Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) refers to the belief that the human body sometimes burns without an external source of ignition. There is much speculation and controversy regarding SHC, for it is not a proven natural phenomenon. Many theories and hypotheses have attempted to explain how SHC might occur, but those which rely on current scientific understanding say that instances mistaken for spontaneous combustion actually required a source of ignition. One such hypothesis is the "wick effect", in which the clothing of the victim soaks up melted human fat and acts like the wick of a candle. Another possibility is that the clothing is caused to burn by a discharge of static electricity. The likelihood that truly spontaneous human combustion actually takes place is remote, due to the presence of water and the lack of highly flammable compounds and oxygen in the human body.^[1] This article is about the chemical reaction combustion. ... Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the burning of a persons body without the apparent presence of an external source of ignition. ...

Possible explanations

Wick effect

Main article: Wick effect

The wick effect is the partial destruction of a human body by fire, when the clothing of the victim soaks up melted human fat and acts like the wick of a candle. The wick effect is a real phenomenon that has been shown to occur under certain conditions. Since both wick effect and SHC would necessarily involve the incineration of bodies, and therefore the melting and combustion of body fat, there are many similarities between the known phenomenon (wick effect) and the alleged phenomenon (SHC). Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the burning of a persons body without the apparent presence of an external source of ignition. ... Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the burning of a persons body without the apparent presence of an external source of ignition. ...

A modern example is the unnamed woman discussed in a 1965 paper entitled "A Case of Spontaneous Combustion" ^[2] by Professor David Gee, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Leeds. Forensics or forensic science is the application of science to questions which are of interest to the legal system. ... The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university, one of the largest in the United Kingdom with over 32,000 full-time students. ...

Professor Gee states:

"Belief in the occurrence of spontaneous combustion is of respectable antiquity. More recently opinion has swung away from the quasi-supernatural views of earlier years, to regard such cases as due to unusual degrees of flammability of the human body in certain circumstances, distinguishing the condition with the name preternatural combustion."

Professor Gee's article concerns an 85-year-old woman who fell dead in her home of a heart attack. Her head landed in the hearth of her open coal fire and her body was "[...] grossly incinerated, apart from the right foot which lay beyond the damaged floorboards. Both arms and the left leg had been almost completely destroyed." Heart attack redirects here. ...

That the victim was dead before the combustion began was learned from an examination of the remaining parts of her body, which also shows how incompletely the victim's body had been destroyed:

"The coronary and internal carotid arteries showed atheromatous disease. No soot particles were present in the trachea. Blood from the right foot contained no carboxyhaemoglobin." Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. ...

Thus, the standard explanation offered by scientists is as follows (with minor variations):

• The victim dies suddenly (e.g., from a heart attack), or loses consciousness or mobility from excessive drinking.
• A cigarette or some other source of flame ignites the victim's clothing, which starts to burn, possibly fuelled by the spill of distilled beverages, and kills the victim if he or she is not already dead.
• The wick effect occurs.

Unlit filtered cigarettes. ... A distilled beverage is a consumable liquid containing ethyl alcohol (ethanol) purified by distillation from a fermented substance such as fruit, vegetables, or grain. ...

Television experiment

In August 1998, using a dead pig wrapped in a blanket and placed in a mocked-up room, the BBC set out to prove the wick effect theory in its science television show QED, episode entitled "The Burning Question". For other uses, see Pig (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

A small amount of petrol was poured on the blanket as an accelerant. After igniting the petrol, the researchers left it to burn by itself. The temperature of the fire was regularly recorded at only around 800 °C (1472 °F). Gasoline, as it is known in North America, or petrol, in many Commonwealth countries (sometimes also called motor spirit) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ...

As the fire burned through the pig's skin, the fire melted the pig's subcutaneous fats, which flowed onto the blanket. Bone marrow, which also contains a high amount of fat, contributed to the burning. The subcutis is the layer of tissue directly underlying the cutis. ... For the Dir en grey album, see The Marrow of a Bone. ...

The surrounding furniture was not burned, although a television placed above a cupboard had its plastic cover melted. The fire had to be manually extinguished after seven hours. Most of the pig's body had been burned to ashes. For other uses, see Plastic (disambiguation). ...

