Spontaneous Human Combustion

I'm sure the ones that couldn't be explained happened before scientific forensics was available, had sloppy investigation work on the case, or that there someone didn't want the real truth out.

Does it make sense? No? The end.

I should be a detective!

I first read about this in "The Medicolegal Investigation of Death," a standard forensic textbook back in the 1980s. I was surprised to see it mentioned in a scholarly text, but I recall the discussion was pretty noncommittal. Forward by Atty General Ramsey Clark, over 1,300 pp of creepiness, in a new 2006 edition.

Much more fun is Larry Arnold's "Ablaze," written by an apparent believer.

Have fun. . .

I think it's pretty well established now what happens in most of these cases. Almost always is an overweight smoker. They fall asleep or pass out (alcoholics often), the cigarette catches a small fire on their clothes, the fumes can reach a point of incapacitation before it gets hot enough under the fire to make the person wake up, after that it is the wick effect where the person's body can burn for several hours without the flame spreading to surrounding furniture/etc, because the fat acts sort of like candle wax and their clothes as a wick. I saw a show where a fire safety expert demonstrated the whole scenario and how the fire can burn for hours (bones to ash) without lighting the rest of the room, he described the commonalities of most supposed SHC victims in history (most fit the same profile, almost 100% smokers, etc), and it was pretty much a 100% convincing explanation for the vast majority of the supposedly mysterious SHC cases that have been reported.

We really like our Spontaneous Human Combustion stories - dont we. > http://www.neatorama.com/2010/05/08/survivors-of-hell%e2%80%99s-fire-the-victims-of-a-mysterious-combustion/

@ Supercrap - the show you saw was probably BBC program called Supernatural Science : Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Did the expert have a whole pig wrapped in a blanket in a fire room?

@SuperCap has it right. SHC has pretty much been proven as hoax, though it is a fun myth to continue to perpetuate.

I thought it was dicovered years ago that all SHC victims lived withing walking distance of a Taco Bell.

Coincidence? I think not!

Human candles: Something wicked this way comes.

It's that pesky "Blipvert" problem again. Didn't Network 23 solve that problem about... 20 minutes from now?

I saw a documentary about a rock band (can't remember the name) whose drummer died of SHC onstage, during a show! It seems like there's got to be some footage from that concert...maybe it'll turn up someday.

@ralphw: You're kidding, right? If not, that "documentary" you saw was This Is Spinal Tap, and was completely fictional. ;)

Yeah, ralphw, I think I heard about them. They didn't have a ton of luck with drummers, as I remember. After all, you just can't dust for vomit.

Also: that fat drunk guy spontaneously combusted in Bleak House. So it has to be real.

Everyone knows that SHC is caused by the UDC. The Ubiquitous Dropped Cigarette. Secular cousin of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

@ralphw

I'm still confused about the folding sandwhiches, they just doesn't work, it's stupid.