What is it about?

Spontaneous human combustion means death from a fire originating without an apparent external source of ignition. We wanted to know if spontaneous human combustion is reported in 21st century scientific articles. We did a computed literature search on medical journals finding words "spontaneous human combustion” and “preternatural combustion. We found 5 articles with 12 victims reported in the scientific literature during years 2000 - 2011. . We analysed all data together and noticed that spontaneous human combustion is not spontaneous, but an external ignition source is required, that disappear during combustion.

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Why is it important?

Collecting and analyzing data, as in review articles, brings new insights , and may even explain phenomenons that are considered myths . We showed that there is nothing mystical or even spontaneous in this event.

Perspectives

I had great time writing this review article. It is always fun to study phenomenons that are obscure or not well studied. In the Researchgate this is my most read article.

Dr Virve Koljonen
Helsingin Yliopisto

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Spontaneous Human Combustion in the Light of the 21st Century, Journal of Burn Care & Research, January 2012, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1097/bcr.0b013e318239c5d7.
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