Spontaneous human combustion: Mysteries remain

(Photo by Einar Helland Berger)

It is disturbing enough for the average human to think about a peaceful death surrounded by weeping loved ones.  Imagine, then, what going up in flames (while leaning back to comfortably watch TV) must feel like…

Such was the case with poor old Henry Thomas.  All that was left when help arrived at the scene were "his skull and a portion of each leg below the knee."  His nearby eyeglasses and slippers remained unscathed.  What to make of this seemingly-spontaneous human

combustion (SHC)?  John E. Heymer, who subsequently devoted a great deal of time to researching SHC, was the police officer in attendance.  He concluded that Thomas' body was burning while seated in the TV chair.  The chair then caught fire, collapsed on one

side, and deposited the body onto the floor.  At that point, the chair (which was no longer in contact with the burning body) stopped burning.  The body, however, continued to burn until only the aforementioned parts remained.  This theory seems plausible enough, but still doesn't explain why Thomas' body began burning in the first place…

The jury is still very much out on why spontaneous human combustion occurs.  Wikipedia reports that there have been "about 200 cited cases worldwide over a period of around 300 years."  Some believe that paranormal forces (such as ghosts - or even divine intervention) are at work.  Others believe that "health and lifestyle factors" (such as alcohol consumption and/or smoking) may explain at least some of these cases.  Still others attribute SHCs to "unknown or otherwise unobserved phenomena" – which sounds like a fancy way of saying that SHCs remain essentially mysterious…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Thomas_(suspected_combustion_death)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion

Copyright November 1, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved