SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION

Spontaneous Human Combustion

Spontaneous Human Combustion was all the rage in the 90s. You could not have a paranormal documentary series, magazine, or book without an entire section or show dedicated to SHC. It got so redundant in fact that many in the general public began to grow tired of hearing about it. I mean it is just ridiculous. The human body will not just spontaneously erupt into flames, right?

In actuality there are several well-documented cases where SHC is seriously considered a possible explanation of death by investigators involved in the cases. The reason these investigators take SHC seriously is because the physical evidence seems to point to it being just as logical as the alternative theories.

Robert Francis Baily, John Irving Bentley, George I. Mott, Mary Reeser and Henry Thomas are just handful of names whose deaths are suspected to be spontaneous human combustion cases. Most SHC cases are explained away using the wicker theory. It states that once a body is ignited it will burn until the flame’s fuel source (in this case flesh, fat, and muscle) is gone and then puts itself out. For example, Henry Thomas burned to death while relaxing in his chair watching television. Only his skull and a slippered foot remained. Some claim his death was caused by a wicker effect that was ignited by a nearby heater. The only problem is that the rest of Thomas’ home remained untouched by flames and Thomas himself apparently never moved from his comfortable reclining position while slowly burning to death.

There are also people who claim to be survivors of spontaneous human combustions. The most credible survivor story comes from Cheshire, England where Susan Motteshead was standing in her kitchen and then suddenly burst into flames. The fire quickly burned out just as quickly as it had come. Motteshead only suffered minor burns.