Spontaneous Human Combustion

Spontaneous human combustion is one of the most bizarre phenomena in the world of the paranormal. While some believe that cases of spontaneous combustion are just myths and superstitions passed around by people, that’s not entirely true. Myths generally have common traits — they "allegedly" happened to a friend of a friend of a friend, and when someone tries to track down the actual individuals, they always hit a dead end. However, that is not the case with spontaneous combustion. It happens to specific individuals, who suddenly leave behind nothing but a pile of ashes.

Cases of spontaneous combustion are usually classified under spirits and apparitions, as many experts believe this phenomenon occurs due to some kind of psychokinesis taking place within the human mind. Others suggest it may be related to the still poorly understood phenomenon of poltergeists, where there are also many cases of sudden and unexplained outbreaks of fire. However, spontaneous combustion cases are still somewhat different. Regardless of the cause, there are thousands of documented cases involving men and women across the world.

In December 2001, a 73-year-old woman from Garden Grove, California died from third-degree burns covering 90% of her body. The firefighters on site and the attending medical examiner were left speechless. They couldn’t understand how the woman’s body had burned so completely while all the furniture and even the couch she had been lying on remained untouched.

An even more curious case occurred in 1997 in Gortaleen, Northern Ireland. 76-year-old John O'Connor suddenly burst into flames in front of his wife. What’s strange is that only his head burned. His torso, legs, and even the chair he was sitting on were completely unaffected.

How can the human body be so prone to spontaneous ignition? In 1961, Dr. Gavin Thurston conducted a study in which he proposed several explanations. According to him, under certain conditions, human fat can begin to burn in such a way that the surrounding environment remains undamaged. He stated that the ignition is not spontaneous but caused by external sources of heat. His findings were supported by Dr. D.J. Gee, a forensic pathologist at the University of Leeds. In an experiment, he discovered that human fat needs a minimum temperature of 250°C (482°F) to ignite. Together, Thurston and Gee concluded that human spontaneous combustion results from external ignition of human fat — and although this requires a series of unlikely coincidences, it is not impossible.

But how then do we explain cases like that of Grace Walker in 1969, who was found burned in her living room? At the time of discovery, she was still alive, but died en route to the hospital. Investigators found no signs of fire or ignition in the home. There were no heat sources in the room, and her family confirmed that she did not smoke.

An even more intriguing theory links spontaneous combustion to the bizarre phenomenon of ball lightning. Many scientists seriously consider the possibility that ball lightning could be the cause. However, these claims remain theoretical, as it’s incredibly difficult to reproduce such conditions in laboratory settings — partly because even today, experts do not agree on what ball lightning actually is.

In 1960, Louise Matthews from South Philadelphia survived a terrifying experience that may support this theory. Matthews claimed she was lying on the couch in her living room when a large red fireball entered her apartment through a closed window without breaking it. In a panic, she laid face-down and covered her head with a mattress. She reported that the fireball traveled through the room and exited through another window, emitting a crackling noise. It allegedly passed over her, burning her back. As proof, she showed a burned strip of skin on her lower back.

Another fascinating aspect of spontaneous combustion is that the human body burns completely, including the bones — leaving only a small pile of ash. How this is possible remains unexplained. In crematoriums, it takes up to eight hours at temperatures exceeding 1100°C (2012°F) to cremate a human body. To reduce a body completely to ash, including bones, temperatures around 1700°C (3092°F) are needed. So how is it that in spontaneous combustion cases, the entire body, including bones, burns — often without any noticeable source of fire? And even more mysteriously — without damaging the surrounding area or furniture?

Dr. Wilton Krogman, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, calculated that to burn a body so quickly and thoroughly (including bones), a temperature of around 2500°C (4532°F) would be required. No commonly found household material — nor human fat — can produce such temperatures during combustion. Moreover, if such high heat really had occurred, everything nearby would have caught fire or melted.

One of the most extreme and fascinating cases of spontaneous combustion occurred on July 2, 1951, in St. Petersburg, Florida. At 9:00 AM, the daughter of Mary H. Reeser left the house while her mother sat in an armchair reading her favorite book. Two hours later, around 11:00 AM, she was found completely incinerated. All that remained was a pile of ash in the chair and a piece of her left leg. The most chilling part of the case: her favorite book was found on top of the pile of ash, completely intact. The armchair itself was also unscathed.
The fire chief told local media that in his long career, he had never encountered anything like it.

The case was taken over by police investigator J.R. Reichart, who stated that no flammable liquids, dangerous vapors, chemicals, or accelerants were found at the scene that could have burned Mary Reeser’s body to ash. Initially, the cause of death was declared to be a lightning strike that entered through the wall heater and passed through Reeser’s body. However, the investigator rescinded that conclusion after receiving a report from the local meteorological station confirming no lightning activity in the area that day.

The case was eventually closed with the official cause listed as unknown. Chief investigator Reichart later stated to the press:

"If we were living in the Middle Ages, I would list the cause of death as black magic."

So spontaneous combustion remains an unresolved mystery. While some theories suggest it’s due to human gases or fat burning, these theories have serious flaws. Burning human fat can’t generate temperatures high enough to incinerate bones — especially without damaging the surroundings. To this day, no investigator has been able to objectively identify the cause and circumstances under which a person is suddenly reduced to ashes.

Thus, a big question mark still hangs over the phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion.