Spontaneous human combustion: thoughts of a forensic biologist

Thoughts of a Forensic Biologist

Paranormal proponents and popular articles are quick to attribute certain dramatic fire-death characteristics to an unknown or bizarre power source, but in all such deaths documented in forensic literature, there has been no need to resort to bizarre interpretations to account for the observed facts.

Forensic scientists very rarely, if ever, mention the (alleged) phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion (SHC). After reading an article on the subject in BILD, Germany's most famous tabloid newspaper (circulation four million daily), I started to wonder about this.

I first contacted the chief of our local police department, who is responsible for fire accidents, arson, and other fire-related incidents. After a few minutes of conversation, he recalled having heard about cases of spontaneous combustion, although' he had never been an eyewitness to any such cases. He later sent me an article (Feuer unbekannten Ursprungs c. 1990), which was a collection of case reports of alleged spontaneous combustion cases. The cases had received worldwide coverage in newspapers and magazines, and the article seems to be one of the major sources of information for Germans interested in the phenomenon. Further research led me to several accounts of SHC in the popular press (e.g., an account by a physicist in a German rock magazine [Czerny 1996]), novels (e.g., Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House, thought to have been inspired by the death of countess Cornelia Bandi in 1731), early reports (Hunefeld 1830), and magazines such as the Fortean Times (e.g., Simmons 1996; Arnold 1996) and The X Factor (e.g., Burning question 1996). From such sources, it is obvious that a significant percentage of the public believes in SHC.

The Expert Sources

To my knowledge, no scientific book or article written by a chemist, physicist, biologist, or doctor has ever reported bodies suddenly igniting through some internal but unknown mechanism. The two alleged expert eyewitnesses cited in the collection of case reports - "Dr. B. H. Hartwell" and "a certain Dr. David Price" - have never been found. Nevertheless, for the forensic biologist it is worth thinking about the possible evidence that may be found in photographs taken at scenes of alleged SHC. For this reason, I will focus on the evidence that may be gained from a detailed examination of photographs of unusual death by burning found in the forensic and medical literature, and that have been cited as proof of SHC by proponents of the phenomenon.

In many forensic cases that could be claimed to be SHC, we have as resources (1) the photographer, (2) the pathologist, forensic doctor, or medical examiner consulted, and (3) the police report for the case. I will restrict my observations to the facts as given by these expert sources because the speculations on causes of alleged SHC in popular articles are, in my opinion, nonscientific. Such speculations include: ignition of cellular oxygen and hydrogen (Heymer 1996), "Pyroton partides" (Arnold 1995), and maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) induction (Czerny 1996). Other nonscientific theories involve geomagnetism, kundalini (a form of mystic body heating), and electrostatics. Even the Fortean Times has been critical of two recent books on SHC: "He [Heymer 1996] seems to be under the illusion that [hydrogen and oxygen] exist as gases in the cell and are thus vulnerable to ignition, which is, in fact, not the case. Arnold proposes a new subatomic particle, the Pyroton, which interacts with calls and causes catastrophic combustion. There is, however, no independent evidence for such a particle and just inventing it to explain SHC is not really a runner" (Simmons 1996; see also Nickell 1996). As for masers, no such portable device capable of producing SHC exists, and it is unlikely such an apparatus will be constructed in the near future.

Characteristics of Burned Corpses

In popular articles, the characteristic sign of SHC is said to be the complete combustion of a body with the exception of the extremities - legs, hands, or head - with only an ashlike substance left in the thoracic and abdominal areas. At the same time, little or no destruction of the surroundings (beds, chairs, and so on) is observed. Frequently, however, a brown oily residue is deposited on the furniture and walls. These signs are present in Figures 1 and 2. The exact date of death is not given in the book from which the photographs are taken, but each is the original photograph taken at the scene of death.

Proponents of SHC attribute such unusual scenes to an unknown or bizarre power source, but in all such deaths documented in forensic literature, there has been no need to resort to bizarre explanations to account for the observed facts. It was determined for the case shown in Figure 1 that an elderly woman, suffering severely from Parkinson's disease, could not control her hand movements while smoking and dropped her glowing cigarette. Additional matches and cigarettes were found on the floor next to the woman's remains (Gresham 1977). For Figure 2, investigators determined that an elderly woman fell into a fireplace after having a heart attack (Gresham 1977). In both cases, a thorough criminal investigation was carried out by experienced staff.