[Bylot]

Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) describes reported cases of the burning of a living human body without an apparent external source of ignition. There have been about 200 cited cases worldwide over a period of around 300 years.

The spontaneous combustion of people (i.e. death from a fire originating within the victim's body without a direct external cause) is a theorised explanation for a number of unexplained cases, some of which are well-documented and many of which are not. The more convincing cases share the following characteristics:
The body is completely or almost completely incinerated, while nearby furniture that should normally have been damaged under such temperatures remains intact. Damage is limited to the victim's clothing, to the area of the floor or furniture on which they died, and to the ceiling above the corpse. The torso is the focus of the fire, and if remains are found these are of the extremities, such as the feet. .There are no traces of fire accelerant, and the fire does not have an evident external cause. The victim is typically alone at the time of death, and is thought to have been alive when the fire started, despite showing little sign of having struggled.

More on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontan...man_combustion

And here are two more interesting articles on this subject:
New light on human torch mystery (includiing an experiment with a dead pig)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/158853.stm
How Spontaneous Human Combustion Works
http://science.howstuffworks.com/sci...nomena/shc.htm

[Bylot]

Since I don't know if his image is real, I post it seperately. Looks interesting, anyway.

[carkees]

Most pics I've seen before, but it never stops to amaze me what things in life can happen (or not). don't mind me, I'm drunk

[MeMyselfandI]

[edwina22]

These pics were in a magazine in the early 80's called the unexplained.

[kayo brizzle]

Nice post! Incredible stuff.

[Smashedtoapulp]

Some were in front of a Fireplace...." but that had nothing to do with it"....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Vodka IS flammable....

[**butterflylove**]

I don't know if I believe this phenomenon or not but I know a few people who I would like this to happen too

[wujuan]

[Karma]

I've always been intrigued by SHC. I know they did a test on a pigs body to try and prove it was not something unexplained, but what they couldn't explain in their experiment was why it took hours for the pigs body to burn, and yet witnesses have reported SHC victims burning to nothing in a few minutes, without any surrounding furniture, pictures or whatever being damaged.
I remember reading a case where a gentleman was seen going to his room. Half an hour later someone went to visit him and he was gone...burnt to a cinder. Nothing damaged around him. That pig they experimented on (and added petrol to, to make it burn faster) took hours to burn.
I don't think they have answered the question at all.

I used to be terrified when I was younger that if I got angry I might burst into spontaneous combustion.