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Sometimes I lay awake at night and worry. I worry about the usual things, money, if the door is locked, or if I will make my deadline. I never worry about bursting into flames. Maybe I should, maybe we all should.

Spontaneous Human Combustion is a strange thing. For unknown reasons you burst into flames or burn slowly, no one knows for sure which it is and it could be both. Nothing burns around you and for some reason you do not struggle just burn up. Sometimes not all of you is incinerated but parts are left, your legs, a hand, or just a foot in some cases.

July 2, 1951, Mary Reeser was found by her landlord after smelling a strange odor. The doorknob to Mary’s apartment was searing hot. From approximately 4 feet off the ground a covering of moist soot blanketed everything. Mary was reduced to a glowing mound of ashes, her overstuffed arm chair barely burnt as was the side table next to her and beyond that a pile of newspapers neatly stacked remained preserved.

February 20, 1725, Nichole Miller was found by her husband an innkeeper. A newspaper explained what remained. “A part of the head only, with a portion of the lower extremities and a few of the vertebrae, had escaped combustion. A foot and a half of the flooring under the body had been consumed, but a kneading-through and a powder tub, which were very near the body, had sustained no injury.”

There are several theories out there how this could happen. The “Wick Effect” is the most popular and widely accepted. A cigarette or static electricity starts a fire on your clothing and then your fatty flesh melt off and drip into your clothing causing you to become a human candle.

To be perfectly honest, I would jump up and freak out if this happened well before my fatty flesh could melt off. Even if I were asleep, I am sure I would wake up at the searing pain of my flesh burning. Wouldn’t you?
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