Originally posted by SingaporeTyrannosaur:
The answer is not as mysterous as you think. Many cases, if not all, can be scientifically explained by the "wick effect" burning.
In cases of SHC, only the body and a highly localized area is badly damaged, with even the bones turned to ash. COntray to what you have stated, no, the clothes are also burnt. In some cases, some areas of the body escape harm while the rest are burnt, a grusome sight to see two legs or arms sticking out of a pile of ashes.
Scientists have discovered that most cases of SHC are caused by the wick effect burning, in which case, the fire is hardly spontaneous, but rather, having an external cause to start the body burning, such as a cig or a match.
Experiments with pig bodies to investigate wick effect burning have produced effects remarkably similar to SHC, with highly localized area of burn and the bones having being reduced to ash.
What happens is after the person catches fires on his clothes and collaspes or passes out, the fire contuines to burn. To spark off wick effect burning, the bodily fulids like fatty tissues and lipids are melted by the intense heat of the burning and soak the burning fabric, be it clothes, a sofa or a bed. Hence the fabric actually becomes a wick that fuels the fire with the body fulids like a candle. This flames will be small but intense at about 800 degrees, and with the ability to reduce the body to ashes.
After 4-6 hours of burning, the bone marrow, which is high in fat, melts and soaks the bone, catching fire and allowing the bone to catch fire, also with wick effect burning. This flame is also intense enough to reduce the bone to powder.
The fire only stops after the body fuels have been used up, and as the fire is small, it dies out rather then spreading, hence you get a typical SHC case of highly localized fire damage but little burns to anywhere else. If the person is lean enough and arranged in the right position when he dies while on fire, the extremities will escape the wick effect burning while the rest of the body is destroyed, leading to a rather disturbing scene of legs sticking out of ashes.
Hence we have the main reason for most SHC cases, that is, wick effect burning. Not as exotic as we would have liked (such as magnetic fields and stuff), but it's the most likely case. So next time your clothes catch fire, remember to put out the flames or else you might become the next case of wick effect burning.
Recently, the wick effect burning was shown on CSI when Brown and Sarah investigate a case of supposed SHC.
Thanks for the inputs and corrections dude
As for the legs sticking out from the ashes after *SHC takes place, as Tyrannosaur mentioned above, I do have a link which has such a photo...
However, as the photo may shock squeamish people and this thread does not have a warning at the title, people who come in may be shocked at the photo of human ashes and legs sticking out and whatnot...
I have therefore decided to provide a link to that page instead...
Warning, this photo may not be suitable for the faint hearted..
A photo of a woman who *SHCed...with captions....*SHC = Spontaneous Human Combustion
