Editing Spontaneous human combustion (section)

== Scientific investigation ==

An extensive two-and-a-half-year research project, involving 30 historical cases of alleged SHC from 1725 to 1982, was conducted by science investigator [[Joe Nickell]] and [[forensic analyst]] John F. Fischer.<ref name="CFI20190215" /> Their lengthy, two-part report was published in 1984 in the journal of the [[International Association of Arson Investigators]],<ref name="Nickell Arson 1">{{cite journal| last=Nickell| first=Joe| author-link=Joe Nickell| author2=Fischer, John F. |title=Spontaneous Human Combustion| journal=The Fire and Arson Investigator| date=March 1984| volume=34|issue=3}}</ref>{{rp|3–11}} and incorporated into their 1988 book ''Secrets of the Supernatural''.<ref name="Yotam Aviram">{{cite book| last=Nickell| first=Joe| author-link=Joe Nickell| others=(with John. F. Fischer) |title=Secrets of the Supernatural: Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries | date=June 1988| publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]| location=Amherst, NY| pages=149–157, 161–171 |isbn=978-0-879-75461-7}}</ref> Nickell has written frequently on the subject,<ref name="Nickell Arson 1" /><ref name="Yotam Aviram" /><ref name="CFI20190215">{{Cite web|url=https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/spontaneous-human-combustion-coroner-solves-london-mystery/|title=Spontaneous Human Combustion? Coroner Solves London Mystery|last=Nickell|first=Joe|author-link=Joe Nickell|date=15 February 2019|publisher=[[Center for Inquiry]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220165813/https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/spontaneous-human-combustion-coroner-solves-london-mystery/|archive-date=20 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> appeared on television documentaries, conducted additional research, and lectured at the New York State Academy of Fire Science at [[Montour Falls, New York]], as a guest instructor.

The Nickell and Fischer investigation, which looked at cases in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, showed that the burned cadavers were close to plausible sources for the ignition: candles, lamps, fireplaces, and so on. Such sources were often omitted from published accounts of these incidents, presumably to deepen the aura of mystery surrounding an apparently "spontaneous" death. The investigations also found that there was a correlation between alleged SHC deaths and the victim's intoxication (or other forms of incapacitation) which could conceivably have caused them to be careless and unable to respond properly to an accident. Where the destruction of the body was not particularly extensive, a primary source of combustible fuel could plausibly have been the victim's clothing or a covering such as a blanket or comforter.

However, where the destruction was extensive, additional fuel sources were involved, such as chair stuffing, floor coverings, the flooring itself, and the like. The investigators described how such materials helped to retain melted fat, which caused more of the body to be burned and destroyed, yielding still more liquified fat, in a cyclic process known as the "[[wick effect]]" or the "candle effect".

According to the Nickell and Fischer investigation, nearby objects often remained undamaged because fire tends to burn upwards, but burns laterally with some difficulty. The fires in question are relatively small, achieving considerable destruction by the wick effect, and nearby objects may not be close enough to catch fire themselves (much as one can closely approach a modest campfire without burning). As with other mysteries, Nickell and Fischer cautioned against a "single, simplistic explanation for all unusual burning deaths" but rather urged investigating "on an individual basis".<ref name="Yotam Aviram" />{{rp|169}} Neurologist [[Steven Novella]] has said that skepticism about spontaneous human combustion is now bleeding over into becoming popular skepticism about [[spontaneous combustion]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/268| title=Skeptics Guide to the Universe #268 | work=[[The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe]]| date=1 September 2010 | access-date=13 June 2016}} At 26:38, Novella says: "I think that part of the knee-jerk skepticism is that we hear things like spontaneous human combustion—we know that's total BS—and then when you hear just spontaneous combustion it triggers the same response as if it has anything to do with spontaneous human combustion but it really doesn't. I hear that a lot, too, a lot of people think that anything to do with magnets must be crap because there's so much magnet pseudoscience out there but that doesn't mean that there aren't legitimate uses of magnets in medicine. We can affect brain function with [[transcranial magnetic stimulation]], for example. But again people make that association, that's just a little too simplistic, that magnets equal pseudoscience, that spontaneous combustion equals pseudoscience, but this is perfectly legitimate."</ref>

In a 2002 study, Angi M. Christensen of the [[University of Tennessee]] cremated both healthy and [[osteoporotic]] samples of human bone and compared the resulting color changes and fragmentation. The study found that osteoporotic bone samples "consistently displayed more discoloration and a greater degree of fragmentation than healthy ones." The same study found that when human tissue is burned, the resulting flame produces a small amount of heat, indicating that fire is unlikely to spread from burning tissue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Christensen |first=Angi M. |year=2002 |title=Experiments in the Combustibility of the Human Body |url=https://www.astm.org/DIGITAL_LIBRARY/JOURNALS/FORENSIC/PAGES/JFS15287J.htm |journal=[[Journal of Forensic Sciences]] |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=466–470 |doi=10.1520/JFS15287J |pmid=12051324 }}</ref>