From the experiment, the BBC researchers claimed to have explained the following characteristics of SHC:

• The fires were highly localized. The flames of the fire were less than 50 centimeters (20 inches) high; therefore, the fire usually did not spread to furniture in the vicinity.
• The body was severely burned. The fire, although not very hot comparatively, can burn for a long period of time, as shown by the experiment. It is further fuelled by the body fat of the victim, which explains why the body can burn for such a long time.
• The furniture located above the cupboards burned. The fire continuously heated the air and produced a convection current. Hot air rose and caused the plastics in the television set to melt.

There are many problems with the QED program, which were raised by John E Heymer (who was unhappy with his own appearance on the show): This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of currents within fluids (i. ...

• The wick effect, while a real phenomenon, is a slow "smoldering" process with gentle lapping flames and thus very at odds with the reported rapidity and ferocity of SHC.
• The use of accelerants was not appropriate, since they are not a known factor in apparent SHC.
• The programme made use of time-lapse photography in demonstrating the wick effect, without labeling it as such. This undoubtedly led many viewers to erroneous conclusions about the rapidity of the wick effect, which (as discussed above) is a slow process.
• One section of the programme attempted to demonstrate the wick effect" on a wooden-framed stuffed armchair, presumably because of difficulties in procuring a human body and various ethical matters arising thereof. The armchair resolutely refused to behave in the manner predicted. When the armchair remained 80 percent unburned, this was announced as a partial demonstration of an effect that could happen under other conditions (if the chair were a corpse).
• Fire Research Station Officer Stan Ames was shown inspecting the damaged chair and declaring: "So! Really, this is broadly what we expected to find. It can all be explained in terms of ordinary physics and chemistry."

"It [the programme] was, however, marred by the conclusions drawn, which were not justified by the content of the programme. This is: it cannot be said at the present time, that 'science' has explained beyond reasonable doubt what is happening in these unusual cases."

The writer was Dr Alan Beard, Unit of Fire Safety, University of Edinburgh and close colleague of Dr Dougal Drysdale^[3]). Professor Dougal Drysdale (born in Scotland,UK) is a Professor Emeritus in Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh and member of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. ...

• Dr Drysdale had appeared in the QED programme, demonstrating the wick effect by burning animal fat wrapped in cotton. Heymer records ^[4]:

Once the fat had been completely obscured by the cloth roll, which overlapped the fat by an inch on either side, the camera zoomed in for a close-up of the fat roll. Professor Dougal Drysdale (born in Scotland,UK) is a Professor Emeritus in Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh and member of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering. ...

"Suddenly, we were looking at a completely different piece of fat."

"Whereas the first piece of fat had been overlapped by the piece of cloth by an inch on either side, the second piece of fat was now protruding about one and a half inches on the one side.[...] It was clear on the film that the fat was the sort that comes cooked a rich golden color from an oven - a process, I might add, that just happens to drive off the water."

The fat was then shown burning away very rapidly, through (uncaptioned) time lapse photography.

On 16 May 1989, Heymer^[5] spoke by telephone to Drysdale at Edinburgh University. Drysdale told Heymer that the fat was beef and said that it took: "A long time [to burn away], probably about two hours.

"I'll tell you one thing, I did that experiment in Edinburgh with some animal fat from the butchers. It worked extremely well. I tried it twice. Very easy to ignite and it burned for a long time. They produced this piece of stinking animal fat down at the Fire Research Station and we couldn't light the bloody thing."

Heymer asked if this was the reason for the unremarked-upon substitution of one piece of fat for another.

Drysdale replied: "That's right, that's right, yes."

• The programme's narrator (Anna Massey) summed up as follows:

"So it seems that every aspect of these mysterious fire deaths can now be explained. Some form of ignition causes the body to burn. The heat dried out the body so that condensation forms on the windows. Once the body is dry, the fat melts and orange fatty deposits build up on surfaces like the light bulbs. It would seem the mystery is finally over." Anna Massey, CBE (born August 11, 1937) is a British actress. ...

This statement, says Heymer, appears to suggest that a waterlogged body can catch fire for long enough (and at a sufficient temperature) to dry out (requiring the evaporation of an average of 10 gallons of body water), before it can become a suitable human candle. Vaporization redirects here. ... Averages redirects here. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... For other uses, see Candle (disambiguation). ...

