Does anyone know of any legitimate scientific and/or medical conditions that could explain spontaneous human combustion?

What-A-Mess

Spontaneous Human Combustion is still not a Medical or Scientific fact. All of the "cases" are very debatable. Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the alleged burning of a person's body without a readily apparent, identifiable external source of ignition. The combustion may result in simple burns and blisters to the skin, smoking, or a complete incineration of the body. The latter is the form most often 'recognized' as SHC. There is much speculation and controversy over SHC. It is not a proven natural occurrence, but many theories have attempted to explain SHC's existence and how it may occur. The two most common explanations offered to account for apparent SHC are the non-spontaneous "wick effect" fire, and the rare discharge called static flash fires. Although mathematically it can be shown that the human body contains enough energy stored in the form of fat and other tissues to consume it completely, in normal circumstances bodies will not sustain a flame on their own. This means that if you light a Human on fire without a catalyst (gas,napalm,flame thrower,etc.) it will extinguish itself. http://www.crystalinks.com/shc.html http://www.crystalinks.com/shc.html Jul 15 06, 9:37 AM

zbeckabee

The two most common explanations offered to account for apparent SHC are the non-spontaneous "wick effect" fire, and the rare discharge called "static flash fires". At the present day, opinion on SHC remains divided. As with any apparently anomalous phenomenon, there are a number of theories that attempt to explain how SHC happens. These fall broadly into two camps, which might be called the misidentification theorists and the SHC theorists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_Human_Combustion Jul 15 06, 3:17 PM