Spontaneous combustion theory in man's death

The theory is that for some reason the body burns from the inside out. I've tried to find any survivor stories or witness accounts that might show some credibility but in most cases the person is alone when it occurs, there is one man who survived a supposed spontaneous human combustion, his DR reported that he burned from the inside out, but there are significant questions surrounding his experience, having to do with a hot water heater.

I did find one account where the police arrived to find the man flaming from his abdomen

2. Robert Francis Bailey apparently experienced something similar about 13 years prior to Thomas' incident. A group of office workers were waiting for the bus around 5 a.m. on September 13, 1967, when they noticed flames in the upper window of a building. They immediately called the police, who rushed to the scene of the derelict building. There, they found the still-burning body of Robert Bailey, a homeless man. The policeman first to the scene reported that a blue flame was being emitted forcefully from a four-inch slit in Bailey's abdomen, and his teeth were clenched down on the newel post of the staircase he had collapsed next to. They managed to extinguish Bailey by forcing a hose into the abdominal cavity. No external means of ignition were found on his body, and he was a non-smoker. He was a known alcoholic, though, drinking denatured alcohol because it was cheap. Denatured alcohol is the stuff without any beverage properties to it "“ it's often used to ignite fires while camping and to remove stains from clothes and upholstery. One theory was that all of the denatured alcohol in his gut somehow reacted with an igniter of some sort.

which might be credible.

But the most interesting one I found I read about long ago.

5. Jeannie Saffin is an unusual case "“ someone actually witnessed her combustion. Jeannie was 61 years old when she died, but had the mental capacity of a six-year-old. According to her father, who was 82 at the time, he and Jeannie were both sitting in the kitchen when he saw a bright surge of light out of the corner of his eye and turned to ask his daughter if she had seen it. To his amazement, when he turned his head to look at her, she was on fire, but just sat still with her hands in her lap. He yanked her over to the sink to try to put her out and disfigured his hands in the process. Jeannie suffered "full thickness" burns on her face, hands and abdomen. That means the flesh was burned off down to the subcutaneous fat. Her hands and face were pretty much destroyed; she lapsed into a coma and died eight days later. Her combustion is largely unexplained, although an attempt has been made: supposedly, a speck from her father's pipe had fallen into her clothing sometime earlier and was only ignited when a gust of wind from an opening door fanned it.

Source used

One thing I did notice between the first report I mentioned and the case of Jeannie Saffin, if the first report I mentioned was indeed a case of SHC, then neither victim reacted when burning. The first one mentioned, Jack Angel claimed he fell asleep in his trailer and woke 4 days later with severe burns covering his body. As noted in the Jeannie Saffin account, when her father realized she was on fire, she just sat still with her hands in her lap.

reply to post by Orwells Ghost

Originally posted by cripmeister

Originally posted by butcherguy

There have been multiple documented cases of SHC where there affected person was alive and survived.

Have any of these documented cases undergone rigorous scientific study?

I remembered the case of Mary Hardy Reeser. This one was investigated thoroughly, with the FBI being involved. The FBI declared it was a case of incineration due to 'wick effect', but this finding was disputed by other investigators.
It happened in Florida in 1951.

Wikipedia: Mary Reeser

reply to post by Thecakeisalie


Fascinating stuff!
Thanks for putting this up.
Have some reading to do now

Cheers