I'm Burning For You: Spontaneous Human Combustion

LYRIC O’ THE DAY:

So pardon me while I burst into flames

I’ve had enough of the world and its people’s mindless games

So pardon me while I burn and rise above the flames

--Pardon me, Incubus

There are times when I feel like I am on fire, figuratively speaking.  I’m focused, productive--a whirling dervish of epic organization and creativity.

And then there are the other 364 days of the year.

But I guess a figurative fire in your soul is better than a literal one, which brings me to the subject of today’s mythbusters.  Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) is the burning of a living human body without obvious source of external ignition.  In theory, some internal milieu creates an ideal environment for the subject to burst into flames.  In the last 300 years, about 200 cases of the phenomenon have been reported.  With over six billion people in the world, this makes human torchdom an uber-rare occurrence except in comic books.

There are a variety of explanations for the phenomenon, ranging from the paranormal to the physiological.  Almost all cases involve people who are sedentary, either due to obesity or age, and most are in poor health or otherwise impaired by drugs or alcohol. 

The earliest suggested case of SHC was in Italy in 1470 when Polonus Vorstius, a knight known to love his wine and women, supposedly quaffed a particularly wicked brandy one evening and then spewed forth flames and died.  I had a similar reaction after drinking a concoction my bestie at the time made for me called The Three Wise Men.  Jim, Jack and Johnnie were never meant to be mixed.  (FYI, if you add Jaeger, it’s called The Four Horseman.  And you should definitely prepare for the apocalypse if you’re still standing afterwards.)

The first scientific evaluation of Spontaneous Human Combustion came from Danish physician Thomas Bartholin in 1663.  He described a woman in Paris who seemingly burned alive while sleeping--however, the straw mattress she slept upon remained intact.  Fifty years later, Nicole Millet, the alcoholic wife of a wealthy French landlord, burned to death while seated in her chair in the family kitchen.  After her death, Monsieur Millet was arrested for her murder. Using the defense of spontaneous human combustion, he was acquitted of all charges.  Jonas Dupont, another Frenchman, was so inspired by this story that he published a collection of SHC cases in his “De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis” in 1763.

A famous U.S. case of human combustion involved a physician named John Irving Bentley.  Bentley, a 92 year-old pipe smoker, was found in his bathroom by a meter reader--or at least the lower half of his right leg (slipper intact) and his walker were found.  The charred hole that surrounded the doctor was approximately two feet square, but the remainder of the house was intact.  Given the condition of the body, the coroner could only comment that death was likely due to asphyxiation and burning of the body, possibly with pipe tobacco as an ignition. 

Forensic photo taken of the remains of Dr. Bentley

Some religious zealots use cases such as these as a sign of the Big Guy laying down some heavenly smiting.  Why an elderly man on his way to the loo deserved smiting remains unexplained, but in April 2011, a man supposedly burst into flames while watching videos in a San Francisco porn shop.  I don't believe the case was divinely orchestrated, but is an impressive feat of friction to say the least.

The most researched case of SHC is that of St. Petersburg, Florida resident Mary Reeser in 1951.  Mary was a portly woman who settled down in her armchair with a cocktail of sleeping pills, alcohol, and a cigarette one night, only to awaken a victim of SHC.  When she was found, her skull had burned to the size of a baseball, but most of the chair, as well as the surrounding room, was unscathed (granted, her apartment was floored and walled with concrete).  The FBI and some of the nation’s best forensic scientists were involved in her case.  

Reeser’s case exemplifies the hypothesis of “the wick effect,” in which a small external flame--in this case, the cigarette--chars the clothing of the victim, eventually splitting the skin below.  In a more rotund person that is impaired with mother’s little helpers, this slow burn may not be sensed.  Fat is released from the wound, which is then absorbed by the clothing.  And now you have a wick for a very human candle.  Forensic scientist John DeHaan experimentally supported this theory using a dead pig wrapped in cloth.  

Not part of DeHaan's experiment.  Saliva is a poor fire extinguisher.

