Scientific Decoding of "Spontaneous Human Combustion": The Scientific Basis Behind the Mysterious Phenomenon - The Wick Effect

At the turn of summer and autumn in 2001, a horrible incident occurred in Minglang Village, Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. The clothes of the 80-year-old Mrs. Yan spontaneously combusted for no reason several times, and the furniture in the house was also burned. After the news of this incident came out, the media paid close attention to it and the village attached great importance to it. The village cadres immediately rushed to Mrs. Yan's home to investigate, and even alarmed two "experts" in the city. The two "experts" explained in the media: "Mrs. Yan is experiencing spontaneous human combustion. This mysterious phenomenon first occurred hundreds of years ago, and there have been cases both at home and abroad. This has to be explained from the perspective of dissipative structures and chaos science. Specifically, the information waves generated in the human body gather to a very high dangerous value, and suddenly release from a certain window, igniting the surrounding substances. Only people with a physique like Mrs. Yan will be triggered under extremely accidental circumstances..." This mysterious theory that made people listen in the clouds and clouds made the onlookers pay more attention to the progress of this matter.

Finally, with the advice and mediation of the village, several sons and daughters-in-law of Old Lady Yan reached an agreement on the issue of supporting the elderly, and Old Lady Yan moved from the countryside to her eldest son's home in the city, where conditions were better. Amazing! Since then, Old Lady Yan has never spontaneously combusted again. Readers may have also seen that this "spontaneous human combustion" was just a self-directed and self-acted self-torture trick by Old Lady Yan because her sons and daughters-in-law were not filial to her. The two so-called "experts" were just talking nonsense to attract traffic, but they really got one fact right - spontaneous human combustion is real! And there are about fifty "confirmed" cases to date.

In 1731, a bloated Italian noblewoman, Countess Bandi, was found dead in her bedroom by her servants. At first, the servants thought that the Countess was drunk again and was late for dinner. When she pushed open the door of the Countess's room, the scene in front of her was extremely horrifying. Only a small skull, three fingers and a calf of the Countess's body remained on the ground, and the rest of the body was burned to ashes. The bed, wardrobe and other furniture about one meter away were not seriously burned. A broken oil lamp fell to the ground. The whole room was filled with a foul smell, and the greasy black gelatinous substance covered the floor.

Another typical case occurred in 1951, when 67-year-old widow Mary Reese "spontaneously combusted" and died tragically at home. When investigators arrived, they found that Mary was burned to the point that only a foot in a slipper and a curled spine were left. A full 160-pound person was reduced to only 8 or 9 pounds.

"Spontaneous human combustion" is a mysterious phenomenon that scientists have to face seriously. Many scholars have tried to give reasonable explanations. The ball lightning hypothesis is that the human body is struck by ball lightning carrying huge energy, causing a small explosion. The static electricity hypothesis is that when we go to a gas station to refuel, we must touch the round static discharger, otherwise the static electricity on our body may cause flash fire and cause a fire. Similarly, static electricity may trigger the spontaneous combustion of ketone bodies in the body.

These explanations seem to make sense, but none of them hit the mark. Let's analyze the common points of "spontaneous human combustion". Almost all the victims are obese and lazy. Most of them are elderly women in poor health, and they have bad habits such as alcoholism and smoking. In addition, there are always fire sources next to the dead, such as candles, fireplaces, oil lamps, lighters, etc. Afterwards, the neighbors also confirmed that the widow, Mrs. Mary, did have the habit of lying on the sofa and smoking. It turns out that it was not "spontaneous combustion" at all, but the victims were drunk (or had a sudden illness), lost consciousness, and were accidentally ignited by the fire in the house, causing a tragedy.

But new questions followed. If it was not caused by an unknown force, how could an ordinary fire be so powerful as to burn a person to ashes? You know, the crematorium furnace at a temperature of 1,000 degrees can burn a corpse into pieces. What's even more bizarre is that "spontaneous human combustion" often means that the deceased is burned into a jelly-like state, which requires a temperature of at least 1,700 to 1,800 degrees, but the furniture in the house is not seriously damaged.

The key to solving the mystery is still the "candle". At present, the most convincing explanation for spontaneous human combustion is the "wick effect". After the victim's clothes are ignited, the flame melts the subcutaneous fat and flows out, and the wrapped clothes are soaked in fat oil, forming a "candle wick". The human fat is the "human wax" that provides fuel. As a result, the "candle" burns slowly and continuously until the human fat is exhausted. The "wick effect" has also been verified in subsequent experiments.

In 1998, Dr. John De Haan of the California Institute of Criminology purchased a dead pig from a slaughterhouse. In fact, the fat content of a pig is comparable to that of a human body. Dr. Haan wrapped the dead pig in a blanket, put it in a laboratory, poured a small amount of gasoline on it, and then ignited it. What happened next was as expected. The "lard candle" burned slowly for about 7 hours. The dead pig weighing several hundred kilograms was incinerated, leaving only the limbs that were not wrapped in the blanket, while the furniture placed in the laboratory was not affected too much.

The answer to "spontaneous human combustion" is finally clear. Although the conditions that trigger it are very harsh and it is an extremely low-probability event, science has still unraveled the truth. While we admire the omniscience of science, we should strengthen physical exercise and abandon bad living habits. After all, no matter how advanced science is, it cannot bring the "wax man" back to life.

Reference: "Is the "spontaneous combustion" of an old lady in Xiaoshan true or false?" published in Science and Technology Daily on September 7, 2001

(Please obtain authorization for reprinting, otherwise legal action will be taken; the pictures in this article are from the Internet, thanks to the original author, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete)