| User | Comment |
|---|
Frostbrand  |
I have fo nucking clue. |
| darkshadowsseeker |
I don't know for sure, but the Wick Effect seems the more likely reason. |
| Jemmy |
Hmmm...I don't know much about this topic, but the gases in the digestive system sounds possible. |
romkey  |
I loved the pig in a nightgown episode of CSI  but I don't really believe in spontaneous human combustion |
| spidertea |
Since the human body is full of electrical impulses- maybe there is a short circuit of sorts.
I've watched lots of shows on SHC, but nobody can explain it. |
Zang  |
I've read fairly extensively on the topic of SHC. It was pretty trendy in the late 70s. The best, and most rational explanation I've come across has to do with four attributes of the typical SHC victim; they are usually elderly, overweight, chain-smoking alcoholics. The alcohol and fat combine to increase the likelihood of the "Wick Effect" of which you speak. Being elderly, overweight, and alcoholic all increase the likelihood of them being unable to move once they start on fire. The chain-smoking increases the likelihood of them setting themselves alight in the first place. |
| Zang | | (reply to romkey) posted 9-Feb-2002 5:46pm |
There is plenty of documentation. I've read several books on the topic (complete with forensic photographs etc.) What makes it sound so preposterous is that it is bizarre and spectacular. Makes for great tabloid stories. The scientific basis for the theory I mentioned above, is quite sound. |
| Dino |
I'm still a skeptic. |
| romkey | | (reply to Zang) posted 9-Feb-2002 6:05pm |
I don't have any problem with the notion that people go up in flames easily... it's the X-Files version of it that I'm not down with |
| Zang | | (reply to romkey) posted 9-Feb-2002 6:11pm |
Oh! What is that? Does it involve little bug-eyed monsters from Alpha Centauri? |
Kristal_Rose  |
Don't know. agni vitrus devi.
I've had meditation flames prompt me to bicycle an hour out to the ocean at 4am. Other meditations have made me wish for a an emergency hospital visit with a blood transfusion. I've influenced flames as have a couple others I know, and a couple of us do some spectral stuff too (streams of sparks), but I still haven't seen anything enough to trigger SHC. I can well imagine its possible though, intentional or accidental.
For all I know though, it's just some basic chemical chain reaction. |
| confetti |
Ah, yes. The famous and hideously scary SHC theories (we studied them last year in school...don't ask). I seem to remember this case of an old woman in Florida who was smoking alone in her room, and when they found her, they just saw a shrunken skull and a perfect kept hand. Yrch! (as Legolas-darling would say). My own theory is that she swallowed the cigarette and had eaten some highly flammable substance. |
| mandy | | (reply to romkey) posted 9-Feb-2002 6:35pm |
There was a woman who claimed that when she became celibate it threw off the alignment of her Chakras and she began to have blistering and burning of the skin from the inside. She is sure this will eventually lead her to spontaneously burst into flames. Which proves my theory that "If I don't get a penis...I'll explode!!!!"  |
| juliw |
I have never heard of it. Does it have something to do with farts? |
| mandy | | (reply to juliw) posted 9-Feb-2002 6:37pm |
Some people believe that if your farts build up inside you long enough without release....you'll burst into flames. |
| Lahdee |
The blowhole |
| romkey | | (reply to mandy) posted 9-Feb-2002 7:05pm |
"I do that sometimes!" |
| juliw | | (reply to mandy) posted 9-Feb-2002 7:24pm |
Better to fart and bear the shame
Than not to fart and go up in flames
Whew! Good thing I just cut one. |
| Kristal_Rose | | (reply to mandy) posted 9-Feb-2002 7:31pm |
I find all sorts of inner sensations tied into sexual thoughts, although it's probably quite different from her experience. Have you ever tried meditation in conjunction with prolonged celibacy? I mean even masturbation. It's a different trip. If you feel yourself ready to burst into flames though, please don't try it. |
LindaH  | | posted 9-Feb-2002 10:53pm |
too many tacos |
| heyzeus1 | | posted 10-Feb-2002 1:17am |
i dont know |
| jettles | | (reply to Zang) posted 10-Feb-2002 8:06am |
but somehow that doesn't seem spontaneous...... if there is a cigarette to start the fire i mean. it's not like, boom, they just burst into flames.
i worked in a burn unit a few years ago and we would have elderly patients who smoke on the couch or in bed after drinking and would light themselves on fire but we never called it spontaneous human combustion. |
| Zang | | (reply to jettles) posted 10-Feb-2002 11:14am |
Oh right! Yeah, it has been such a long time since I actually thought about what the words meant. You know? After a while it just becomes a phrase with associations all of their own. |
| Biggles | | posted 10-Feb-2002 12:59pm |
The most likely one I have heard is the Wick Effect, but I don't know enough about human biology to suggest a cause. |
| jkiehart | | posted 10-Feb-2002 1:12pm |
I don't know, but I'm afraid of it!
Sometimes, one part of my body will get a really hot sensation, like a small area on my outer thigh, and I think, "Here we go, hope it doesn't hurt too much!"
I would summon a witness as fast as possible, since no one's ever actually witnessed it.
