We always figure that if we safeguard our homes and do our best to be careful we will not likely have a fire to burn us up. We can go to great lengths to install smoke detectors and security systems that will alert us if there is smoke or flames anywhere in the house day or night. We can keep fire extinguishers on hand and use special care when we use our kitchens and in the way we heat our homes. What if you are still not safe from burning up even after you have taken all of these necessary precautions?
It seems that could be the case when it comes to a strange scientific mystery called human combustion. It is a rare phenomenon and is believed by some to have taken place with certain individuals. One minute they are lying in their beds or sitting in a chair and suddenly they simply explode and burst into flames. The flames are said to be so intense that it can char a human body in a half an hour or less.
There have been many mysterious cases of this type of human burning reported since the 1700's. People have been found to have been burned to the point that their torso had nothing but ashes left, but sometimes there were small or large fragments of their lower or upper extremities that remained. In some cases they had portions of their skulls to remain. When these bodies were discovered, it was puzzling as to how the fire started and why the body and whatever apparatus it was resting on, a bed or chair, was burned so severely and not much else in the room affected.
The cases that prompted the internal combustion theory have had several possible causes although none of them have been entirely proven to be the specific cause. Some think that there had to be an external cause such as an abundance of secreted body fat on the outside of the body or clothes that was ignited by one thing or another. Another theory is that static electricity could perhaps cause the sudden burst into flames. Some explanations thought by some are that there are certain elements in the body such as oxygen, hydrogen, or perhaps potassium that somehow intermingle and cause this bizarre occurrence.
There have even been some cases where people have begun burning and survived. While some offer a plausible explanation as to the cause, some believe these really were examples of spontaneous combustion that did not end in fatality. We might not have ever considered just sitting around and blowing up for no reason a possibility, but evidently there could be some cause for concern.
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