Can a person spontaneously ignite without an external source of heat? Over the past 300 years, more than 200 such cases have been reported.
This phenomenon is called spontaneous human combustion (or SHC) - the human body is allegedly ignited by the heat generated in it. Hundreds of accounts show a similar picture.
A lone victim, whose body ignites spontaneously, is usually at home. The limbs, arms and legs are often left untouched by the fire. The torso and head are charred beyond recognition, in rare cases the internal organs remain intact.
In a room where a person spontaneously ignites, there are usually few signs of fire, apart from greasy soot on furniture and walls, a sweetish smell is often felt.
Historical examples of death from spontaneous combustion
The history of SHC can be traced back to medieval literature, with some claiming that there are several similar texts in the Bible.
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In 1641, the Danish physician Thomas Bartholin (1616-1680) described the death of Polonus Vorstius in his Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum, where he collected cases of strange medical phenomena.
Vorstius is an Italian knight who, at his home in Milan, Italy, in 1470, after drinking strong wine, began to spew fire before his body was set on fire. It is considered the first recorded case of spontaneous combustion in human history.
In 1673, the French writer Jonas Dupont published a book called De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis (Cases of Spontaneous Combustion of Human Bodies), which described a number of SHC cases.
One famous incident in France dates back to 1725, when a Parisian householder woke up to the smell of smoke to find his wife, Nicole Millet, burned to the ground, lying on a straw mattress that was left untouched by the flames.
All that remains of Madame Millet, a chronic alcoholic, is her skull, several ribs and bones of the lower extremities. The wooden objects around her were not damaged by the fire. Her husband was charged with murder and was initially found guilty.
Illustration from Bleak House by Charles Dickens
On appeal, the judges concurred with his defense that it was “spontaneous human combustion,” thanks in large part to the testimony of the surgeon Claude-Nicolas Le Cat. Le Cat was nearby, in the inn, he woke up from the smell of smoke and saw that Nicole's body had been found. Her death was later declared as a consequence of a "visit from God."
The general public learned about spontaneous combustion of a person in the 19th century from the novel Bleak House by the famous English writer Charles Dickens, one of whose characters died in this way. When critics accused Dickens of trying to confirm something that doesn't exist, he cited research that described 30 historical cases of spontaneous combustion.
General characteristics of human spontaneous combustion
The SHC theme received coverage in the British Medical Journal in 1938 when L. Parry referred to a book published in 1823 entitled Medical Jurisprudence in his article. He stated that cases of spontaneous human combustion have the following characteristics:
- the victims were chronic alcoholics;
- as a rule, these are elderly women;
- the body ignited spontaneously, but some flammable substances could also be used by the victim;
- arms and legs were often left untouched by fire;
- the fire caused little damage to many other combustible things in contact with the body;
- after the burning of the body, fatty and fetid ash remained.
Alcoholism seems to have played a defining role in early mentions of SHC, in part because some Victorian doctors and writers believed that human spontaneous combustion was caused by it.
The wick effect: a scientific explanation for SHC
There are several theories as to what causes SHC besides the aforementioned alcoholism: flammable fats, increased acetone concentration, static electricity, methane, bacteria, stress, and even divine intervention.
One theory explains that SHC is caused by the "wick effect". The body of the victim is like a candle. The candle consists of a wick surrounded by wax containing flammable fatty acids. The fire ignites the wick, and the greasy wax keeps it burning.
In the human body, fat acts as a combustible substance, and the victim's clothing or hair is a wick. A cigarette can set a person's clothing on fire, then their skin, releasing subcutaneous fat, which in turn is absorbed into the clothing. When the fat melts from the heat, it is absorbed into the clothing, acting as a wax to keep the wick burning.
Combustion continues as long as there is fuel. Proponents of this theory say this explains why the bodies of the victims were destroyed, although the objects around them were not burned.
Three stages of spontaneous combustion, according to the theory of the wick.
Other issues related to spontaneous human combustion
SHC always occurs indoors, with lonely people and often near heat sources. Not a single case of spontaneous combustion of a person in the middle of the street in daylight was recorded.
It seems that spontaneous combustion occurs only with humans, there are no records of spontaneous combustion of animals.
In addition, the "wick effect" cannot fully explain why victims remain stationary while burning, and the furniture around them is often unaffected by the fire.
SHC proponents point out that the human body must reach a temperature of 1648 degrees Celsius to burn to ashes when only ash remains, which has happened to many of the victims. For comparison, the human body is cremated at 982 degrees Celsius.
A modern example of human spontaneous combustion
SHC cases have not only occurred in antiquity. Human spontaneous combustion occurred in Ireland in 2010.
The burned body of an elderly man was found by the fireplace in his apartment, there was almost no damage from the fire: no marks on the floor, ceiling or anywhere else in the room. An Irish investigator later stated that the cause of death of 76-year-old Michael Facherty was spontaneous combustion.
People believe that there are many things that make the human body unique among earthly creatures, and there are aspects that are still unknown to us. One of these features - the phenomenon of human spontaneous combustion - remains an unsolved mystery.