Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

by HoratioTarr Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:04 pm

Investigators have been left mystified by the case of a 70-year-old pensioner who burst into flames and died in front of horrified passers-by on a quiet London street.
Pedestrians watched in horror as they saw John Nolan ablaze in Orchard Place, north London, near Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane football ground, just after 1pm.

Some desperately tried to put out the fire as others called the emergency services.

Mr Nolan, who was an unmarried, retired construction worker from County Mayo, Ireland, was flown to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex by air ambulance but died the next day. His body was 65 per cent covered in third-degree burns.

London Fire Brigade specialist investigators were unable to find anything at the scene that would have sparked a fire.
No property or any one else was harmed in the blaze.
Detectives are appealing for witnesses to come forward, to try to explain how Mr Nolan came to catch flames.
Met Police officer PC Damien Ait-Amer, the investigating officer on the case said: 'We have spoken with a number of witnesses who saw Mr Nolan abalze, but we have yet to establish how the fire started.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5182625/Man-catches-fire-dies-Tottenham-north-London.html

by HoratioTarr Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:05 pm

SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION: PHENOMENON OR FRAUD?

Spontaneous human combustion has been implied as a cause if death in a number of documented cases where police have found corpses burned almost to ashes - but without an apparent external source of ignition.
An estimated 200 cases have been found throughout history and victims are often elderly, sick, or under the influence of alcohol, which could explain why they have not been able to escape the flames.
The first known account of spontaneous human combustion came from the Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholin in 1663. He described how a woman in Paris 'went up in ashes and smoke' while she was sleeping, yet the straw mattress she slept on was unharmed.
More recently, in November 2015, a Mauritian woman burst into flames while sat on a bench in Flensburg, north Germany.
Passers-by desperately tried to put of the flames, but the victim, believed to be in her 40s, was severely burnt.
In 1673, a Frenchman named Jonas Dupont published a collection of spontaneous combustion cases in his work De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis.
Hundreds of accounts since that time have followed a similar pattern. The victim is almost completely consumed, usually inside his or her home.
Coroners at the scene have sometimes noted a sweet, smoky smell in the room where the incident occurred.
Puzzled scientists have come up with the 'wick theory' to explain such events. The theory is that the human body can become an 'inside out' candle.
The person's clothes are the wick, while their body fat is the wax or flammable substance, that keeps the blaze going.
Limbs may be left intact because of the temperature gradient, with the bottom half of the body being cooler than the top.
The combustion would not be 'spontaneous' however, because it would need an external source to start it off, such as a cigarette.
There are several theories about other causes of a spark, where evidence of a source of ignition is missing.
One of the most popular proposes that the fire is sparked when methane builds up in the intestines and is ignited by enzymes in the body.
However, most victims of spontaneous human combustion suffer greater damage to the outside of their body than to their internal organs, which seems to go against this theory.
Other theories speculate that the fire begins as a result of a buildup of static electricity inside the body. Another proposes that a disturbance in the Earth's magnetic field may be responsible.
Larry Arnold, a self-proclaimed expert on spontaneous human combustion, believes that the phenomenon is the work of a new subatomic particle called a pyroton. He says that this interacts with cells to create a mini-explosion, but there is no scientific evidence available to back up his claims.

by Syl Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:55 pm

On of lifes mysteries...I don't think anyone understands it.
Its fascinating to read about the various theories though.

by Cass Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:24 pm

How awful. Poor man.

The static electricity could be a thing. This time of year there is no moisture in the air here and I shock everything I touch, myself, the poor cats, patrons, anything I touch. You can literally see the sparks (blue/white) between my fingers and the object. Bloody painful it is too. It used to happen once in a great while in the UK but very rarely.

by magica Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:41 pm

I always thought it wasn't real, but now, wow its real enough. It's an enigma.

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Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

Re: Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION: PHENOMENON OR FRAUD?

Re: Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

Re: Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

Re: Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire

Re: Mystery as OAP, 70, spontaneously combusts while walking on a London street and dies from his injuries as investigators say they can find NO reason why he caught fire