Static flash fire hypothesis

This is a condition in which static electricity apparently builds up to such dangerous levels in the human body that a sparking discharge can ignite clothing. In static flash fire cases, the voltage that builds up is much higher, producing bright flashes capable of illuminating dark surroundings, or shimmering flame-like effects, depending on circumstances. In some cases, the charge is apparently sufficient to ignite dust or fluff clinging to clothing, which may then set clothing alight. One famous case occurred in 2005, in which an office worker reportedly managed to light up his office after building up a huge charge by walking across a carpet. ^[6] Several unanswered objections, however, mark the story as a possible hoax. ^[7] Static electricity is a class of phenomena involving the net charge present on an object; typically referring to charged object with voltages of sufficient magnitude to produce visible attraction, repulsion, and sparks. ... Physical Features of the Human Body The human body is the entire physical structure of a human organism. ... International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ... Look up dust in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The phenomenon of massive static charges on human bodies was first noted by the late professor Robin Beach, of Brooklyn, New York, founder of the scientific detective agency 'Robin Beach Engineers Associated'. One of his very first clients was an Ohio factory-owner whose plant was suddenly plagued with as many as eight small fires a day. Professor Beach's solution was to persuade each of the factory's employees in turn to step on to a metal plate while holding an electrode; at the same time he took reading from an electrostatic voltmeter. One of the workers was a young woman recently employed; when she stepped on to the metal plate, the meter showed a tremendous jump. She registered 30,000 volts of electrostatic electricity and a resistance of 500,000 ohms. Professor Beach recommended that she be transferred to some other part of the factory where she would not come into contact with combustible materials. Apparently, the fires immediately went down in frequency.^[8] This article is about the New York City borough, or Kings County, New York. ... This article is about the state. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For other uses, see Electrode (disambiguation). ... For other uses see fire (disambiguation). ...

The professor explained that under certain conditions (walking on carpets during dry winter weather, for example) almost anyone can build up an electrostatic charge of as much as 20,000 volts.^[9] Hence the shock we sometimes feel when touching a car door or other metal surface. Usually, the electricity is harmlessly discharged through the tips of the hair; however, the professor claimed, there are some people (he guessed around one in 100,000) whose abnormally dry skin permits them to generate as much as 30,000 volts at a time. In certain circumstances, he said, such people may be highly dangerous. They may, for example, have been the detonators that touched off explosions in hospital operating theaters whose atmosphere contained an admixture of anesthetic vapor and air. In addition, the professor was convinced that workers in ordnance factories and petroleum refineries should be tested to discover whether they have the type of skin which retains electric charges more persistently than others. He quoted an instance in which a man proved to be a hazard to himself:

"In one case I investigated, a driver decided to see if the battery of his car needed filling with water. It was a cold, dry fall day and the man walked a short distance on a concrete driveway, raised the hood of his car, and unscrewed the caps of the battery. There was an immediate explosion as he touched off the hydrogen gas escaping from the battery of the recently parked car. He was severely injured."

However, although Beach's theory may well account for many inexplicable fires, it does not account for all supposed cases of spontaneous human combustion. Many of the alleged victims of SHC are recorded as bursting in flames from "within". Electrical engineers have pointed out that no known discharge could possibly have such an effect. Also, many of the accounts state that the victim's body was almost entirely consumed by fire, yet their surrounding were completely undamaged by the flames that engulfed them, which is in flat contradiction of natural law. It must be noted, however, that alleged SHC cases tend to be exaggerated along the lines of urban legends, and that thus "little" damage to a body's surroundings (such as is found when a human body burns due to the wick effect; described above) may become "no" damage in retellings of the case; the reliable first-hand accounts are far less unequivocal about whether the victim's immediate surroundings showed marks of fire or not. See for example the case of Mary Reeser, where objects near the body, while not lit afire, nonetheless showed considerable damage due to great heat. An urban legend or urban myth is similar to a modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ... Mary Hardy Reeser (1884-1951) of St. ...

General misidentification hypothesis

Misidentification theory holds that a number of unsolved fire cases have built up into an overarching SHC myth. This may include wick effect and static flash as other unusual fires.

In modern times, Beard and Drysdale ^[3] cite the following as a single example of misidentification (taken from the files of CSICOP): The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, is an organization formed to encourage open minded, critical investigation of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims from a responsible, scientific point of view. ...

