The enigma of spontaneous human combustion (SHC)
is considered to be among the most bizarre and frightening phenomena in the world of
the unexplained and the unknown.
For several centuries, people have debated whether it is possible for human beings to
spontaneously combust, or randomly burst into flames without being ignited by an external
source.
Many people believe that stories of humans spontaneously combusting are mere urban legend
- eerie and horrific tales of human beings bursting into flames that never actually happened
to real people.
But there are others who have extensively studied the unusual phenomenon
and believes that incidents of people turning
into charred remains and ashes are more of a rare but also a very real occurrence
than just a word-of-mouth tale of fiction.
Spontaneous combustion occurs when a person bursts into flame from a chemical reaction
within, apparently without being ignited by an external heat source.
The first known accounts of spontaneous human combustion date as far back as the 17th century,
but it was in the 19th century that the phenomenon gained wider exposure after popular author
Charles Dickens used it to kill off one of the characters in his novel “Bleak House.”
At the time, Dickens was criticized for legitimizing an urban myth that did not exist, but the
author pointed to research showing 30 historical cases of the phenomenon.
Hundreds of spontaneous human combustion accounts over several centuries have followed a similar
pattern: the victim is almost completely consumed, usually inside his or her home.
Those who arrive at the scene sometimes reported detecting a sweet, smoky smell in the room
where the incident occurred.
But what makes the charred bodies of victims of spontaneous human combustion so peculiar
is that the bodies’ extremities often remain intact.
Although the torso and head are burned beyond recognition, the hands, feet and even part
of the legs may be left unburned.
Also, the room around the burned victim shows little or no signs of fire, apart from a greasy
residue that sometimes remain on furniture and walls.
Not all cases involving spontaneous human combustion end up with victims completely
burning into flames.
Some people even develop strange burns on their body which have no obvious source, or
emanate smoke from their body when no fire is actually present.
Moreover, not every person who has caught fire ended up meeting their demise in the
process.
A small percentage of people have allegedly survived from their respective incidents of
this phenomenon.
Many people believe that the history of spontaneous human combustion can be traced back in early
texts like the Bible and medieval literature.
And for over the past 500 years, there have been more than 200 reports of people burning
to a crisp for no clear reason at all.
The first reliable evidence of this enigmatic phenomenon appears to be from 1641, when the
Danish physician Thomas Bartholin detailed the death of Polonus Vorstius in his book
Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum, which is a collection of strange medical phenomena.
Vorstius was an Italian knight who in 1470, while he was at home in Milan, drank a very
strong wine and began to vomit fire before bursting into flames.
One famous incident dates back to 1725 in France, when a Parisian innkeeper was awoken
by the smell of smoke and he discovered that his wife, Nicole Millet, had burned into ashes
while lying on a straw pallet which itself was untouched by the flames.
All that was left of Madam Millet – who was allegedly a chronic alcoholic –
was her skull, several bones from her back and lower legs.
Millet’s husband was initially found guilty for murdering the woman but on appeal, the
judges agreed with his defense of “spontaneous human combustion,” declaring it to be the
consequence of “a visitation of God.”
While it may seem that cases of spontaneous human combustion are nothing more than old
wives’ tales or stories confined to books of antiquity, there are several accounts of
this horrific phenomenon even in modern times.
The most recent account took place in Ireland in 2010, in which the burned body of 76-year-old
Michael Faherty was found lying with his head near the fireplace of his apartment in a room
that had virtually no fire damage.
No traces or burn marks were found on the floor, on the ceiling directly above him,
or anywhere else in the room.
An Irish coroner later ruled the unexplained death to have fit into the category of spontaneous
human combustion.
To combust, a human body requires two indispensable things: intensely high heat and a flammable substance.
Under ordinary circumstances, the human body contains neither, but some experts over the
past few centuries have speculated on some of the possible explanations for this rare occurrence
At present, there are already several theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon.
Some hypotheses attempt to explain how spontaneous human combustion might occur without an external
flame source, while others suggest that while some of these incidents might appear as “spontaneous,”
the combustion actually had an external source of ignition.
A very popular and long existing theory on this phenomenon speculates that the victims
of spontaneous combustion are usually heavy drinkers of alcohol – which is a flammable
liquid – and so, its excessive consumption may have caused the combustion process.
Other theories blame a person’s obesity or increased body weight caused by the excessive
accumulation of fat, while there are those that consider it as divine intervention or
a punishment from God.
Another prevalent theory proposes that spontaneous human combustion occurs when methane – a
flammable gas produced from the decomposition of plants – builds up in the intestines
and is ignited by enzymes – proteins in the body that act as catalysts that induce
and quicken chemical reactions.
There is also a theory speculating that a person is set aflame as a result of a buildup
of static electricity inside the body or from an external geomagnetic force exerted on the body.
According to Larry Arnold – a self-proclaimed expert on spontaneous human combustion –
the phenomenon is the work of a “new” subatomic particle called a
“pyroton,” which he claims to have the ability to interact with cells to create a
mini-explosion.
While many of these theories have attempted to explain spontaneous human combustion, none
of these proposals have succeeded in scientifically proving their claims.
At present, the theory that is most approved by experts in science in explaining spontaneous
human combustion is referred to as the “wick effect.”
The wick effect likens the body of a burned victim to a candle.
A candle is made up of a wick on the inside while it is surrounded on the outside by a
wax coating made of flammable fatty acids.
According to this hypothesis, a small external source – like a burning cigarette, for example
– ignites the wick or the victim’s clothing or hair, with the person’s body fat acting
as the flammable substance that keeps the wick burning for as long as there is fuel
or fat available.
Supporters of this hypothesis claim that the wick effect is consistent with the evidence
recovered from cases of human combustion.
The human body allegedly has enough stored energy in fat and other chemicals inside to
fully combust the body itself.
Hence, the effect of slow combustion lasting for hours in an enclosed area is sufficient
in explaining why the victims’ bodies are destroyed during such incidents while their
surroundings are barely burned.
Many people share the opinion that there is much about the human body that makes us unique
among other earthly creatures that we still don’t fully understand, and one of them
is spontaneous human combustion.
This rare phenomenon seems to strike without warning and leaves no clue when it does.
Until now, no scientist or investigator has determined the critical set of circumstances
that could sufficiently and scientifically bring body cells to the point at which they
might burst into flames spontaneously without external influence.