Obscure Occurrences : Spontaneous Human Combustion

 On the evening of 02 July 1951, Dr Richard Reeser visited his mother Mary Hardy Reeser at her apartment in St. Petersburg, Florida. According to Dr Richard, Mary was depressed about not being able to travel that summer and thus, she told him that she was going to take a couple of Seconal tables, a strong sedative used to calm patients before surgery. Later that night, Mary apparently fell asleep while sitting in her upholstered chair in the apartment's hall.

 The next morning, when Mary’s landlady was on her way to deliver Mary a telegram, an intense smell of smoke coming from Mary’s apartment caught her attention. As the handle of the apartment door was too hot to grab, she sought the help of a few neighbours who were greeted by a horrifying sight when they entered the apartment.

 Inside the apartment, they found Mary reduced into a pile of soot. Amidst the ash were a few pieces of her spine, her undamaged left foot, and her skull which had shrunken to the size of a cup. In line with the opinion of experts, for Mary's body to be so thoroughly cremated, her body would have to burn at 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for three to four hours. This blazing heat, however, had not caused much damage to her apartment.

 The slight damage the apartment had sustained, however, oozed inexplicable strangeness. Electric switches and receptacles three feet above the floor had melted but switches that were present lower than that remained intact. The wax of candles on a nearby shelf had melted but their wicks stood upright. Also, a stack of newspapers lying down just a few feet away from the ash pile had not caught fire.

 As the investigators were not able to come up with a plausible explanation for the incident, they sent some of their findings to the FBI for analysis. Although the FBI couldn’t find any trace of combustibles, they found melted human fat on Mary’s rug. These findings suggested that Mary was a victim of “Spontaneous Human Combustion”.

What is Spontaneous Human Combustion?

 Spontaneous Human Combustion is a concept of combustion where a human body is ignited from within. Although 60 % of the human adult body is made up of water, it has components that are potential flammables. These components include body fat and methane gas created by the microbes in the gastrointestinal tract. The methane gas acts as an accelerant for the internally ignited fire while the fat acts as its fuel. Although the cause of this internal ignition remains unknown, there are a few theories surrounding it.

Larry Arnold's Theory

 According to the research of Larry Arnold, the author of “Ablaze”, a subatomic particle called pyrotron interacts with human cells to create a microscopic nuclear explosion. This explosion apparently radiates outward from “the subatomic level to the atomic level to the physical structure of the human body”.

Brian J. Ford's Theory

 In 2012, biologist Brian J. Ford suggested that the internal ignition could be caused by a build-up of acetone (a highly volatile and flammable substance) in the body. Small amounts of acetone are naturally present in all human bodies but this level has a tendency to increase with persistent alcohol consumption and constant changes in diet.

 Brian also mentioned that diabetes and specific kinds of diets can cause cells in the human body to enter a state of ketosis which makes them highly flammable. In line with his theory, these cells could cause the combustion of the human body.

Other Theories

 Other popular theories suggest that the combustion could be caused due to build of up of static electricity over time or a natural release of enzymes which drastically increases cell metabolism and body temperature.

The "Wick Effect"

 Scientists and sceptics who disregard the theory of Spontaneous Human Combustion lean towards the “wick effect”, a hypothesis that rationally explains the manner in which the victims of Spontaneous Human Combustion had burn to death.

 When the wick of a candle is set on fire, the paraffin wax around it melts due to the heat it generates. Primarily made up of hydrocarbons, the wax is pulled into the wick by capillary effect following which it acts as a slow-burning fuel for the fire. This cycle repeats itself as the candle continues burning. As the liquid wax is vapourised by the heat of the flame, it tends to rise up. This causes the flame of the candle to always point up and the objects below the flame remain unburnt.

 According to the wick effect hypothesis, the victims of human combustion burn similarly to a candle. The clothes of the victim act as the wick while the body fat acts as the paraffin wax in the candle. Because of the nature of this fire, the objects under and around the burning victim remain unburnt. This hypothesis has proven to be accurate in pig tissue as long as the heat source can stay connected to something flammable for long enough to cause a small fire.

