Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Hot Theory

Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Hot Theory

Kendall Hammond English 10 Mrs. Sites
15 May 2017
Spontaneous Human Combustion: A Hot Theory

Spontaneous Human Combustion is the alleged process of a human body catching fire as a result of heat generated by internal chemical or nuclear action (Spontaneous Human Combustion 1). There are many ways that the body can catch fire, but to say that it can combust spontaneously is improbable. In many cases, there is no explanation for the start of the fire and that’s one of the main reasons for researchers stating that the cause was in fact SHC, though there is not enough evidence. When researchers believe that SHC occurred, there’s not an apparent external source …show more content…
This has occurred where the body has been in the path of a draft up a chimney from a lighted fire. Oxygenation of the flue prevents outward spread of the fire
All of the above information was taken from “Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC)" Gale Encyclopedia 2”. Many other people also coincide and support the ideas of Dr. Gavin Thurston when he claims that it is impossible for the human body to catch fire spontaneously. Other researchers have made an abundance of similar claims throughout history and are still studying to give us a more scientific explanation, which clearly provides possible solutions to someone’s body catching on fire whilst they slowly burn externally. There are instances where someone or something catches fire without their surroundings being affected. People and researches find it very unusual for this to happen. Believers of SHC agree that it is uncommon, that is why they resort to believing that SHC did occur. The body burns its own fats and that’s what is believed to keep the fire going and keeping it from spreading to the surrounding area. Benjamin Radford states that it is quite possible, for example, for only a rug, bed, or sofa to catch fire without spreading to the rest of the room. Because fires normally burn upward instead of outward, there is nothing paranormal or strange about finding a victim in one part of a room burned to death while the rest of the room has little more than smoke …show more content…
According to her father, who was 82 at the time, he and Jeannie were both sitting in the kitchen when he saw a bright surge of light out of the corner of his eye and turned to ask his daughter if she had seen it too. To his amazement, when he turned his head to look at her, she was on fire, but just sat still with her hands in her lap… Her hands and face were pretty much destroyed; she lapsed into a coma and died eight days later. Her combustion is largely unexplained, although an attempt has been made: supposedly, a speck from her father’s pipe had fallen into her clothing sometime earlier and was only ignited when a gust of wind from an opening door fanned it. (Conradt

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