For centuries, there have been claims that, in rare instances, people can suddenly explode. The phenomenon is called spontaneous human combustion (SHC), which has remained unexplainable despite various claims that it happened to them.
Is Spontaneous Human Combustion Real?
In the 1800s, "spontaneous human combustion" was a real concern. Charles Dickens even mentioned in his 1853 novel "Bleak House" how a character explodes into a fire. The same issue was also mentioned in the works of Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Washington Irving and more.
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) refers to cases when people who die from an explosion with a fire believed to have started within them. SHC is fatal and there are various theories surrounding this matter.
According to some, burning frequently appears to start in the chest or stomach region, leaving the gruesome remains of the legs and hands unharmed. Others assert that the victim's clothing and the furniture and flooring beneath and around them all strangely stay unburned.
A few of these widely accepted statements are erroneous. For instance, numerous images of alleged SHC victims clearly depict substantial burning as well as damage to the victim's surroundings and clothing. It's also critical to have a basic understanding of fire forensics. A lot of flames are self-limiting, meaning that they extinguish themselves on their own when their fuel supply runs out. Although uncontrolled fires frequently totally consume and burn down entire rooms and buildings in front of the public, fires are unpredictable.
For instance, it is fairly easy for a fire to start in a rug, bed, or sofa and not spread to the remainder of the space. It's neither unusual or spooky to find a victim in one area of a room completely burned while the remainder of the space is mostly just damaged by smoke, as fires typically burn upward rather than outward.
There is no concrete evidence supporting SHC, as all explanations are pseudoscientific. Also, the human body is about 60 to 70 percent water, so there is no physical or medical mechanism that one can possibly self-combust.
4 Theories About Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC)
In an attempt to explain this mysterious phenomenon, there are various theories about SHC. However, none of them had held up to scrutiny.
Human Wick Theory
In the 20th century, forensic scientists noticed the "wick effect," where the victim's clothing can soak up melted fat and act like the wick of the candle. It creates a condition for the body to smolder. However, subsequent experiments show unusual characteristics associated with SHC. Also, there are suspected cases that there's an external source of ignition, probably a match, cigarette, or an electrical spark.
Subatomic Pyrotron Theory
This theory is based on quantum physics. According to the hypothesis, a particle as little as a neutrino but with enormous strength travels through the atoms' quarks, which make up the molecules that make up the human body. Rarely a rogue particle hits a quark directly and initiates an internal chain reaction.
Kundalini Theory
According to Penny Kellly, kundalini is an increase in electrical current in the body. Kundalini is powerful and Margaret Moga speculates that the voltage potential of the body dramatically increases during Kundalini and SHC. When kundalini happens to an unprepared individual, they may go up in flames.
Cartography of Combustion
Cartography of Combustion theory suggests that fire may have something to do with their geographic alignments in things like ancient monuments or other places traditionally linked to energy mysteries on Earth. These linkages follow channels of previously unexplained geophysical energy that circulate across the planet and can, in the right conditions, produce spontaneous combustion in objects, structures and people.
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