An unnamed man was leaving his place of work (unstipulated but presumably a garage or similar, for reasons which will be immediately clear) when he lit a cigarette and immediately burst into flames. It transpired that the victim had been in the habit of using a compressed air line to blow detritus off his clothing. On this occasion, the victim had accidentally used a pure oxygen line, temporarily (but greatly) increasing the flammability of his clothing. Compressed air is used to refer to: Pneumatics, the use of pressurized gases to do work, as used in the Air car Breathing gas, often used in scuba diving, also to inflate buoyancy devices Compressed air can also be used for cooling using a vortex tube. ... This article is about the chemical element and its most stable form, or dioxygen. ...

As an anomalous phenomenon

The field of SHC theories divides broadly into two camps: the supernaturalists and the non-supernaturalists. The supernaturalists believe that the cause of SHC is almost certainly beyond human knowledge forever. For other uses, see Supernatural (disambiguation). ...

There is little or no general agreement between those advocating such SHC conjectures.

John E Heymer and The Entrancing Flame

Described by Joe Nickell as an "English coal-miner-turned-constable,"^[10], John E Heymer wrote a 1996 book entitled The Entrancing Flame. Joe Nickell was born December 1, 1944 and is a prominent investigator of the paranormal. ... John E Heymer is a former police officer and author, who has written extensively on the field of spontaneous human combustion (also known as SHC). ... The Entrancing Flame 1996 is a book by John E Heymer, which gets its title from one deductive conclusion that he has reached from examining many cases of alleged spontaneous human combustion. ...

The title is derived from one deductive conclusion that he has reached from examining many cases, namely that SHC victims are lonely people who fall into a trance immediately before their incineration.

Heymer suggests that a psychosomatic process in such emotionally-distressed people can trigger off a chain reaction by freeing hydrogen and oxygen within the body and setting off a chain reaction of mitochondrial explosions. A psychosomatic illness is one with physical manifestations and supposed psychological cause, often diagnosed when any known or identifiable physical cause was excluded by medical examination. ... A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions. ... ...

However, Heymer's theories have no basis in scientific theory. Ian Simmons, in a review of The Entrancing Flame, criticized Heymer thus: "He seems to be under the illusion that hydrogen and oxygen exist as gases in the mitochondrial cell [sic] and are thus vulnerable to ignition, which is, in fact, not the case."^[11] This article is about the chemistry of hydrogen. ... This article is about the chemical element and its most stable form, or dioxygen. ...

Alleged deaths and survivals

Deaths

• Robert Francis Bailey
• Dr John Irving Bentley
• George I. Mott
• Mary Hardy Reeser (also known as The Cinder Lady)
• Jeannie Saffin
• Henry Thomas

Robert Francis Bailey was a tramp who was allegedly killed by Spontaneous Human Combustion. ... Dr John Irving Bentley was an alleged victim of Spontaneous Human Combustion. ... George I. Mott (1928 – 1986) was a fireman who burned to death in his home outside Crown Point, New York in 1986. ... On the night of July 1-July 2, 1951, Mary Hardy Reeser, age 67, burned to death in her apartment in St. ... Jeannie Saffin was an alleged victim of spontaneous human combustion. ... On 6 January 1980, a 73 year-old man called Henry Thomas was found burned to death in the living room of his council house on the Rassau council estate, Ebbw Vale, county of Gwent, Wales. ...

Survivals

A number of people have reported serious burns that injured their bodies with no apparent cause. If this is not the alleged phenomenon known as SHC, it would appear to be a very closely-related occurrence. This list is not intended to be taken as comprehensive.

• Jack Angel
• Professor H (University of Tennessee professor whose clothing caught fire in 1835)
• Wilfred Gowthorpe

Jack Angel is a suspected victim of spontaneous human combustion. ... Wilfred Gowthorpe was an alleged survivor of spontaneous human combustion. ...

Survivors of static flash fires/events

Two examples of people surviving potentially-catastrophic static flash events are given in John E Heymer's book The Entrancing Flame. Each case is backed up by eyewitnesses The Entrancing Flame 1996 is a book by John E Heymer, which gets its title from one deductive conclusion that he has reached from examining many cases of alleged spontaneous human combustion. ...

The accounts are in the form of written and signed statements from named individuals, shorn of some details to protect the privacy of correspondents. Summaries follow.

