Spontaneous Human Combustion :: essays research papers

For as yet scientific all(prenominal)y unknown reasons, quantifys occur when an unsuspecting person can solely burst into flames and be incinerated. This is referred to in the scientific world as involuntary Human Combustion or SHC. There atomic number 18 many enter cases throughout history.The earliest cases go as far back as the early 16th century. Then there are the ones that are as recent as 1998 but have no better chronicle of what happen then the ones in the 16th century did. There are truly only two types of cases fatal and non-fatal. The fatal cases of SHC represent three-quarters of all the reported incidents. The most common of these cases is the famous "bedroom burnings" in which a victim is found as a pile of ashes with only limbs retaining. These burnings a characterized by five main features1) The victims body and clothes is mostly reduced to ash.2) Small portions of the body (an arm, a foot, mayhap the head) remain unburned.3) Only objects immediately associated with the body have burned the fire neer spread away from the body.4) A greasy soot deposit covers the jacket and walls, usually stopping three to four feet above the floor.5) Objects above this three to four foot line show signs of heat damage (melted candles, crazy mirrors, etc.) objects below this line show o damage.     These cases are the ones that mass media incline to cover most and is what most people think of when they hear more than or less spontaneous human combustion. Nearly half of the cases are "bedroom burnings"      other common case under the fatal category are the witnessed combustions, in which people are actually seen by witnesses to burst into flames. Most of the time witnesses claim that there was no other source of ignition and/or the flames were seen to come directly from the victims skin. These cases present the fact that maybe SHC has more to do with the supernatural than science. Unfortunatel y, most of theses cases are poorly documented and usually unconfirmed.     The second major type of SHC is the non-fatal cases. The victims usually dont know anymore than the investigators do. The good thing about this is that the victims are subsisting to tell about what happened and cause most SHC skeptics to take a give ear at the picture again.     Non-fatal cases usually incorporate one or more of the following features. The most common is the mysterious flames. This is where a victim volition just begin to emit flames form their body.