The fire fueled by the pig's body fat released less than 80 kilowatts of heat--no more than a large waste basket fire.  This explained why surrounding items often do not ignite and why there is usually lots of sooty, greasy residue left behind.  Essentially a body becomes a large tallow candle under the right circumstances:  impaired victim, ready amounts of fuel (i.e. copious corpulence), and some kind of ignition, be it cigarette, misguided ember, or electricity.   For those of you partial to CSI, Grissom and his band of merry forensicists replicated DeHaan's experiment on an episode dealing with SHC.   

If the wick effect doesn’t light your fire, there are still other explanations.  Skeptics often believe that most of these incidents are actually murder coverups and an accelerant is just never identified.  Others suggest that special circumstances in the victim combined with high energy particles or static electricity may serve as an ignition source.  Alcoholic victims are thought to be more susceptible due to that tasty accelerant in their bloodstreams.  That theory was supported by Charles Dickens when he used it to kill off his character Krook in the novel Bleak House.  However, if the ignition of an alcohol requires a mix that is around 40% ethanol, but death via alcohol poisoning occurs at around 0.5% blood alcohol level, the likelihood of a human consuming enough alcohol to ignite is nil.  Unless you’re Keith Richards.

Do not light that cigarette, Keith.

Larry Arnold, a self-proclaimed SHC expert, suggested there is a subatomic particle called the pyroton that is responsible.  This particle (whose existence has never been confirmed) interacts with human cells to create a mini-power generator and explosion.  Sort of like nuclear fission on a cellular level.  Other less explosive theories include spontaneous MASER (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) beams, which can occur in nature from decaying atoms and geomagnetism.  

For all of you yoga lovers out there, the pyrokinetic powers of kundalini have also been implicated.  Kundalini is described as a dormant energy within all humans, normally coiled at the base of the spine.  It often is represented by a serpent.  Through meditation and yoga, one can awaken the kundalini and make it rise until it reaches the top of the head, producing a powerful awakening in those who experience it.  It is suggested that those who cannot channel this heat energy properly may find themselves injured.

Cobra pose at your own risk.

My favorite explanation for Spontaneous Human Combustion comes from that bastion of reliable scientific information, South Park. 

Randy Marsh, father extraordinaire, explains SHC as a new lover’s phenomenon.  Victims try to avoid passing gas in front of their new sweetheart, and in doing so create a methane bomb waiting to happen.  This cartoon theory actually has a factual basis.  Hydrogen and methane are flammable gases produced by bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, mainly the large bowel.  There are case reports of intraoperative explosions ignited from the combination of cautery, methane, and the high oxygen environment of the surgical suite.

The idea of bursting into flames due to flatulence should serve as a lesson to fraternity boys across the nation.

Have a wonderful week!  I am looking forward to some days off after being on service for the past month so I can catch up with blogs and writing!  I also need to post responses to some awesome blog awards I received last week, so stay tuned.  Thanks Annalisa, Trisha, and Kathleen for thinking of me!  

The Bermuda Triangle: from fiction to flatulence

LYRIC O’ THE DAY:

Can’t you see I’m easily bothered by persistence?

--Walk, Pantera

When someone mentions Bermuda, I think of two things:  shorts and a triangle of doom.  Bermuda shorts can be explained with a simple story of a WWII clothing shortage demanding business attire that was spare, but appropriate.

Nice legs.

If only the Bermuda Triangle was as simple as frugal fashion.

The Bermuda Triangle, a.k.a. The Devil’s Triangle, is an area spanning over 500,000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean.  Its traditional endpoints are Bermuda; Miami, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Don’t ask the U.S. Navy or the U.S. Board of Geographic Names where it is, however.  Neither recognizes its existence. 

