Spontaneous Human Combustion is one of those theories that we all readily dismiss as complete fantasy, and rightly so, where is the proof for SHC? One explanation given for SHC is that its the result of excessive consumption of alcohol, but surely if that were the case we would be hearing of SHC a lot more frequently than we do. I really don't know the origin of the theory, but is there anyone out there who would consider SHC a possibility?

http://www.crystalinks.com/shc.html

http://www.castleofspirits.com/shc.html

http://skepdic.com/shc.html



I guess relating SHC to Space, I understand we would burn up if we ever `set foot' on the surface of Venus, or the Inner side of Mercury for instance, and I know that's not really SHC, and nor is this, but at what distance from the Sun do temperatures reach a level threatening to humans? I presume its somewhere between the orbits of Mercury & Venus, can anyone provide a definitive answer to that?

Cheers.

Edited to provide hyperlinks.

Anyone?

I'd have to see it to believe it.

SHC has been comprehensively debunked. For the life of me, I can't remember where.

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I think the basic process is :

1) person becomes unconsious or dies from natural causes

2) near-by fire source sets clothing alight

3) clothing burns like a candle wick, consuming body fat

4) leaving a largely burnt corpse, carbon deposited all over room, but little other fire damage

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"The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head" Terry Pratchett

http://skepdic.com/shc.html

1 for SHC
1 against SHC

Its wick-effect all right. Who knows how many murders have been called supernatural mysteries.

A half-bright individual might bring in what would seem to be too little accelerant to a murder. A more thorough criminal work soak the place.

But here is the kicker. It only takes a small amount of accelerant to start wick effect, otherwise if you use a lot, the body only chars.

A criminal to be thorough would have to draw the blinds and wait for hours for the wick effect to work though. Then he would hose the place down with accelerant and open the gas vents after wick-effect has taken place. Then everything would be ashes with an explosion opening the house up to ambient air for further burning.

I'd be freaked out if SHC was real. REAL freaked out.

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"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine

Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor. -- Heinlein

Creationists make it sound as though a "theory" is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. -- Isaac Asimov

I believe that about sums it up.

This question was solved a few years ago. The combustion is not spontaneous as it neads an ignition source. The clothing worn by the victim acts as a wick for the fat and the body is consumed fairly slowly leaving the lower legs and feet in most cases because of the lack of fat and absorbant clothing to cause a wick effect.

this whole thing just burns me up, but I'll refrain from a heated reply.

Maybe we should blame the wikipedia effect?

I used to be a SHC believer but it only took a couple of shows on the subject to get me to file it away with my other youthful beliefs like the Bermuda triangle and the Nazca lines.
Alas I fear that if I were to spontaniously smolder I would be nothing but ashes due to my high blubber content. Yes I can pinch an inch on my forehead. Hug me.

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You're a coward and a liar and a thOOF - Bart Sibrel

SHC is, of course, unusual. If a real phenomenon, then its explanation should also be rare.

Has anyone considered the results of a human being struck by an Eev or Zev cosmic ray? Advantages:

1) Enough initial input to kindle.
2) Ionization path to allow follow-up electrical effects.
3) Pion, muon, and exotic short-lived meson shower inside the body, just to
stir things up.

The phenomenon is truly Fortean. It is rare, but occurs across all cultures. It is not limited to drunks/old folks shut up in stuffy rooms-- but is more likely there. Debunkers often paint with too broad a brush, using the equivalent of the argument: "It isn't likely, therefore it didn't happen."

Singular events do happen. You are one. S

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Ignoramus et ignorabamus.-- Reymond

Wir mussen wissen. Wir werden wissen.--Hilbert

Pick one.

Just thinking about it's giving me the willies...

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If this writing is blue you're going too fast!

No sweat. What makes it so silly is that none of the proponents of SHC ever mention that burning alive would be quite painful, certainly enough to wake up most people. Once awake it should be easy to put yourself out. Unless it is a fast fire and starts everywhere on your body all at once; which does not fit anything I've seen on the topic. I mean, unless you just instantly exploded in a ball of fire, it would be pretty simple to just get in the shower and extinguish the smoldering body parts. There should be quite a few victims of SHC with partial burns and really good stories to tell.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I wonder then, if such a phenomena isn't pretty much restricted to the overdosed. Sleeping pills and alcohol are pretty stubborn about letting one wake up.

And of course, I forgot about the dead... granny sits down in her rocking chair next to the heater and has a stroke or heart attack (or just plain dies).. heat source sets the lap-blanket on fire... and 8 hours later when the nursing home staff checks on her, she's two slippers and 1 tooth. No way to tell she died before she lit up.

------

"I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you...........FIRE!"

I thought about the alcohol part. I'm guessing that to increase your body's combustability would take more alcohol than you could consume without passing out first. But now I'm wondering what the concentration is when a person is drunk. Is .33 one-third of a percent, 3 percent, or 33 percent. Granted, most people would be horizontal at that level (some would die, right?); but what doe the number mean? The numbers don't seem to add up to catching fire because of it. Let's say a person drank 12 ounces of 80 proof (40% alcohol) whiskey in relatively short order (so I don't have to fool with metabolism calculations). That's the equivalent of 6 ounces of alcohol, and they would be pretty darn drunk. If the average person has 10 pints of blood, or 160 ounces; that would be about 4%. Is a 4% solution of alcohol enough to be flammable? And that doesn't even take into acvcount all the other fluids diluting the bodies alcohol concentration. So it doesn't seem to me that being drunk would make a person more susceptible to SHC. And if drunks are no more susceptible to SHC than sober people - then we should have plenty of sober people that have started on fire and woke up to put themselves out, right?

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

The pig-in-a-blanket experiment was repeated for a BBC TV science programme a few years ago, and I'm surprized to find it detailed on this site: http://www.alternativescience.com/sp...ning-issue.htm

Even more surprised that the site seeks to de-bunk the debunking!
That their 'evidence' is merely anecdotal accounts does not benefit their case.

JOhn

You might as well blame severe chronic halitosis.

If one were to consume enough alcohol to measurably add to their combustibility, they'd be dead about one hundred times over.

Legally intoxicated: 0.05%
Dead: 0.4%
Flammable: 38%