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my old biology teacher told me that his college class studied it aroun the 70s or 80s. yeah i think its plausible but my theory is that somehow the body exudes a natural gas by a hole or seeps through somehow and meets an already active flame

Yeah I agree. Something has to happen to ignite the person. I just don't think a person can ignite for no reason.

I watched a program about this on UK TV back in the early 90's it was well interesting

The whole basis of SHC is that no outside ignition system can be found hence the human just burst into flames

freaky

there been no scientific proof but there are plenty of case styudies that show the possibility

":there was actually a case in the community I live in from the 1960's I do believe. There were evidences of extreme heat but no fire in the house except where the person was. Quite often a hand or foot is left behind as a grisly reminder of what was.
I have thought about this on occasion and I think that probably what happens is that somehow a chemical imbalance takes place and when one mixes with another...VOOOOMMMPPPHHH!!!! The proof of this can be seen in the common heat pack. Expose the chemicals to the air and mix them and the pack becomes toasty warm for hours.
I think it is a completely natural phenomenon and nothing supernatural. Now if only we could control it! HMM! Oh well. As Johnny Storm would say..."Flame On!!!"


i seen that on discovery once lol

The case Creature1 refers to was, in fact, himself! So thats what happened to you, Johnny! Seriously, from what I've read, it isn't anything demonic or supernatural, but rather a scientific abnomality that occurs in persons who consume alot of alcohol and greasy foods-when the conditions are right, bang! The mother of all flatulence attacks.

Its the Baked Beans i tell you !!!

Just like the little spike in the end of a Bannana dont eat to much of them !

I think it is possible, I mean there are cases where they have no other conclusion, I just would like to know what does cause the explosion. I mean in the case that they claim .. there were no evidence of anything in the room to have caused them to ignite into flames from outside the body.
Freaky and yet so interesting as well.

The psychological propensity for playing with one's own farts is not limited to boy scouts on a camp out and the availability of glass jars. The goal is to produce enough gas and eject it from the body into a glass jar, whereupon a helper caps it off. A match is lit, the lid removed, and Voila! a magnificent flame is produced. This practice is also a sub-category of performance art. It has come to the attention of professionals that this is also an auto-erotic activity that many humans engage in on a solitary basis. Many practitioners dispense with the glass jar and light their farts as they pass gas, often with such force that the flame ignites their clothing. Many cases of spontaneous combustion were because of this innocent game.

It somewhat appears that alcohol tends to be involved.
Also cigars and cigarettes appears to be a trigger for SHC.

Then you get a very crispy burny person.

SHC can in fact (and quite possibly is) be real. There may not be enough scientific proof to prove that it is real but there have been many cases where there is absolutely no explanation and no evidence of cigars, cigarettes, jars or anything else at the scene that would cause a body to light up and burn the way it did. Also the body seemed to burn from the inside out and the starter point be from the stomach region. Whatever the case may be there are proven cases that suggests and often proves that SHC is real.

I also believe that is it a possiblity for SHC to happen
I mean even in the Morgue we get bodies that release gases all the time. The body fills with air, gas, water etc and many things can cause it to do things that most would not believe could even happen. so ... I guess it is just a matter of if you feel it is real or not. always a good discussions on this.

http://www.crystalinks.com/shc.html

This goes over what is known about all the known cases. I, myself, do not know what causes this, but I have a very good hunch.

All cases the victims were always in doors and always alone for long periods of time. This would allow them to build up their energy enough to manipulate matter. This I know for a fact can cause small fires, so maybe by chance they over did it and boom! Still really doesn't make sense though. I would think a UFO, time travelers, or the CIA would be behind it more likely.

The first esoteric connection to SHC I heard was in Carlos Castanedas book, The Fire From Within. This mirrors other teachings and concepts of the "rainbow body", where one uses the energy of the physical and etheric at the same moment to take a final spiritual journey, traveling deep into another realm. From what is said about this, all that remains are the smoldering feet and finger nails of the "victim"..
So.. perhaps this also happens by a random freak chance as well to make it spontaneous.

well that makes sense energy built up and they are the only ones around could be .. very interesting topic has always wondered how it happens adn well still do no offense.

Interesting topic. I do believe that SHC is possible. The shows on Discovery have always left the possibility to our imaginations to decide if in fact this is real or some freak of nature. But then again the idea of someone building their energy to a point that it ignites them in flames can be possible.

Rather wild yet fascinating in a weird way.

my understanding of it is that its usually heavier people that it happens to. someone with some extra padding (and yes, fat is flammable). then add to it some very unique circumstances. i dont think its all that far fetched at all.
~W~

I personaly love the idea

Sorry hit the post button too soon lol

anways, I'm not sure if it's entirely possible or not, but if it is I want to learn how it works so I can just walk around and look at someone and they explode :D

I do believe that would remove the word "spontaneous" from the equation. lol

Interesting thread. SHC is created by gases, which were created by the intestine and other organs due to a major disruption, ie, Virus and germs. Ahh, some will said, we are full of germs and virus. These are special and are considerate to create such of gases. As the body produce the gases, any flame or spark, will produce the combustion. My theory.

IDK.... just a thought

If radiation cooks food from the inside out, could it also ignite a fart inside the body before it's released from the body?

When learning to start fires by your thoughts alone, it is all done with creating and controlling radiation. When you learn to manipulate matter by will alone, the atmosphere around the body is always the first to change.

to ignite, there must be oxygen. usually there isnt any within the intestines...

but then again...usually isnt always.
its a strange, but interesting idea.
~W~

I believe that SHC is real. As to ignition I have seen the theory that the body over heats to a point that it just combusts.

