It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The spontaneous combustion of people (i.e. death from a fire originating within the victim's body without a direct external cause) is a theorised explanation for a number of unexplained cases, some of which are well-documented and many of which are not. The more convincing cases share the following characteristics:
*The body is completely or almost completely incinerated, while nearby furniture that should normally have been damaged under such temperatures remains intact.
*Damage is limited to the victim's clothing, to the area of the floor or furniture on which he or she died, and to the ceiling above the corpse.
*The torso is the focus of the fire, and if remains are found these are of the extremities, such as the feet.
*There are no traces of fire accelerant, and the fire does not have an evident external cause.
*The victim is typically alone at the time of death, and is thought to have been alive when the fire started, despite showing little sign of having struggled
The court was told that no trace of an accelerant had been found and there had been nothing to suggest foul play. The court heard Mr Faherty had been found lying on his back with his head closest to an open fireplace. The fire had been confined to the sitting room. The only damage was to the body, which was totally burnt, the ceiling above him and the floor underneath him. Dr McLoughlin said he had consulted medical textbooks and carried out other research in an attempt to find an explanation. He said Professor Bernard Knight, in his book on forensic pathology, had written about spontaneous combustion and noted that such reported cases were almost always near an open fireplace or chimney.
Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
The most "out there" theory i have come across involves the mitochondria in our cells.
During energy production heat is given off. The mitochondria, inside the cells, basically starts to overheat, and burst into "flame", this causes a massive chain reaction, causing all the cells to explode. Human fat is used as the propellant, and thus the body burns rather intense, like a candle.
vvv
Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
This topic, and many others is what got me into the whole "paranormal" thing many many moons ago. SHC, has always been very facinating.
It is just rather strange, that there is allmost, or very little new cases regarding this phenomenon.
Thanks for keeping it old skool mate, about time for a nice SHC thread again.
vvv
Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Ben81
The court was told that no trace of an accelerant had been found and there had been nothing to suggest foul play. The court heard Mr Faherty had been found lying on his back with his head closest to an open fireplace. The fire had been confined to the sitting room. The only damage was to the body, which was totally burnt, the ceiling above him and the floor underneath him. Dr McLoughlin said he had consulted medical textbooks and carried out other research in an attempt to find an explanation. He said Professor Bernard Knight, in his book on forensic pathology, had written about spontaneous combustion and noted that such reported cases were almost always near an open fireplace or chimney.
'First Irish case' of death by spontaneous combustion
....noted that such reported cases were almost always near an open fireplace or chimney.That's telling.
S&F
Originally posted by mblahnikluver
I don't know what this is but I tend to think it might be something internal in the body. I'm not sure what I think it is internally but I think it could be chemicals in the body?
Other theories speculate that the fire begins as a result of a buildup of static electricity inside the body or from an external geomagnetic force exerted on the body
A self-proclaimed expert on spontaneous human combustion, Larry Arnold, has suggested that the phenomenon is the work of a new subatomic particle called a pyroton, which he says interacts with cells to create a mini-explosion.
A possible explanation is the wick effect, which proposes that the body, when lit by a cigarette, smoldering ember or other heat source, acts much like an inside-out candle. A candle is composed of a wick on the inside surrounded by a wax made of flammable fatty acids. The wax ignites the wick and keeps it burning. In the human body, the body fat acts as the flammable substance, and the victim's clothing or hair acts as the wick. As the fat melts from the heat, it soaks into the clothing and acts as a wax-like substance to keep the wick burning slowly. Scientists say this is why victims' bodies are destroyed yet their surroundings are barely burned.
Originally posted by Nite_wing
I have personally seen the results of this. After investigation, there was no sign of any external combustion source. The burn pattern was unbelievably focused.
I am going with internal causes for most of these that are declared spontaneous combustion cases.