Comments on: Spontanous Human Stupidity

By: Armand K

Armand K — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:26:45 +0000

It strikes me that explaining as SHC cases of combustion where no source of fire can be identified is very much similar to “explaining” unsolved missing persons cases by alien abduction or vampires…

By: SteveA

SteveA — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:37:11 +0000

Sorry, in my previous post I forgot to mention that it doesn’t take much to set off celluloid, a bit of friction or static can be all it takes.

By: SteveA

SteveA — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:35:39 +0000

There are many reports of people suddenly igniting (though not dying) in Victorian and Edwardian times, sometimes in public in full view of many witnesses.

I’m guessing the main cause of the ‘unexplained’ conflagrations (ie those not directly attributable to brushing against a naked flame or other source of heat) was the popularity of highly flammable celluloid in the manufacture of clothing and accessories.

We tend to forget what tinderboxes humans used to be.

By: hoebywan

hoebywan — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:10:57 +0000

Candling innit. Clothes are the wick and body fat the fuel. Explains most “unexplained” SHC cases.

By: BillyJoe7

BillyJoe7 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:20:47 +0000

elmer mccurdy,

“Everybody should stop reading this blog and read The Straight Dope instead. Much better.”

Actually, the quality of his blog’s commentary would be much better if you took your own advice.

By: rezistnzisfutl

rezistnzisfutl — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:46:42 +0000

@Locutusbrg, you will be assimilated…

Sorry, couldn’t resist seeing how our monikers correlate!

Anyway, it’s amazing how much BS some people will defend, for whatever reason, in spite of either no evidence or evidence to the contrary to those beliefs. But it’s even more amazing how much sheer nonsense people simply accept, even if given the most minute of thought processes will call into question that nonsense. Intellectual laziness? Maybe most people just shrug it off or don’t really think about what is being read.

It’s just hard to believe that anyone with some level of intellegence will accept certain things, but I suppose that’s where that pesky critical thinking comes in, which doesn’t seem to be a skill necessarily beholded purely to intelligence.

By: Steven Novella

Steven Novella — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:04:18 +0000

I was, perhaps, too quick in my review of SHC as background for this post (which is partly why I linked to a longer article I had previously written).

My point is that there are no cases, either witnessed or survived (which is a type of witness), in which there were any experienced details that adds anything to SHC as a separate phenomenon.

In other words – people catch fire, perhaps even without a known source, but they do not experience anything that can be considered i’s own phenomenon of SHC, whatever that would entail.

By: SARA

SARA — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:54:03 +0000

Steve, I beg to differ with you on the Survivors of SHC issue.
I found a “terribly reliable”article on Wikipedia that mentioned found 2 survivors.
One who was very charged with static electricity but managed to not catch on fire by taking off her shoes and jumping in a bathtub. But was sure that if she had caught on fire, it would have been SHC. Wow. That was a close one!
Another woman was in flame resistant pjs, and caught fire in the kitchen and so survived. I’m just guessing, but I bet she was next to a gas stove at the time.
There is another webpage that lists a man, who had a hole burned into his chest and lived to tell about it. http://library.thinkquest.org/C007446F/combustion.htm

So…I think we have found…
OK. No real evidence, but still very entertaining stories of a survivors of an almost SHC.

What I find interesting is that none of the survivors seem interested in prosaic explanations. If I had suddenly caught fire and lived, I’d be far more comfortable in finding an external cause than in thinking my body could explode in fire at any moment.

Isn’t it odd that people will chose to be interesting rather than feel the comfort of understanding what really happened, so they can control the environment for future safety. What does that say about humans?

By: HHC

HHC — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:21:00 +0000

The conclusion of SHC by the West Galway coroner may just be a polite way of stating that the 76 year old Irishman under investigation fell asleep by the fire had a gaseous emission which
sparked a grand tale.

By: elmer mccurdy

elmer mccurdy — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:50:04 +0000

This was covered by The Straight Dope in… googling… 1979. Isn’t the Straight Dope great? I need to read the Straight Dope more. Everybody should stop reading this blog and read The Straight Dope instead. Much better.