I have always been sort of fascinated with stories of it. What are your thoughts?

Here is a link to a pretty good article on it. : )

http://science.howstuffworks.com/shc.htm

hmm my thoughts well i try to do it atleast twice a day. helps cleanse the body and mind heh.

honestly its pretty interesting to think about and how it happens.

if you are full of combustible gas....well...you get what you deserve......

There are a lot of skeptics. But to read and see stories and pictures of people that supposedly burst into flames is pretty awesome!

The skeptics usuallys say that the people were smoking and thats how they caught fire. But whats left of the human remains and nothing else burned makes you wonder.

I once saw a TV special on this subject. I don't remember all the details. What I do remember is that they they took a pig carcass "dressed" it in clothing, put it in a "room", and had something similar to a cigarette as an initial heat source.

Through a series of not too unlikely events, the pig carcass caught fire and burned to mostly ashes leaving just some of the extremities. There was a charring of he mattress and smoke filling the room. But nothing in the room caught fire.

I just wonder, how a cigarette could cause a fire on flesh and burn so hot to cause ashes and nothing else catch on fire?!

spontaneous combustion......and not once have I seen blow me!!!!

snicker......


but really,,,,,,,,,,I'm glad I'm not that hot

spontaneous human combustion

happens all the time

I've always found it to be an interesting subject as well

vampires, exposed to sunlight do that around here

It does make you wonder, and they did several tests using corpses, and they conclusively shown that the way the fat burned it would burn extremely locally yet hot enough to burn to ash, which correlates to the conditions of the bodies found where not much around them burnt, yet portions of the body burn to ash.

The tests where done with a cigarette as the ignition source and a slow burn that took several hours to consume the corpses, it also left parts of the body (generally the least fatty) left just as also found in most cases.

It is very interesting, but I am skeptical.

This dude pissed me off once, I spontainiously combusted all over his face

Interesting. But I also wonder about the cases of the people that were found in their homes, if they died while smoking, because it seems to me that if it burns that slow, then the person should have been able to wake up to feel the pain.

that is a good point that makes one go hmmm.

makes sense to me

the human body is just a chemical engine generating energy. what if it released all that energy all at once?

Here are a few stories of suspected SHC.

Jack Larber who was a 72 year old patient at the Laguna Honda Home in San Francisco had his clothing catch fire a few minutes after being fed. His attendant was out of the room at the time it happened but attempted to put out the fire when returning back into the room. Mr. Larber died of 3rd degree burns on February 2nd 1959. No explanation was found for the fire - Mr Larber was a non-smoker.

December, 1959
An autoworker by the name of Billy Peterson was found dead in the front seat of his car in Pontiac, Michigan. At first it appeared that Peterson had attempted suicide for the exhaust pipe had been bent to lead into the car's front seat. However Peterson's body had third-degree burns on his back, legs and arms, his flesh was severely burnt but neither his clothing or the front seat were damaged. It was also noted that hairs on the charred portions of the body were not even singed. On the death certificate the cause was noted as carbon monoxide poisoning but the burns were ignored

December 1966
92 year old Dr. Joh Irving Bentley was last seen alive on the evening of December 4th, 1966 by friends visiting to say goodnight at about 9.00pm. The following morning Mr. Gosnell, a meter reader let himself into Mr Bentley's house to go to the basement to check the meter. Mr Gosnell had permission to enter Mr. Bentley's house because Mr Bentley had limited mobility and could only move about with the help of a walker. Once in the basement Mr Gosnell could smell a strange smell and then could see a light blue smoke. Worried, he went upstairs to investigate. Mr. Bentley's bedroom was filled with smoke and in the bathroom there lay the charred remains of Mr. Bentley. All that was left of the old man was the lower half of his right leg with his slipper still on it. The rubber stoppers on his walker which lay beside his remains were still intact and the bathtub was hardly scorched. Gosnell ran for help. It was first thought that Mr. Bentley set himself on fire with his pipe, but it was soon discovered that his pipe was still on it's stand by the bed in his bedroom. The coroner noted his death was caused by asphyxiation and 90% burning of the body.




January 6th, 1980
Blackwood, Ebbw Vales, Wales - the police and forensic officers discovered a mans body burnt beyond recognition in his living room. The armchair that he was sitting in had hardly been damaged along with some nearby plastic objects. The fire that had killed the man had been so intense that it left a coating of vaporized flesh on the ceiling

October 1980
An airwoman by the name of Jenna Winchester burst into flames whilst sitting in a car next to a friend in Florida. Her friend saw yellow flames coming from Jenna and heard her scream "Get me out of here!" and saw her trying to beat out the flames with her bare hands. The car crashed into a telephone pole. Jenna survived the experience with 20% of her body covered in burns

24th March, 1997
Co Kerry, Irish Republic. 76 year old John O'Connor was found dead in his living room at Gortaleen by the community nurse who regularly visited him. Mr O'Connors charred remains were in a chair positioned some distance from his hearth. Only his head and upper torso along with his feet remained unburnt. There was little smoke damage to the room or furniture. The Local priest who attended the scene described it as "if somebody had poured petrol into his lap".