What´s Spontaneous Human Combustion?

Spontaneous Human Combustion, also known as SHC, is a type of fire that is mysterious and unexplainable. Many scientists tried to determine if it is real. SHC is when a person bursts into flames from a chemical reaction from an external source. Spontaneous means the fire spreads quickly. Combustion means the process of burning. Most of its victims are elderly and overweight. Also most of the victims were alone at their house. A lot of people think it is a false mystery. This is a controversial topic that contains a lot of theories.
Many believers have many reasons why they think this is true. The investigators don’t detect any external flame. The human body needs two things to combust: intensely high heat and flammable substance (howstuffworks.com).
The investigators usually prove that the victims are either smokers or drinkers. There is a most believable theory named the Wick Effect. The Wick Effect is when your clothes resemble the wick of a candle and the fat surrounding your body is like wax of a candle. It lets the body burn for 5-10 hours. Also if someone lit someone on fire, the limbs would burn off into ashes with the body. But with SHC the limbs remain intact.
The most mysterious case of Spontaneous Human Combustion happened in 1951, when a woman named Mary Reeser burst into flames while asleep sitting in her chair.
Every day Mary took a sleeping pill by nine o’clock (Herbst). The next morning, her neighbor noticed Mary’s doorknob was hot so she broke in Mary’s apartment (history.com). Her neighbor found Mary in her chair, but the only pieces left of her was a piece of her spine, charred liver, one foot, and her shrunken head the size of a teacup. The investigators said she fell asleep with a cigarette in her mouth. Another popular incident occurred on December 5, 1966 when Dr. Irving Bentley died in his bathroom because of SHC. Bentley couldn't walk or get up properly so he needed a walker. Since he couldn’t walk to answer the door, he gave a key to his gas meter reader, Mr. Gosnell. When Mr. Gosnell came to check the gas meter, he went to the basement and then he noticed a “blue, light smoke that smelt sweet” (Kallen). There was a pile of ashes and when he looked up, there was a hole right through the ceiling leading to the bathroom in Bentley’s bedroom. When Mr. Gosnell went to investigate, he saw the incinerated remains of Dr. Bentley. All that was left of him was his left foot, which still had the slipper
on.
How ever with believers, there are always skeptics.
And these skeptics believe that spontaneous human combustion can never be true. Almost all of the victims were asleep or sitting in a chair. Mary Reeser took sleeping pills everyday, which could have, gave anyone the chance to light her on fire. She also fell asleep while smoking a cigarette. A lot of the victims were drinking or smoking a cigarette when they burst into flames. If they fell asleep with a cigarette then it could have lit their clothing causing people to burn to death. It is also noted that all of the victims were alone. They could have easily been lit on fire by something or someone without anyone noticing. Dr. Irving Bentley was in his bathroom alone when he went up in flames. Another theory is a chemical reaction externally. The Wick Effect also has to be started by something or someone lighting the clothing on
fire.
Even though I would love to believe in spontaneous human combustion, it’s just too unreal. There is more skepticism than realism when it comes to this. SHC is just people trying to think that bursting into flames can actually happen, when it can’t. This research helped my make up my mind by letting me realize that it is physically not possible to go up in flames. Even though that would be quite a sight to see, it just does not seem probable. My opinion of whether to believe that spontaneous human combustion is true is that this is a complete fraud. .