• ^[12] In September 1985, a young woman named Debbie Clark was walking home when she noticed an occasional flash of blue light:

Debbie's mother, Dianne Clark:

• ^[13] In winter 1980, Cheshire, England resident Susan Motteshead was standing in her kitchen, wearing flame-resistant pajamas, when she was suddenly engulfed in a short-lived fire that seemed to have ignited the fluff on her clothing but burned out before it could set anything properly alight.

The daughter, Joanne Motteshead, confirms this account and adds that the fire brigade arrived and tried (unsuccessfully) to set fire to Susan's pajamas.

• ^[13] : The three subjects (Debbie Clark, Daniel C. Boone, and Susan Motteshead), speaking independently and with no knowledge of each other, give similar histories.

Clark:

Motteshead:

This article is about the year. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the English county. ... Look up Pajamas in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In fiction

In the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, the character Krook is killed by spontaneous combustion, "engendered in the corrupted humors of the vicious body itself". Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly parts between March 1852 and September 1853. ... Dickens redirects here. ...

In the first chapter of the novel Jacob Faithful (1834) by Charles Marryatt there is a vivid account of the hero's mother perishing "in that very peculiar and dreadful manner, which does sometimes, although rarely, occur, to those who indulge in an immoderate use of spirituous liquor. Cases of this kind do, indeed, present themselves but once in a century, but the occurrence of them is too well authenticated. She perished from what is termed spontaneous combustion, an inflammation of the gases generated from the spirits absorbed into the system."

Examples of spontaneous combustion occur in three works by the nineteenth-century Russian author Nikolai Gogol. In the story "St. John's Eve" from Gogol's "Village Evenings Near Dikanka" (1831-2) the guilty character Petro the orphan spontaneously combusts when confronted with a vision of a child he had killed. In the story "Vii," a huntsman in a Cossack village combusts after an encounter with a witch: "And once, when they came to the stable, instead of him there was just a heap of ashes and an empty bucket lying there: he burned up, burned up of his own self." In the novel Dead Souls, the landowner Korobochka laments that her serf-blacksmith burned up: "Something inside him started burning somehow, he'd had too much to drink. A blue flame just came out of him, and he smoldered and smoldered all over, and turned black as charcoal, and he was such a really skillful blacksmith!^[14]." For other uses, see Dead Souls (disambiguation). ...

Jules Verne describes in his novel Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen (1878) that when a fictional African "King of Kazounde" tasted a punch set aflame, "An act of spontaneous combustion had just taken place. The king had taken fire like a petroleum bonbon. This fire developed little heat, but it devoured nonetheless." Verne has no doubt about SHC being the result of alcoholism : "In bodies so thoroughly alcoholized, combustion only produces a light and bluish flame, that water cannot extinguish. Even stifled outside, it would still continue to burn inwardly. When liquor has penetrated all the tissues, there exists no means of arresting the combustion." This article is about the French author. ... Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen (Un capitaine de quinze ans) is a Jules Verne novel published in 1878. ...

Spontaneous combustion that does not harm a person is a superpower granted to many comic book characters such as the Human Torch of The Fantastic Four and Fire of the Justice League of America. Superpowers redirects here. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... This article is about the Silver/Modern Age Human Torch, Johnny Storm. ... The Fantastic Four is Marvel Comics flagship superhero team, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuting in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ... Fire is a fictional superheroine published by DC Comics. ... The Justice League is a DC Comics superhero team. ...

In the movie Repo Man the incineration of a police officer by the mysterious object in the trunk of a car is cited as an example of spontaneous human combustion by a government agent ("It happens sometimes. People just explode.") For other uses, see Repo Man (disambiguation). ...

The 1984 comic-horror film Bloodbath at the House of Death mentions that only one of 18 people murdered in the film's opening underwent spontaneous combustion. Bloodbath at the House of Death is a comedy horror film produced in 1983 by the late British comedian, Kenny Everett, and starred Vincent Price. ...

In the animated series Aaahh!!! Real Monsters episode "Spontaneously Combustible", main character Ickis is given a diagnosis by the school's doctor predicting he will Spontaneously Combust due to burning belches he emits. It turns out that it was nothing but gas from eating a car battery. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series about adolescent monsters in training, developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon. ...

