Spontaneous Human Combustion has sparked the interest of scientists and the loved ones of victims who were thought to have succumbed from it. It is indeed a strange phenomenon that has left skeptics scratching their heads and believers looking for the answers as to what could possibly cause a human to become an instant inferno.
So what exactly is Spontaneous Human Combustion? It is the ability of the human body to ignite by an unknown source of ignition, although it has been speculated that these victims were alcoholics, and possibly consumed more than their bodies could tolerate. In classic cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion the body burns itself more intensely than would be achieved by cremation. The scorching inferno is internal in origin, and usually destroys the mid-section of the body, leaving the extremities intact.
The evidence found at various crime scenes show that the person suddenly burst into flames for no apparent reason; leaving the surrounding objects like furniture virtually untouched. The gruesome sight of these tortured bodies reflects burns that are not distributed evenly over the body. In many cases the torso is completely destroyed, and the bones are reduced to ash. The fire is localized to the main part of the body, and it has been determined that a possible short within the electrical system housed in the spinal cord, combined with the chemicals in your body causes an ignition that results in Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Crematorium Specialist’s have viewed photos of victims who were thought to have succumbed to Spontaneous Human Combustion and they found that they cannot duplicate the complete destruction of bones in such a short period of time. Spontaneous Human Combustion has been occurring for as long as mankind has existed; but most coroners, pathologists, scientists, and fire officials ignore such evidence, instead choosing a much neater and less controversial explanation for these unexplained deaths.
Documented Reports of Spontaneous Human Combustion
In 1725 Nicole Millet of Rheims was found burnt to death in a chair that remained untouched by fire. Nicole’s husband was accused of murdering her. He was acquitted at his trial when a young surgeon named Nicholas Le Cat convinced the court that not only did Spontaneous Human Combustion occur, but that the Nicole Millet case was a fine example of the phenomenon. The final verdict in the case was that Nicole Millet had died ‘by a visitation of God.’
In 1731, an account was published about the remains of the Countess Cornelia di Bandi of Cesena, Italy, which were found on the floor of her bedroom. Her body was allegedly ashes, but her stocking legs survived, as did a large portion of her head.
In 1932 Mrs. Charles Williamson of Bladenboro, North Carolina suddenly burst into flames. She had not been near any type of fire, and her dress had not been in contact with any cleaning fluid or other flammable substances. When she burst into flames, her husband and daughter immediately ripped her dress off of her with their bare hands, but were surprisingly not burned by the flames
In 1938 Maybelle Andrews was with her boyfriend dancing at a nightclub. Suddenly flames erupted from her back, chest and shoulders. Her boyfriend was severely burned trying to put the flames out. He said that at the time there were no other flames in the room anywhere and that they had come from Maybelle herself. She died of her injuries on the way to hospital.
In 1943 Allen M. Small was found burned to death in his Deer Isle, Maine home. The carpet beneath his body was scorched, but there was no other sign of fire in the house. Small’s pipe was unlit and on a shelf, and his stove lids were all still in place.
In 1951 Mary Hardy Reeser spontaneously combusted while relaxing in her easy chair. Alarmed neighbors contacted the local police who discovered Mrs.Reeser, or what was left of her, in a blackened circle four feet in diameter. All that remained of the 175-pound woman and her chair was a few blackened seat springs, a section of her backbone, a shrunken skull the size of a baseball, and one foot encased in a black slipper next to the four-foot circle, and 10 pounds of ashes.
Waymon Wood’s body was discovered in the front seat of his car in Greenville, South Carolina in 1953. His car was parked on the side of Route 291. Only Wood’s extremities were left as evidence, and other than his windshield being warped from the extreme heat, his car was untouched by fire damage.
On May 18, 1957, Anna Martin of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was found incinerated, leaving only her shoes and a portion of her torso. The medical examiner estimated that temperatures must have reached 1,700 to 2,000 degrees, yet newspapers two feet away were found intact.
In 1964 Olga Worth Stephens, a former actress suddenly burst into flames while waiting in her parked car. The burns were fatal, and she was killed before anyone could come to her aid. Firemen later concluded that nothing in the car could have started the blaze, and her car was undamaged.
On December 5, 1966, the ashes of Dr. J. Irving Bentley of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, were discovered by a meter reader. Dr. Bentley’s body apparently ignited while he was in the bathroom and burned a 2-1/2-by-3-foot hole through the flooring, with only a portion of one leg remaining intact.
In 1980, Susan Motteshead, a resident of Cheshire, England was standing in her kitchen, wearing flame-resistant pajamas, when she was suddenly engulfed in flames that seemed to have ignited from the fluff on her clothing but burned out before any serious damage was done.
John O’Connor was found dead on March 24, 1997 in his living room at Gortaleen by the community nurse who regularly visited him. Mr. O’Connor’s charred remains were in a chair positioned some distance from his fireplace. Only his head and upper torso along with his feet remained unburned. There was minimal smoke damage to the room or furniture. The Local priest who attended the scene described it as “if somebody had poured gasoline into his lap”.
Theories That May Cause Spontaneous Human Combustion
Alcoholism: many victims of Spontaneous Human Combustion were considered alcoholics, but experiments performed throughout the 19th century demonstrated that flesh injected with alcohol does not burn with the intense heat associated with Spontaneous Human Combustion, plus you would die of alcohol poisoning long before the body would become flammable.
Body Fat: The victims could have possibly burned themselves to the point of unconsciousness while their external body heat rose the point of igniting there body fat, which is flammable.
Electric Fields: These exist within the human body, and might be capable of ‘short circuiting’, causing some sort of atomic chain reaction that could generate tremendous internal heat resulting in Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Facts: To cremate a human body it requires a temperature of 1600 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours.
80% of victims are female
Most of the victims were overweight and/or alcoholics
The body is very badly burned, but the room the body was found in is pretty much intact except for a fine layer of soot
Yellowish, foul smelling oil is usually found surrounding the body
The torso, including the chest, abdomen and hips tend to be totally consumed, sparing portions of the extremities and the head.
Most of the victims clothing is left intact
The victim was always on their own, no shouts or screams could ever be heard
The victim had usually been drinking heavily prior to the death.
Books on Spontaneous Human Combustion
Werner Spitz and Russell Fischer’s 1980 book about Medico legal, The Investigation of Death, states that a body can be reduced in just an hour and a half at temperatures of 1600-1800 degrees; and the longer the body has to burn, the lower the temperature required.
In the preface of the Charles Dickens novel, Bleak House, Dickens defends his belief in Spontaneous Human Combustion by citing details from three different cases, the Nicole Millet case being one of them.
Movies on Spontaneous Human Combustion
BBC TV broadcast a prime time movie in its science series dubbed ‘QED’, entitled Spontaneous Human Combustion in 1999. The film was ambitious both as science and as reporting, as it set out to debunk the centuries-old belief that, under some mysterious circumstances, humans can become inferno’s, and be almost entirely consumed, even in the security of their own homes. The movie makers chose to ignore the contradictory evidence and relied instead on scientific theories.
Reported Cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion
Eleven cases throughout the 1950’s
Seven cases throughout the 1960’s
Thirteen cases throughout the 1970’s
Twenty two cases throughout the 1980’s
