Spontaneous Human Combustion

 Huda Raeisi

Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) is a Phenomenon that occurs when a person is supposed to burst into flames and burn frequently with no or little external source of ignition. It is commonly used to describe incidents in which a person's body is found with ashes and burned remains. It's a controversial and rare incident, and there's a lot of discussion concerning its reliability and its root causes.

Rolli developed the term in Philosophical Transactions, which was published in 1744 by the London Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy. Rolli described it as "a process in which a human body allegedly catches "fire”as a result of heat generated by internal chemical activity, but without evidence of an external source of ignition.” During the Victorian era, spontaneous human combustion became associated with alcoholism. Since the late 1400s, spontaneous combustion has been reported numerous times in Milan. 

Although this is the case, it is important to keep in mind that SHC is a complicated and unclear concept and that many scientists and professionals have doubts about its existence. In spite of the fact that there are only a few documented cases of spontaneous human combustion worldwide, there have been numerous recorded instances over the course of history. In the 19th and 20th centuries, reports of suspected cases of SHC continued to surface, mainly in Western countries. It was common for medical journals and newspapers to report these cases. 

The cases mainly involve elderly individuals, and the majority of documented cases date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The earliest reported cases of spontaneous human combustion date back to the 18th century, and most reported cases can be explained by known mechanisms of fire. However, there may have been earlier undocumented cases. Cases apparently have highly individual features. Typically, victims are elderly, overweight Caucasian women who are isolated from society and have consumed excessive amounts of alcohol.

Additionally, on the website, “Is Spontaneous Combustion Real?” It details everything about the SHC and anything else that was necessary to know. It discusses what happened during the fire and whether it was based on spontaneous human combustion (SHC) or not. Nowadays, spontaneous combustion incidents are rare, and scientific tests have not been able to provide conclusive evidence of their occurrence. Due to these circumstances, SHC has become more of a historical curiosity, a subject of debate and skepticism, than a well-established scientific fact.

Therefore, spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is an unclear phenomenon that occurs when people appear to burst into flames without any apparent external source of ignition. Several recorded incidents can most likely be attributed to traditional sources of ignition as a result of the lack of consistent evidence and confusion within the scientific and medical communities. There is currently less acknowledgement of SHC as a scientific phenomenon and more of a historical curiosity. In addition, it is necessary to conduct thorough research in order to determine the exact nature of these events.

Works Cited:

Halperin, Jonathan. Image from Spontaneous Human Combustion. 2005, IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1624624/mediaviewer/rm2642788352/?ref_=tt_ov_i.

Harris, Tom. “How Fire Works” HowStuffWorks, Updated, 2023, https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/fire.htm.

STAFF, HISTORY. “Is spontaneous human combustion real?” History, February 6, 2013. https://www.history.com/news/is-spontaneous-human-combustion-real.

Links for Further Research:

STAFF, HISTORY. “Is spontaneous human combustion real?” History, February 6, 2013. https://www.history.com/news/is-spontaneous-human-combustion-real. This website was published by HISTORY STUFF and provides background information on spontaneous human combustion. It determines whether it is real or not, and it shows every aspect about it, as well as the aim of it, which may be read from it. Furthermore, the website's most recent change was on August 9, 2023. It contains up-to-date information on how spontaneous human combustion has evolved over time.

Watson, Stephanie & Mancini, Mark. “How spontaneous human combustion works” HowStuffWorks, September 21, 2023. https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/fire.htm. This website was created by Stephanie Watson and Mark Mancini to provide information about spontaneous human combustion. It explains how and why spontaneous human combustion began. It is detailed in every aspect and aids knowledge. Furthermore, the website's most recent update was on September 21, 2023.

Byard, Roger W. "The mythology of 'spontaneous' human combustion." Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology, vol. 12, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 350+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713962305/AONE?u=uscaiken&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=1650d8ec. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023. Roger W. Byard wrote this article, which discusses the methology scientists of spontaneous human combustion. It reveals how scientists understand spontaneous human combustion and how they uncover it over time when human bodies are burned and destroyed. It is thorough with every detail and aids in understanding.

