Spontaneous Combustion is the idea that a human can burst into flames instantly without the aid of an external source sounds a bit ludicrous. Although, for over three centuries, valid and authentic records have confirmed the notion of people instantaneously erupting into a blaze of intense heat with no prior warning or subjection to an open flame. All that is found left of the victim is a heap of ashes and blackened appendages. What really baffles scientists and experts is the fact that no damage ever seems to be done to the nearby materials.
The majority of those who succumb to Spontaneous Human Combustion are usually sitting down when it occurs. It was suspected for a period of time that the cause of this phenomenon was the possibility of the subjects being alcoholics, due to a chemical reaction in the blood. This theory has been thoroughly discredited, but there are fascinating similarities between all the cases. Chronic alcoholism being the first, along with the victims were usually elder females, the hands and feet were spared, and the combustion of the body left a greasy residue with a foul odor. It seems the limbs, skulls, and spinal cords are often the only discernible remnants of the engulfed human.
The heat generated by the Spontaneous Human Combustion has been recorded to be more intense than that of a crematorium. Experts believe it to be over 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, but the real anomaly is that the objects and materials around the person are not affected or destroyed, except the clothing of course. In one instance, there was a woman who died in her bed due to a Spontaneous Human Combustion and her bed sheets didn’t even contain a mark.
The first reliable historic evidence of spontaneous human combustion appears to be from the year 1673. A Frenchman Jonas Dupont published a collection of Spontaneous Human Combustion cases and studies entitled De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis. Dupont intially decided to write the book because he was intrigued by the Nicole Millet court case, where a man was acquitted in the murder of his wife when the court was convinced that she had been killed by spontaneous combustion. Following this case, the idea of Spontaneous Human Combustion gained believability and was generally accepted among society.
In the 1700s, a member of nobility was claimed by Spontaneous Human Combustion, it was Countess Cornelia Di Bandi. She was discovered between her bed and window with everything charred to a crisp except her lower legs, and three fingers. The wicks of the candles were completely unburned which indicates that there was no external fire which caused it.
Perhaps the most well-known case of Spontaneous Human Combustion occurred on July 2, 1951 to a retiree from St Petersburg, Florida, Mary Reeser. Only a pile of ashes, her left foot, her spinal cord, and her skull, which shrunk to the size of an orange, was found in her recliner. It was proclaimed by official authorities that she had died in a house fire, but nothing else in her house was damaged.
The most recent case in modern times comes from late 2013, where an Indian baby named Rahul was admitted to the hospital for randomly catching on fire four times over the course of three months. The boys mother, Rajeshwari Karnan, said she found him on fire the first time merely nine days after his birth and had to put out the fire with a towel. Doctors ran an extensive amount of tests, and have yet to find any abnormalities.
While there have been over 200 well documented cases over the past three hundred years, the last only plausible explanation to describe the enigma of Spontaneous Human Combustion is a metaphysical source such as an evil spirit or God, but why would God do such a thing? Some like to think its due to a possible electrical error within the human body but with no real proof, the materialist scientists are going to have a hard time explaining this one away.