In an episode of The X-Files, Scully says that a body she is examining may have combusted, causing Mulder to remark, "Dear diary, today my heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combustion..." The X-Files is an American Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on 10 September 1993, and ended on 19 May 2002. ...

In the TV series South Park, the episode "Spontaneous Combustion" involves many people in the town suddenly bursting into flames. Stan Marsh's father finds out this is caused by intestinal gas. This article is about the TV series. ... For the physical phenomenon, see spontaneous combustion. ...

In Stargate SG-1, priors of the Ori are able to spontaneously combust if they are captured, believe they are a danger to their cause, or betray the Ori. Stargate SG-1 (often abbreviated as SG-1) is a science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. ...

In an episode of Dead Like Me, Daisy witnesses a man spontaneously combust. She then remarks, "Spontaneous human combustion... I thought it was a myth." Dead Like Me is an American television comedy-drama starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers in Seattle, Washington. ...

In the manga series Rurouni Kenshin, the character Shishio Makoto dies by spontaneous combustion during his fight with Kenshin. This occurs because Shishio sweat glands were destroyed, allowing for his internal body temperature to skyrocket during the fight, igniting his internal fats and oils. This article is about the comics created in Japan. ... Serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump Shonen Jump Original run September 2, 1994 – November 4, 1999 Volumes 28 TV anime Director Kazuhiro Furuhashi Studio Studio Gallop (episodes 1-66), Studio Deen (episodes 66 onwards), SPE Visual Works Licensor SPE Visual Works AnimeWorks Network Fuji Television, Animax Original run January 10, 1996... Makoto Shishio(志々雄真実) is a fictional character from the manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin. ...

In the movie This Is Spinal Tap several of the band's drummers died of freak accidents, including one who spontaneously combusted on stage, leaving behind only a "globule". David St. Hubbins stated "Dozens of people spontaneously combust every year; it's just not very widely reported." This Is Spin̈al Tap (which is officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut symbol over the N) is a 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the semi-fictional heavy-metal glam rock band Spinal Tap. ... David St. ...

In the MTV show Celebrity Deathmatch a former interviewer named Stacey Cornbred died that way. This article is about the original U.S. music television channel. ... Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation parody television show that pits celebrities against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in the losers gruesome death. ... Stacey Cornbred was a fictional character and former interviewer of the fighters in the animated series Celebrity Deathmatch, from 1998-1999, on MTV. She was voiced by Mz. ...

In the comic book series Sam and Max, a villain spontaneously combusts, having cornered the eponymous heroes. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Sam and Max are a pair of fictional comic book characters who occupy a parody of American popular culture. ...

In the humor novel How to Die: or The Good Gatsby by Wm. Douglas Warren, the first chapter ends with the main character spontaneously combusting.

In the Playstation game Parasite Eve spontaneous combustion is shown and attributed to Mitochondria. For other uses, see PlayStation (disambiguation). ... For the series, see Parasite Eve series. ... In cell biology, a mitochondrion is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes. ...

The Song Pardon Me by Incubus alludes to spontaneous combustion. Pardon Me is a song by American alternative rock band Incubus from their 1999 album Make Yourself. ... Incubus is a five-piece American alternative rock band based out of Calabasas, California. ...

The song OhMyGodImOnFire by the late Logan Whitehurst is about the singer watching a burning man screaming and running around, referenced as spontaneous human combustion. Logan Whitehurst (November 15, 1977 – December 3, 2006), was the drummer for the Northern California band Little Tin Frog from 1995 until 2000. ...

In the musical episode Once More, with Feeling of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a demon named Sweet is able to cause people to combust by making them dance to death. List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes Once More, With Feeling is a musical episode of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which a mysterious force compels Sunnydale residents into songs that reveal their deep secrets. ... For other uses, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (disambiguation). ...

In TV series Darkplace, in episode "Once Upon A Beginning," one of Dagless’s old colleagues combusts. The cast of Darkplace, from left to right: Todd Rivers/Dr. Lucien Sanchez, Dean Learner/Thornton Reed, Garth Marenghi/Dr. Rick Dagless and Madeleine Wool/Dr. Liz Asher. ...

In Yukito Kishiro's science-fiction manga series Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, a world where science ensures eternal youth, spontaneous human combustion became the leading cause of death in higher developed zones. It is explained as psychosomatic effect which changes the body's chemical setup to ultimately lead to combustion. In the manga, spontaneous human combustion can also be caused by hypnosis.