Loss of ships in the Triangle has been documented back to the time of Columbus, but the suggestion that the area may have an unusual predilection for carnage did not begin until the 1940s.  It wasn’t even given its name until 1964, when Vincent Gaddis coined the term “Bermuda Triangle” in the fiction magazine, Argosy.  By the 1970s, documentaries and even a bestselling novel by Charles Berlitz helped fuel the mystique.

from bermuda-triangle. org

The Coast Guard maintains that there is no greater incidence of events in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else in the world.  The number thrown around is about 100 disappearances in 100 years.  As more “proof” of the safety in the area, Lloyd’s of London does not charge any extra insurance fee to vessels that commonly use this waterway.  Gian J. Quasar, author of Into the Bermuda Triangle and curator of the website Bermuda-triangle-org points out that Lloyd’s does not insure small craft and the Coast Guard reports do not include missing/overdue vessels, so both are likely underestimating the true amount of losses. 

An American pilot and author, Larry Kusche, dismissed many Bermuda Triangle myths as simple folklore propagated by uncritical authors.  He claimed that virtually all of the incidents were weather related, accidents, or never even occurred within the Triangle.  Such as the case of President Aaron Burr’s daughter who was reported to be a victim but was actually on a ship going from South Carolina to New York--nowhere near the Triangle. 

So is the Bermuda Triangle just another bit of fictional fantasy?  

When investigating the Triangle, there are lists of vessels that are reported victims.  The first one that gets a lot of attention is the U.S.S. Cyclops in 1918, which was on its way to aid in the refueling of British ships during WWI.  The ship and all 306 people on board never reached their destination.  No wreckage was found, although popular belief held that the ship was sunk by a German submarine.  This has never been confirmed, not even from German records.

The SS Marine Sulphur Queen was mentioned by Gaddis in his Argosy piece as another Triangle victim.  This was a tanker carrying 15,000 tons of molten sulphur in heated tanks in 1963.  It reported in for a routine check, and then was never heard from again.  Only small debris and parts of life jackets were found.  An extensive investigation by the Coast Guard revealed that the Sulphur Queen was essentially a floating disaster area.  She was originally an oil tanker, repurposed to carry sulfur.  She also had a weak keel, and the sulfur loading would have produced a tendency to capsize, or even cause something like this:

A sister ship of the Sulphur Queen with a broken keel

The most celebrated mystery of the Bermuda Triangle is the story of Flight 19.  It was even commemorated by Spielberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  On a beautiful day in December, 1945, five Navy Avenger torpedo bombers set out on a training mission led by Lieutenant Charles Taylor.  At some point during the flight, Taylor put out a call for help, claiming his compass was not working.  Forensic analysis of the calls shows that Taylor believed he was over the Florida Keys, but he was actually closer to the Bahamas.  Despite advice to change course, even from his students, he continued on a northeast trajectory--going out to sea.  Two more planes embarked to guide him home, but one mysteriously exploded shortly after take off.  In all, six planes were lost in the Bermuda triangle, never seen again.  Skeptics think Taylor and his students ran out of gas and plummeted into the sea.

There are several less well known disappearances, like the Star Ariel, the Star Tiger, Flight 201 or the demise of Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail solo around the world.  Some of the most fascinating stories involve ship crews that disappeared--but the ship reappeared later unscathed.  

There have been countless theories proposed about what happens in the Bermuda Triangle, ranging from flatulence to fraud.  Part of the mystique of the Bermuda Triangle is that it is reported to be one of only two places on earth where supposedly a compass points to true north, rather than magnetic north.  That altered magnetism becomes the root of some of the modern explanations.

And now you know why your compass wouldn't work.  Pic from syriltooktheredpill.blogspot.com.

I wasn’t a Girl Scout, so I did not understand the implications of a faulty compass.  Basically, a compass works because its needle is attracted to the Earth’s magnetism--thus, the point is drawn to magnetic north.  The actual geographic North Pole is fixed (because Santa can’t find his way out of a paper bag without his reindeer).  The variation between the true north and magnetic north can change up to twenty degrees.  Inexperienced sailors or pilots could possibly be confused in the triangle due to the changes caused by this alignment of true and magnetic north--but it’s doubtful a skilled navigator would be.  Interestingly, this theory is what the Coast Guard initially issued as the etiology of most ship losses in the Bermuda Triangle.  They later recanted the claim.

