Cases of spontaneous human combustion have been reported since the 17th century. Charles Dickens wrote a novel, Bleak House, which involved an alcoholic who died of spontaneous human combustion. This sparked a popular belief that heavy drinking may be associated with this strange and horrifying occurrence. Many of the modern day stories leave police and fire investigators baffled. These bodies have seemingly cremated themselves, leaving behind a limb or a shriveled skull, while leaving the rest of the room virtually untouched.

Interesting enough, many of these victims were elderly females. Most of them were heavy drinkers and/or smokers. However, I found two cases where the victim was young and cigarettes weren’t a factor.

• Maybelle Andrews (1938) was dancing with her boyfriend in a nightclub when flames suddenly erupted from her back, chest and shoulders. There was no other flame in the room. Maybelle died en route to the hospital.
• Jenna Winchester (1980) burst into flames while sitting next to a friend while they were driving down a Florida road. She survived the ordeal with burns covering 20% of her body.

Spontaneous human combustion is extremely rare, since our bodies our made mostly of water. Wild theories as to its cause have sprung up over recent years, including the factors of stress and obesity. These theories proved unfounded and were quickly dismissed. Scientists and criminologists have conducted research and experiments into the cause of spontaneous human combustion.

Dr. John de Haan of the California Criminalistic Institute conducted an experiment, called the “wick effect”, to see if body fat could burn hot enough to cremate a victim by using an ordinary source, such as a cigarette. He wrapped a dead pig inside a blanket, poured a bit of gasoline on the blanket, and set it on fire. Then he closed the door to the room. Five hours later, he found the pig burned exactly like the spontaneous human combustion victims. A National Geographic special tried to duplicate this experiment, but failed because they left the door to the room open.

Dr. de Haan proved that spontaneous human combustion is not so spontaneous. It takes anywhere from two to five hours of a slow burn to destroy a body in that magnitude, and it is usually caused by an agent such as a cigarette or pipe. The victim burns so slowly that no one realizes what’s happening until it’s too late.

As for the two girls above, their bodies may have been overcharged with electrostatic energy, which may have caused a spark that ignited their clothing.