In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the character Dr. Weird has his head spontaneously combust after his moth monster escapes. In another episode, Carl's head similarly combusts but with no reason. For the movie, see Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. ...

In the television series Picket Fences, Mayor Bill Pugen dies from spontaneous combustion moments after his conviction for murder. Picket Fences is a 60-minute drama which initially ran from September 18, 1992 to June 26, 1996 on the CBS television network in the United States. ...

The pilot of the television show Max Headroom featured a story about 3 second TV ads overloading a viewer's nervous system in a way that causes them to explode. It has been suggested that 20 Minutes into the Future be merged into this article or section. ...

In the comic strip "Dilbert,” one of the employees' head explodes, after he kept talking when he was not supposed to at a meeting. When he was asked to be quiet, he replied that he was the kind of person that had to talk, or his "head would explode.” A co-worker tested that theory by putting her hand over his mouth. Dilbert (first published April 16, 1989) is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. ...

In the computer game The Sims, it is possible for the simulated humans to spontaneously combust. This article is about a computer game that was released in year 2000. ...

In the manga version of X/1999, Tōru Shirō dies when her body spontaneously starts to burn, presumably, as an effect of her use of the so-called "kage-nie" powers. X/1999, an early work of the hit all female manga-ka group CLAMP, details the apocalypse in a very literal adaptation of the Book of Revelation. ... This article describes the fictional characters of the X manga series. ...

In the ER episode "Mars Attacks" a man spontaneously combusts. ER is an Emmy-winning American serial medical drama created by novelist Michael Crichton and set primarily in the emergency room of fictional County General Hospital in Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. ...

A similar experiment to the "Televised Experiment" above with the pig was done on an episode of CSI, trying to prove the SHC theory.

In the Red Dwarf episode Confidence and Paranoia, Lister is informed that a previous mayor of Warsaw spontaneously combusted. He then contracts a mutated form of pneumonia that turns his subconscious thoughts into reality, thus causing the mayor of Warsaw to appear on the ship and then explode. Red Dwarf is a British science fiction comedy franchise, the primary form of which comprises eight series of a post-watershed television sitcom that ran on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999, and which has achieved a global cult following. ... Confidence and Paranoia was the fifth Red Dwarf episode to air. ...

Crime fiction novelist Simon Beckett uses an apparent case of SHC as the investigative starting point in his novel Written in Bone, the second novel in the David Hunter series. Simon Beckett (born 1968 in Sheffield) is a British journalist and author. ...

Quotes

See also

• Exploding animal
• Anomalous phenomena
• Anthropic misidentification
• Combustion
• Spontaneous Combustion
• Pyrokinesis

An exploding animal is an animal that explodes either through natural causes or with the intervention of humans. ... This article is about the chemical reaction combustion. ... Spontaneous combustion is a type of combustion which occurs without an external ignition source. ... Pyrokinesis is the paranormal or legendary ability to control, ignite, and/or extinguish fire using only the mind. ...

References

John E Heymer is a former police officer and author, who has written extensively on the field of spontaneous human combustion (also known as SHC). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... John E Heymer is a former police officer and author, who has written extensively on the field of spontaneous human combustion (also known as SHC). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... John E Heymer is a former police officer and author, who has written extensively on the field of spontaneous human combustion (also known as SHC). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... John E Heymer is a former police officer and author, who has written extensively on the field of spontaneous human combustion (also known as SHC). ...

External links

• CSICOP article on spontaneous human combustion
• "Spontaneous Human Combustion" - from the Skeptic's Dictionary
• A BBC article describing the experiment
• Burning issuesfrom alternativescience.com on BBC August 1999 QED documentary and its perceived shortcomings.
• Article on causes of spontaneous human combustion including history.
• Spontaneous Human Combustion an Anomalies Study.
• Spontaneous Human Combustion or SHC from SpookyFiles.
• Matthew Alice's Straight from the Hip column on spontaneous human combustion
• A BBC article describing the experiment
• Article on causes of spontaneous human combustion including history
• Pardon Me, While I Burst Into Flames
• Spontaneous human combustion: What's behind the mystery of spontaneous human combustion?
• Human static electricity generators: Can a person’s body generate static electricity? An examination of human static generation, including a newspaper report on Mavis Price