"Honey! Honey get in here! I'm Spontaneously Human Combustioning!" |
| SueBee | | (reply to jkiehart) posted 10-Feb-2002 5:18pm |
That happened to me recently. It turned out to be a hot flash!  |
| Lahdee | | (reply to LindaH) posted 10-Feb-2002 5:34pm |
 lol |
| jkiehart | | (reply to SueBee) posted 10-Feb-2002 8:24pm |
Ack!
I'm only 30!
Again, Ack! |
they  | | posted 11-Feb-2002 4:00am |
*combusts* |
| Lex | | posted 11-Feb-2002 5:07am |
The wick effect was demonstrated on the BBC TV programme a few years ago. It solves all the answers. Case closed. |
| Locutus | | posted 11-Feb-2002 12:00pm |
Since the human body is mostly water, SHC is impossible except after death, when bodies tend to dry out. |
| bandit1cat | | posted 11-Feb-2002 1:47pm |
Too many jalapeno peppers |
| Biggles | | (reply to Lex) posted 11-Feb-2002 5:12pm |
I saw that documentary - it suggested the Wick Effect. It wasn't conclusive. BBC documentaries are just pop-science. |
| ASexyBabe | | (reply to mandy) posted 11-Feb-2002 11:02pm |
great survey tastie!!! **lick** |
| SueBee | | (reply to jkiehart) posted 12-Feb-2002 12:38am |
I didn't say it was a hot flash in your case, although they will be sneaking up on you someday! |
| Maarten | | posted 12-Feb-2002 12:00pm |
I saw a documentary about the Wink effect (in which they burned a complete pig) and it made sense to me. |
| mandy | | (reply to ASexyBabe) posted 12-Feb-2002 7:47pm |
Thanx Sexy!!!! *lick nibble nibble* |
| ASexyBabe | | posted 12-Feb-2002 8:49pm |
**bite scratch bite** |
| ASexyBabe | | (reply to mandy) posted 12-Feb-2002 8:50pm |
BTW I think it has to do with gas building up in your body which makes slow poopers more likely to combust....**looks around scared** That means I may combust **shudders** |
| mandy | | (reply to ASexyBabe) posted 13-Feb-2002 12:39am |
Actually, they do say slow poopers run a higher risk.... |
| ASexyBabe | | (reply to mandy) posted 13-Feb-2002 12:41am |
I know damn I wish the dr had a better way to fix you than shove things inside you to check them out. I don't know about you but I don't like my dr enought to want him to see up inside my ass lol |
| ASexyBabe | | (reply to mandy) posted 13-Feb-2002 12:41am |
**combusts** |
| mandy | | (reply to ASexyBabe) posted 13-Feb-2002 12:49am |
Do you like me enough?
*snaps on a latex glove*
*grins wickedly* |
| ASexyBabe | | (reply to mandy) posted 13-Feb-2002 9:12am |
|
| Vesper | | posted 13-Feb-2002 4:40pm |
I think it's just bullcrap. (And for me pronouncing that word aloud means that I'm mad at the stupidity of the idea.) You CAN'T make theories of something that was never witnessed. It's even worse than Nessie and the flying saucers, because at least some people claim they have witnessed them - and even that doesn't make it worth enough credit in my eyes. But this SHC thing, "NO ONE witnessed it" means that it's just made up by unscrupulous newscasters bored silly and inventing stories to raise their ratings when they have nothing worthwhile to say.
Human body more than a half consists of water. It just can't burn spontaneously. You can be burned alive when there's fire in your house, granted, but can't burn by yourself. |
| Kristal_Rose | | (reply to Vesper) posted 14-Feb-2002 1:37am |
Secret gov't sattelite lasers? 'Fred's about to talk, hit the button!'
I rather doubt this one too, but i've encountered way way too many things i never thought I'd encounter, even after seeing a bunch of supernatural phenomenon already. At this point, it might as well all be a cartoon. Nothing would drastically surprise, even seeing a planet sized goldfish swim past our planet. Just this week (as hoped/planned) I saw my first telekinetic event. |
| anonymous | | posted 15-Feb-2002 6:13pm |
brain farts |
| Maxell | | posted 18-Feb-2002 11:12pm |
I DON'T BELIEVE THERE IS ANY TRUTH TO S.H.C. |
| Wicksy | | posted 21-Feb-2002 11:37am |
The WICK effect? Named after me!!!? |
| mandy | | (reply to Wicksy) posted 22-Feb-2002 3:10am |
Well, You are hot! |
| Wicksy | | (reply to mandy) posted 22-Feb-2002 3:12am |
lol |
| mandy | | (reply to Wicksy) posted 22-Feb-2002 3:20am |
Hi! You caught me! |
| jjg | | posted 22-Feb-2002 2:50pm |
I believe in the Wick Effect. I saw a television program where someone used a pig carcass and produced the effect for the cameras. |
| mandy | | posted 22-Feb-2002 3:12pm |
The Wicksy Effect!!!!!!!
*combusts* |
| autumnlight | | posted 27-Mar-2002 9:07am |
I believe in the Wick effect. |
| DeeJay | | posted 29-Mar-2002 12:14am |
I dunno, but I've seen pictures of a woman who was said to have spontaneously combusted, VERY disturbing. |