The weather seems to be a popular villain; indeed, the Gulf Stream is quite swift and turbulent in this area, which can result in vicious storms with little warning.  The area also is a hotbed of geologic activity, with frequent earthquakes that have been documented to produce freak 100-ft waves at times.  As far as the total disappearance of ships and planes with little or no debris, the underwater topography may be to blame.  Some of the deepest trenches in the ocean exist within the Triangle, including one by Puerto Rico that is 27,500 feet below sea level. 

My favorite theory has been dubbed “ocean flatulence”.  

I knew I shouldn't have had that bean burrito.  Pic from miguelcoimbra.com

Methane gas is created from the decay of sea organisms with bacterial assistance.  Pockets of this gas occur quite frequently in this area, and rupture of one could produce massive implosion, as well as change the density of the overlying sea.  Any ship caught in the area would immediately sink, and a plane engine could theoretically ignite.  Hitting a pocket of methane gas is what is believed to have happened to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it exploded in 2010.

The aftermath of hitting a methane pocket.

Another interesting theory involves “electronic fog”.  Charles Lindbergh was actually the first to describe the phenomenon in his memoirs as a strange vapor that surrounded his plane as his navigation system seemed to falter.  When he came out of it, he had traveled much further than his fuel gages reflected.  Commercial pilot Bruce Gernon coined the term in 1970 after a similar experience.  He later co-wrote a book about it with the creative title, The Fog.  Not to be confused with the 80s zombie ghost movie of the same name.

Gernon's book did not have zombie ghosts.  Although I didn't read it, so I could be wrong.

Electronic fog is where meteorology meets electromagnetism.  Gernon recalled that his navigation equipment went haywire inside the fog.  He surmised that emissions of electromagnetic energy from within the earth create transient atmospheric changes--the result of which was a thick, milky white fog.   David Pares, a meteorologist from the great state of Nebraska has researched electronic fog and the possibility that electromagnetic disturbances may produce a local time-space warp.  Indeed, Gernon described loss of time while he was within this fog.  A Russian physicist named Oleg Meshcheryakov has even recreated the phenomenon in a laboratory--although without finding the Starship Enterprise.  

  

The myth of the Bermuda Triangle would not be complete without aliens--this area has one of the highest rates of reported UFOs.  Many suggest that the Triangle is actually a portal to other planets, and others believe that the lost city of Atlantis resides within its boundaries.  Energy emitted from the submerged ruins of this alien society is suggested to produce a space/time rift that accounts for the disappearances.

Dr. Ray Brown, a naturopathic physician from Arizona, was on a diving expedition for submerged treasure near the Bahamas when he claimed to have found a crystal sphere within a sunken pyramid.  He had apparently become separated from his friends when he found an underwater cavern that opened into something resembling a board room with huge stone chairs.  In the center he saw a golden rod pointing to two metallic hands holding the sphere.  The following is taken from one of his interviews:

“The hands which the crystal sphere was held by had a bronze like color, the palms of the hands were golden like the rod/staff. But they were also black, like it had been burned either by fire or another kind of high energy. I was a little bit scared as I removed the sphere. If it could burn the metal, what then might it do to me? I grabbed it and nothing happened.”

Fearing confiscation by the U.S. Government, he didn’t tell his friends or anyone else about his find until he presented the sphere at a psychic conference in 1975.  Leonard Nimoy interviewed Dr. Brown and his famous crystal sphere for the TV show In Search of.

Supposedly the crystal is now kept in Sedona, Arizona by a new owner in a seawater bath and has been named The Atlantean Sphere.  Believers think it holds the key to entering the fourth dimension.

The Atlantean sphere--note the pyramid inside.  Some claim to see as many as 4 pyramids, which are said to correspond to each dimension.

I'm not convinced about Atlantis, although Leonard Nimoy and his mustache make a compelling argument.  I think I may know the subject for a future mythbusters.  For now, I think the Bermuda Triangle may still have a logical explanation.