Spontaneous Human Combustion

Spontaneous Human Combustion

The world is full of the unexplained and mysterious, but is spontaneous human combustion truly spontaneous caused by the paranormal, or just simply human combustion? Most people think of spontaneous human combustion, or SHC, as "...the reduction of an otherwise normal, healthy human body to a pile of fine black ash, the consistency of which is finer than that of a cremated corpse" (Spontaneous). This is simply not true. First of all, it is not complete consumption because in most cases extremities and internal organs remain because the high temperature outside the body does not penetrate internally. Secondly, the fact that the ash is so fine is often used by SHC proponents as to why the fire must by paranormal. They say that the fire has to be extremely hot because even in a crematorium calcified bones often remain, but this fine ash can also be attributed to simple combustion.

To learn more about SHC and how it works we must take a look at the victims. Victims of SHC are mainly elderly females that smoke. Almost all the victims have weight problems. They are often at least overweight. It must be understood that no well-documented cases of infant SHC have ever been reported. Some researchers say that there is "...a fairly equal representation of the sexes among the victims, with ages ranging from infancy to 114 years; many were abstemious and thin" (Mysteries 80). To get a personal opinion on this matter, one must research this kind of information for themselves since much of it can be misconstrued.

Some may believe the SHC phenomenon has only been around for the past few decades but "...spontaneous human combustion (SHC) began to appear in medical reports as far back as t...

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...82). Is spontaneous human combustion truly spontaneous caused by the paranormal, or just simply human combustion?

Bibliography:

Benecke, Mark. "Spontaneous Combustion: Thoughts of a Forensic Biologist." Skeptical

Inquirer. Mar./Apr. 1998: 47-50.

Bondeson, Jan. A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities. Ithica, New York: Cornell University Press, 1976.

Cohen, Daniel. The Encyclopedia of the Strange. New York: Dodd, Meod & Company, Inc., 1985.

Mysteries of the Unexplained. Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association Inc., 1982.

Nickell, Joe. "Fiery Tales That Spontaneously Destruct." Skeptical Inquirer. Mar./Apr. 1998: 15-17, 62.

Nickell, Joe. "Investigative Files: Not-So-Spontaneously Human Combustion." Skeptical Inquirer. Nov./Dec. 1996: 17-20. 21 Feb. 2001.