AM, she noticed a slight odor of smoke but was not alarmed, since she attributed the smell to a water pump in the garage that had been overheating lately. She got up, turned off the pump, and settled back into bed. When she got up an hour later to collect her newspaper outside, she no longer smelled any smoke.

At 8AM a telegram arrived for Mrs. Reeser. Mrs. Carpenter signed the receipt and went to her tenant's apartment to bring her the telegram. The doorknob, when she placed her hand on it, was hot. Alarmed, she stepped back and shouted for help. Two painters working across the street ran over. One of them opened the door; as he entered, he felt a blast of hot air. Thinking of rescuing Mrs. Reeser, he frantically looked around but saw no signs of her. The bed was empty. There was some smoke, but the only fire was a small flame on a wooden beam, over a partition separating the living room and kitchenette. The firemen arrived, put out the small flame with a hand pump. and tore away part of the partition. When Assistant Fire Chief S. O. Griffith began his inspection of the premises, he could not believe his eyes. In the middle of the floor there was a charred area roughly four feet in diameter, inside of which he found a number of blackened chair springs and the ghastly remains of a human body, consisting of a charred liver attached to a piece of the spine, a shrunken skull, one foot still wearing a black satin slipper, and a small pile of ashes.

Some claim that she could have burned to death with a cigarette. I find that to be highly unlikely. They claim that given 11 hours she could have been reduced to ashes by a low temperature fire that consumed her. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that even a small fire burning indoors for 11 hours would fill the entire building with smoke. Others like myself believe she may have spontaneously combusted.

legal declaration of SHC existence

When an inquest verdict ruled last Thursday that the death of a 76-year-old Galway man (Michael Faherty) was the result of spontaneous human combustion, only more questions were raised.

Michael Faherty

Michael Faherty, 76, died in his own home and coroner Dr.Kieran Mc Loughlin stated that in his 25 years of inquests he had never come across such a cause of death, the Irish Independent reports.

Dr McLoughlin stated: "This fire was thoroughly investigated and I'm left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation."

Now this story takes the cake. A legal president for it's existence, and a 25 year practiced coroner saying he has no other explanation and has never seen anything like it.

source

In 1944, Peter Jones survived his experience with SHC. He saw smoke coming from his body, but saw no flames. He also said he felt no pain. In 1663, Thomas Bartholin recounted the first known case of a woman, in Paris, sleeping on a straw bed, that was found in ashes. The straw bed was not touched. In 1997, John O’Connor was found dead, in Ireland. His head, upper torso, and feet were intact. The rest of him was in complete ashes. December 2001, Garden Grove, California. 73 year old woman died from 3rd degree burns with only her couch, a table, and chair that she was sitting in charred from fire. Firefighters said the flame only took 4 minutes to extinguish, but the body was nothing but ash.

These cases are everywhere, and unfortunately they're not well documented online because they've been swept under the rug. Caution of disturbing pictures in that last source.

I'm pretty comfortable with calling this a rare but real health risk. According to the article above, possible risks include:

some of the commonalities: All cases happened indoors All victims were clothed Most were alone at the time, and nearby witnesses in other rooms, do not hear cries or sounds Many are alcoholic Over 80% of the victims are woman

Some claim this happens as a result of paranormal activities, and ghosts maybe attacking.

source

Speculations on the causes of the human inferno called Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) include poltergeist activity, ball lightening, vampires, psychic disorders, magnetic storms, microwaves, and the wrath of God. During the mid-nineteenth century, a common belief was that alcoholism was a cause of SHC. Popular writers of the time, such as Herman Melville (Redburn, 1842) Captain Marryat (Jacob Faithful, 1834) and Nikolai Gogol (Dead Souls, 1849), heated up their novels with tales of spontaneous human combustion7, 8.

Are you convinced? What do you think causes it?

reply to post by Evolutionsend


I find it hard to believe that simple fires were the cause of the "ashed" remains of these people. Mainly because according to one of the articles it takes three hours for a human body to turn to ashes, at 3,000 degrees. That's in an enclosed area. The theory of a lower temperature fire, somewhere around 900 degrees they claim, doing the same in as little as 4 hours in some cases in an open area, just doesn't add up. I think the answer is either paranormal, i.e. ascension, or a biological mishap.

reply to post by Evolutionsend


What exactly do you mean by ascension and why do you think that it would involve immolation?

reply to post by Raivan31


en.wikipedia.org...

I do not believe it is something done as a rare case of entering heaven though. I believe there is a god, and that we're all being reincarnated over and over until we get it right. When we get it right, we combust and go to another plane of existence. Obviously you can't take the vessel with you, so it is consumed.

I believe all these people had a dark secret.

SHC seems like something that would be related to stress to me. I've personally been so stressed out before that even during a nice quiet calm time thinking happy thoughts, I still dropped down to the ground and was passed out for 10 minutes. Doctors never figured out why, and ended up just saying it was stress related. It happens at random times about twice a year, sometimes up to four. The past couple years, I now get a "stiff neck" that lasts about a month and a half at a time. Doctors again never figured out why, and said it was stress related.

So hopefully I don't end up exploding myself, but if I do and there is a way of communication to the humans after my body explodes, I'll let someone know. Hmm, thinking of death promises, and being off-topic sorry, but has any significant information ever came from the paranormal? I might have to spend a few checking out that thought.

reply to post by digitalbluco


Sounds like you have an adrenaline disorder. Ask your doctor is he/she thinks that is worth looking into. Some people produce too much of it, and when they do it has adverse biological effects. I find it hard to believe overactive adrenaline could cause these people to combust while sleeping though, unless it was dream related.

source

TextExplosive Diets Might SHC be caused by a poor diet and explosive combination of chemicals in the digestive tract? At least Jenny Randles, who wrote Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century, thinks so. She points out that the majority of SHC occurs in European and American societies, and that the marked lack of cases of spontaneous combustion in animals and people of non-European descent is attributed to the difference in diet. (Apparently European people eat plenty of foods that can readily ignite their bodies). While it may account for flatulence, people in the Western world should not take this explanation too seriously. After all, when was the last time you saw somebody combust because they'd just eaten a steak? Other Theories Among other hypotheses that believers of SHC have come up with to explain this phenomena, is the pyrotron theory, which involves a supposed subatomic particle that can ignite a combustible source; the theory that these victims had built up considerable amounts of methane in their gastrointestinal tract, which had been subsequently ignited by enzymatic processes; maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) induction, geomagnetism, and even kundalini (a form of yoga/mystic body heating). Perhaps the most preposterous suggestion is that stress can cause a person to burst into flames (perpetuated by Larry Arnold), or that hydrogen and oxygen remain as gasses in human cells and are thus highly ignitable – in which case the reader would do well not to inhale.

source(h2g2.com...

Yeah I was thinking the cause of that...!!

some of the commonalities: All cases happened indoors All victims were clothed Most were alone at the time, and nearby witnesses in other rooms, do not hear cries or sounds Many are alcoholic Over 80% of the victims are woman

So in other words to prevent this, people, especially Women, should not drink, go naked outside and never be alone. That sounds good to me.

In all seriousness though, My theory is that SHC is what occurs when a "Tachyon" type particle suddenly stops inside the body and the resulting release of energy causes the body to burst into flames. Obviously, this can not be proven nor even studied at this point as we have not proven the tachyons even exist but the concept makes sense to me.

reply to post by Agarta
I wonder why the one percent never make spontaneous combustion,All at once!

a reply to: Evolutionsend I have heard that spontaneous human combustion, happens to persons who are victims of microwave harassment, where they are literally burned alive.

spontaneous human combustion is something to do with different gases building up inside the body.