 Most of the victims of spontaneous human combustion are overweight smokers who were either under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Considering these characteristics, there is a possibility of their cigarettes falling on their clothes while they accidentally blacked out. This could have caused their clothes to catch fire which would have bought the wick effect into the picture. However, this theory does not explain why the victims stayed put in their chairs while they painfully burnt for hours together.

Other Notable Cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion

The Case of Polonus Vostius

 The first known case of spontaneous human combustion occurred in Milan, Italy during the late 14^th century. Polonus Vostius was an Italian knight who was habituated to drinking while away from the battlefield. One night, while the heavy drinker was drinking wine in a pub in Milan, he reportedly started belching fire like a dragon. A few moments later, he burst into flames and died.

The Case of Nicole Millet

 Another well-known case occurred on 20 February 1975 in Rheims France when an innkeeper named Nicole Millet was found burnt to death in an apparently unburnt chair. The previous night, Nicole and her husband Jean Millet had gone to bed at around 8 pm. As she was finding it hard to sleep, Nicole got up from her bed after Jean fell asleep and went to the kitchen to warm herself up.

 During the early hours of the next day, Jean was woken up from his slumber by an “infectious odour” which led him to the kitchen. Inside the kitchen was his wife Nicole who had been reduced into a pile of ash. The only parts left of her were portions of her intestines, her skull and her lower legs.

 Legal authorities accused Jean Millet of murdering his wife and he was arrested. However, his case was appealed at the high court where he was declared innocent. During his appeal, Dr Claude-Nicolas Le Cat, a man who had stayed in the Millet’s inn during the tragic night, claimed that he had seen Nicole burst into flames from the inside. In line with his claims, she was a victim of spontaneous human combustion.

The Case of Michael Faherty

 One morning in the December of 2010, the neighbour of a seventy-six-year-old man named Michael Faherty was brought out of his slumber by the loud sound of a fire alarm. The sound of the alarm led him to Faraday’s house where he saw a lot of smoke come from its windows. With Faherty not responding to his calls, he called the fire department. When they arrived, they found a pile of smouldering ash near the house’s fireplace and amidst the grey dust, were Faherty’s lower legs. Faherty had been magically incinerated and his lower legs had mysteriously escaped the wrath of fire. To add to the oddity, apart from the chair he had apparently been sitting on, no other things in the house had sustained fire damage.

 With no signs of any accelerants, the investigators were baffled by the strangeness this incident exhibited. According to coroner Dr Ciaran, this fire belonged to the category of “Spontaneous Human Combustion”. A category for which “there is no adequate explanation”.

The Case of Beatrice Oczki

 On the thanksgiving weekend of 1979, Beatrice Oczki waved goodbye to her son Frank. Unbeknownst to him, this was the last time he would be seeing his mother in the form of a human being.

 The next day, Beatrice’s daughter-in-law was greeted by the intense smell of smoke when she arrived at Beatrice’s doorstep. Alarmed by this smell, she called the fire department who, upon arriving, found her reduced into little piles of ash. Her lower legs, however, remained completely unharmed. Similar to Faherty’s case, except for Beatrice’s chair, no other things in the house had been damaged by the fire. These undamaged things include a stack of newspapers which lay very close to Beatrice’s burnt chair.

 Just like many other cases of “Spontaneous Human Combustion”, the interior of the house was covered by a thin layer of greasy substance which was nothing but human fat.

The Case of Margaret Hogan

 On the evening of 27 March 1970, an eighty-nine-year-old widow named Margaret Hogan was visited by her caretaker, Kathleen Rigney, at her house on Prussia Street in Dublin, Ireland. After washing her thoroughly, Rigney made her sit in an armchair and left her house.

 When Rigney arrived at Margaret’s house the next morning, she found her burnt into “little piles of ashes” and the only portions left of her body were her undamaged lower legs. Apart from the plastic flowers on a nearby table and the screen of a television that was in close proximity to her ash piles, all other things in the house remained untouched by the fire.

 Although it was pretty evident that the elderly woman had been burnt, the investigators were not able to connect it to a fire source. According to Dr Paddy Bofin, the Dubin city coroner of that time, the case belonged to the category of “Spontaneous Human Combustion”.