I have always found it fascinating that hardly anything burns around the victims. Just the victims themselves.

I for one definitely believe that spontaneous human combustion is real. There is probably a way for the body temperature to increase to the point where the human body combust into flames. The body is supposed to be burn beyond being recognizable.

Many of you are missing the point. Any evidence of an external spark or flame rules out the notion of spontaneous human combustion. SHC appears to happen without any external spark or flame. From the few instances I have read about it would seem to me SHC occurs when a persons body becomes super heated. The human body has a built in thermostat that regulates temperture. Somehow it appears that doesn't happen in these extremely rare instances.

I believe anything is possible . They try to say we are normal and like all the rest .we dress different they say .I know we are a one of a kind .So if we can happen so can anything .

In a 1961 study Dr. Gavin Thurston (a bioluminist, I think) studied the literature of SHC and came to a number of conclusions-among them:

1.That under certain conditions a body will burn in its own fat with little or no damage to surrounding objects.

2.The combustion is not spontaneous, but started by an external source of heat.

3.This has occurred where the body has been in the path of a draft up a chimney from a lighted fire. Oxygenation of the flue prevents outward spread of the fire.


In order to test Thurston's theories, another bioluminist named Gee conducted some experiments of his own. He learned that human fat, when melted in a crucible, would only burn at a temperature somewhere near 250 degrees centigrade. However, a cloth wick prepared in liquid fat will burn even when the temperature of the fat has dropped as low as 24 degrees centigrade.

Gee also enveloped a layer of human fat in several layers of thin cloth in order to produce a roll about eight inches long. Combustion of the roll proceeded slowly along its length, burning with a smoky yellow flame and producing a great deal of soot. In both of these experiments, a fan was arranged so that combustion would proceed in a direction opposite the flow of air.

Gee admitted that these experiments were by no means conclusive, but argued that they supported the theory put forward by Thurston, which he believed to be the most reasonable explanation for the occurrence of spontaneous human combustion. But, this is still speculative.

Either way it is an interesting phenomenon that requires further investigation. It will be quite interesting to see a human spontaneously combust into flames.

Scientists believe they have found the secret behind stories of people suddenly bursting into flames.
BBC 1's QED - which brought together the world's top fire experts - looked at cases of spontaneous human combustion from around the world.

And the programme discovered that the so-called wick-effect, in which a body is devoured by flames from its own body fat, is behind the mystery.
Using a dead pig wrapped in cloth, they simulated a human body being burned over a long period and the charred effect was the same as in so-called spontaneous human combustion.

The QED team spoke to Paul Haggarty who as a young fire officer was called to investigate a fatal fire in Pennsylvania. The victim was an elderly widow and what he saw still haunts him.
The victim was consumed by fire except for the legs. Even a wooden table nearby was untouched.
Mr Haggarty said: "There is no way you could explain it. None of the firemen had seen anything like it."

The most recent recorded case in the UK happened in 1992 in northern England.

Again, the woman's legs were left untouched, while the rest of her body was burned to a cinder.
Home Office pathologist Mike Green, who examined the body, does not believe in spontaneous human combustion.

But he said: "The first time you see it you rock back on your heels and your ask yourself 'How is it that the body has been totally consumed and nothing else has been damaged?'

"It beggars belief."

(((**Explanations include balls of lightning or a build up of methane inside the gut.
But forensic scientists are now convinced that the cause of such incidents is the so-called wick effect, started by a source as simple as a cigarette.
This means that in certain rare circumstances a human being can burn like a candle.
But the fact that human bones were completely destroyed remained a mystery, until now.**)))

Even in human crematoria where temperatures are 700-1000 centigrade, the bones are not destroyed.
Dr John de Haan of the California Criminalistic Institute used a dead pig in a gruesome experiment to show that small flames can consume a human being with the help of burning body fat.

A pig was used because it closely resembles a human's fat content. The pig was wrapped in a blanket and a small amount of petrol was poured on it.
After five hours of continuous burning the bones were being destroyed.

*Dr De Haan said: "The sort of damage here is exactly the same as that from supposed spontaneous human combustion." *

The scientists believe they demonstrated how a case of spontaneous human combustion can occur through normal processes on a person who has been knocked unconscious.

The wick effect means that a person could burn slowly without attracting attention from passers-by.
It also explains why only part of the body, the part which is rich in fat, burns while the rest stays intact.

Source of information taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/158853.stm

So there you gave it..... It's now scientifically explained...if you want to believe them!

I do!

If it is an external heat source, then the surrounding area would burn as well, which is not the case. I even mention sonthing about this on my profile.

there are people who acquire pyrokinesis but lack the discipline or training to control it, therefore, they burn up from the inside out, bones & all, a natural fire cannot cause bones to turn to dust.

Simply another urban legend for people to be irrationally obessed with.

well for an urban legend i certainly believe that it is real

Of course you do, I could predict that.

Possible? How?

Well, no offense to nobody, in this one, I need prof.

Face it, it is all tabloid hype. No " case" has ever made a reputable publication.

Robert Francis Bailey is a case i studied in highschool

there was a case back in 1920 of such a case how do you explain only the body being burned with only the feet remaining and the surrounding area untouched

it has been explained, yet those who are bent on such things being phenomenal are too biased to accept anyother explsination, no matter how many times it is demonstrated.

Even Mythbusters duplicated the physics involved. The only cases that are left open are those that happened so long ago that any material data cannot be obtained.

The only people that keep beating the dead horse, are fueled ( no pun intended) by tabloids, and psuedo science.

Reference

Skeptics Dictionary; Spontaneous Human Combustion.