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This entire episode comes with a trigger warning. It is not for the faint of heart. Be warned.

For those that are still with me, have you ever heard of spontaneous human combustion? I'd argue one of the most mysterious ways to die, if true, then why does this phenomenon stop and start over the course of a century and a half and then...just...disappear?

Let's get into it.

Spontaneous Human Combustion 101

Let's begin at the beginning. Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the idea that a person's body can catch fire without an apparent external source of ignition. The term was coined in the 19th century, and the phenomenon has been debated for centuries.

How to Explain Spontaneous Human Combustion, from PS Mag dot com

Katie Heaney writes, " While there’s no proof that any human being has ever suddenly burst into flames and died, there’s also no proof that it hasn’t happened."

Heaney continues, " At some point in the 15 hours or so prior to the evening of March 26, 1986, a 58-year-old former firefighter named George Mott apparently burst into flames and died. When he was found that night, what remained of him were mostly the ashes on the floor beneath his mattress, which his body had apparently burned through. There was more, but reports vary a little as to what; Wikipedia says they found “an implausibly shrunken skull” (as opposed to the plausible level of shrunkenness, I guess) and a piece of rib cage. Others say it was a shrunken skull and the lower half of his right leg. Either way, the scene found in Mott’s Crown Point, New York, apartment was pretty grim.

Show Sources and Materials

Spontaneous human combustion in the 21st Century, PubMed

Ablaze! by Larry E. Arnold on Amazon

Spontaneous Human Combustion, Vice

How to Explain Spontaneous Human Combustion, PS Mag dot com

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