Spontaneous Human Combustion

Spontaneous Human Combustion is the belief of the combustion of a living (or recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition. Strange, you might think, that a human body can catch fire without an apparent external source of ignition.

And, if it is too good to be true, it probably isn't.

This idea and the term 'Spontaneous Human Combustion' were both first proposed in 1746 by Paul Rolli, a Fellow of the Royal Society, in an article he translated from the Italian concerning the mysterious death of the Italian Countess Cornelia Zangheri Bandi (1664-1731). Her death was less mysterious if you know that some accounts of the incident report that the countess used to sprinkle camphorated brandy on her body to relieve pain.

The current scientific consensus is that purported cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion must involve external sources of ignition.

Already in 1823, research found commonalities among recorded cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion[1]. These included the following characteristics: the victims are usually chronic alcoholics; they are usually elderly females,; the body has not burned spontaneously, but some lighted substance has come into contact with it; the hands and feet usually fall off; the fire has caused very little damage to combustible things in contact with the body; the combustion of the body has left a residue of greasy and fetid ashes, very offensive in odour.

Another investigation showed that the burned bodies were always close to plausible sources for the ignition, such as candles, lamps, fireplaces, and so on[2]. Such sources were often omitted from published accounts of these incidents, presumably to deepen the aura of mystery surrounding an apparently 'spontaneous' death. The investigations also found that there was a correlation between alleged Spontaneous Human Combustion deaths and the victim's intoxication (or other forms of incapacitation) which could conceivably have caused them to be careless and unable to respond properly to an accident. Where the destruction of the body was not particularly extensive, a primary source of combustible fuel could plausibly have been the victim's clothing or a covering such as a blanket or comforter.

However, where the destruction was extensive, additional fuel sources were involved, such as chair stuffing, floor coverings, the flooring itself, and the like. The investigators described how such materials helped to retain melted fat, which caused more of the body to be burned and destroyed, yielding still more liquified fat, in a cyclic process known as the 'wick effect' or the 'candle effect'.

[1] Dr John Ayrton Paris and John Samuel Martin Fonblanque: A Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence (1823)
[2] Joe Nickell and John Fischer: Spontaneous Human Combustion in The Fire and Arson Investigator - 1984