Spontaneous Human Combustion

 Spontaneous Human Combustion was once a real concern amongst individuals after it has been used in  different novels and media as stated by Radford in his article titled “Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories.” There is even a scene in South Park where it is referenced and picked fun at, which is one of the reasons it is even a concern to those who are. Spontaneous human combustion is essentially when a person’s body just randomly bursts into flames with no real cause and leaving most of their surroundings untouched. How exactly would that even be possible? There have been many theories, though all of them have either been proven to be false, or they’re just left unanswered. There has been rumored to be cases with that being the cause of one’s death, but there is no living proof of that, leaving it just be a science question as pointed out in this South Park scene. 

Spontaneous human combustion has been questioned for years on whether it was fact or fake. Some may even call it “fat wick burns” as mentioned in Kolijonen, and Klugers article called “Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century.” There has even been those who are so convinced it to be true, that there are cases that have not ruled out spontaneous human combustion as a potential factor in play. Though there has never been any substantial proof that this phenomenon exists, there is such thing as spontaneous combustion with things like coal, and lithium-ion batteries. Morse has stated in “Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium-ion Battery: A Case Report” a case for where a battery spontaneously combusted, causing an injury in someone’s mouth, which is probably the closest evidence to even the possibly of someone spontaneously combusting. Even then, that would be the human body itself bursting into the flames by itself, it would be due to other factors. 

Sometimes, in cases involving fire, with no known cause to how it started, they question the paranormal possibilities such as spontaneous human combustion, though majority of the time, it just gets ruled out to an accident caused by the victim. Like this one case mentioned by Mekeres in “Spontaneous human combustion, homicide, suicide, or household accident” , there was an old man who lived alone, was found almost completely burnt outside his house where there was minimal damage to his surroundings was ruled out as a potential oven misuse. There is no real reason to fear igniting into flames if you’re careful around fire as there is no scientifically proven way for your body to just ignite without other external factors being included as it’s just a myth and a hoax.  

Works cited:

Koljonen V, Kluger N. “Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century”. J Burn Care Res. 2012. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22269823/. Accessed on 20 October 2022.

Mekereş, Florica, and Camelia Liana Buhaş. "Spontaneous human combustion, homicide, suicide or household accident." Rom J Leg Med 24.1 (2016): 11-13. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Camelia-Buhas/publication/298817707_Spontaneous_human_combustion_homicide_suicide_or_household_accident/links/5759bfed08aed884620b2837/Spontaneous-human-combustion-homicide-suicide-or-household-accident.pdf

Morse, Justin, et al. “Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium‐ion Battery: A Case Report.” The Laryngoscope, vol. 129, no. 1, 2019, pp. 45–48, https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.27275.

Radford, Benjamin. “Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories.” Live Science. 18 December 2013. https://www.livescience.com/42080-spontaneous-human-combustion.html.

South Park Clips. “South Park: Another Combustion.” YouTube, 4 August 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxFT7rvz-Zk.

Tomlin, Jimmy, “North Carolina’s 1932 Series of Spontaneous Combustions is Still Unsolved.” Atlas Obscura. 19 January, 2016. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/north-carolinas-1932-series-of-spontaneous-combustions-is-still-unsolved.

Links for Further Research: 

      Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22269823/The writers explain what spontaneous human combustion is and suggested a new term for it called “fat wick burns” and they explain the subject in the simplest way possible without fancy terms.

      Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories https://www.livescience.com/42080-spontaneous-human-combustion.html Spontaneous human combustion was once a real concern amongst individuals after the usage of the term in fiction novels. There’s even supposed cases in the past though most of it is inexplainable, so all we’re really left with is theories.

    Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium‐ion Battery: A Case Report https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.27275 This article mentions the increasing quantity of E-cigarettes, vapes and the likely cases of spontaneous combustion of lithium-ion batteries has increased dramatically.