On the Cause of
Spontaneous-Human-Combustion (SHC)
Geoffrey Hamilton
March 2, 1996
Sent to the only expert in the SHC field
Larry Arnold that same summer.
This essay is intended to bring relevant material together
regarding the anomalous phenomenon called spontaneous human
combustion (SHC) and make a reasonable estimation as to the cause
of the energy observed at these events.
My hypothesis regarding
SHC is that the energy necessary for classic SHC arrives by way
of a cold fusion (CF) reaction within a human body.
I became interested in SHC in Jan. 1986 while watching the
CBC show the Fifth Estate. I believed SHC to be real, given the
evidence in the show, but I had no reasonable explanation for it.
In the spring of 1994, I saw another CBC news special called "Too
Close to the Sun", regarding the feasibility of cold fusion. It
occurred to me that SHC's power to turn bone to ash in a few
minutes could be explained by CF. I was also aware that CF had no
significant radiation, and that survivors of SHC had not reported
radiation symptoms, so, it seemed to me, that there could be a
link between these two types of events.
The main textual evidence for this paper comes from "Ablaze"
by SHC expert, Larry Arnold, and from Eugene F. Mallove and Jed
Rothwell's CF writings on the Internet. Both sources are better able to argue the reality
of their respective positions with the strong evidence they have
collected, so I don't wish to belabor the actuality of SHC and
CF with my second hand arguments. Each has satisfied the
standards for evidence that are normative for scientific and
legal inquiries.
The following evidence is mostly my paraphrasing
from the standard texts. The hypothesis
connecting SHC to CF is my own as far as I know.
To account for the tendency of many people to dismiss these
and other bizarre phenomenon, despite good evidence, I would like
to bring forward the theory of explanationism by Bill Lycan
. As an example of the problem I mean to
counter with explanationism, I want to cite an incident which Larry Arnold
experienced. He once offered photographic evidence of SHC cases to
three fire investigators. The first investigator
said he had never heard of SHC and refused to believe it. The
second refused to even look, but the third was intrigued and
wanted to know more. This incident is typical of the division
within society and also how a society as a whole learns of new
problems and solutions (the majority rejects new explanations
while a few see a need for new explanations). Explanationism
theorizes that people, in general, always look for the best way
too explain their world, and then they hold onto it until it is
significantly overwhelmed by a better explanation.
This theory
also claims that the best is not always the logical, reasonable,
or empirical explanation. The best is the explanation which
allows one to thrive or survive the longest. Given that many
beliefs which one can have can be the subject of ridicule, it is
therefore a matter of thriving
or surviving when one considers whether or not to believe in
something. In relation to the fire investigators then, believing
in SHC could destroy these persons' careers. However, the cause
of the reluctance to accept new explanations is often more
complex than a simple matter of conscious self-preservation, even
non bizarre explanations ( see ulcer controversy)
can take years of struggle and propaganda before societal
reluctance is overcome.
This information, as background, is meant
to ask that disbelief of SHC and CF be suspended and a focus be
maintained on this paper's hypothesis.
SHC is a rare phenomenon of the human body where a fire has
started inside human tissue, is being fueled inside living human
tissue and is able to destroy, painlessly (in most cases), any
part of that living tissue.
Records containing probable cases of
SHC go back over a thousand years in western medical literature
; and at least that far back in India, China and in the literature
of many other places in the world.
The most interesting feature
of SHC is the way it often can turn bone to ash while the body is
in close proximity to materials (like clothes) which afterwards
show little or no damage.
This is an example of the above: in the case of Conway
, a ring of 14 carrot gold, which was reasonably
assumed to be on the victim's finger three minutes before she
burned up (as there was a witness to her condition then), was
found in the ash remaining from her body. The ring was undamaged
even though the typical heat required for cremating a body to ash
SHC is 3000'F. over eight hours and would have melted the gold very
quickly. In other words the huge amount of heat of SHC can
frequently have little effect on the immediate surroundings.
(Some clothes and fabrics were similarly undamaged.)
There is, however, often damage done to surroundings that is
directed, similar to that which is known to be accomplished with
a large blow torch. Also rubber footings to a
walker were intact while a hole was burned through a wooden
floor and these two things were inches apart.
London
Fire Brigade Officer Jack Stacey witnessed victim Bailey at the bottom
of some stairs. He was biting into a wooden
post while a single blue flame shot out of his abdomen toward the
floor. The flame charred and burnt through the wood in a pattern
and energy level similar to other cases of SHC. But the energy
level of this type of flame is insufficient to mimic the energy level required
for classic SHC. I am suggesting that the flame
has a secondary fuel of methane (or some other material) which is
ignited by the primary energy, CF.
Ablaze is full of evidence that shows how, in case after
case, that murder, accelerants, arson, man-made circumstances and
other accepted factors cannot account for classic SHC.
The factors involved in actual cases of SHC ( for example as
in the cases of Bailey, Conway, and Bentley) include the type of evidence which is peculiar to SHC.
1- no odor of burnt flesh, but sweet perfume smell.
2- oily ash
and oily residue from smoke.
3- some or all bones turn to ash ( a
SHC
temperature in excess of 3000 degrees F. for 8 hours is needed,
or a much higher temperature for the documented three minute
incident - Conway).
4- insufficient external source of fuel to
turn bone to ash (chair stuffing, accelerants).
5- witnesses say
flames range from blue to orange to white (could be different
secondary fuels).
6- no radiation or little heat radiation damage
(relative to heat evidence) to clothes, plastics, furniture,
paper, etc..
7- focused and localized heat damage similar to that
which can be caused by a strong blow torch to wood floors,
chairs, clothes, etc..
8- complete dehydration of body.
9- often
together with the incineration to ash of the torso, the hands or
feet remain intact and are still wearing undamaged clothing.
Factors which have little or no relevance to SHC include:
1-
age (it can happen at any age).
2- weight (it has occurred at any
weight)
3- mental state (depression, suicidal tendencies and
other possible contributing states are too common to link them
significantly to the extremely rare SHC).
4- gender (occurrences
are divided 50/50).
5- wealth (all classes get it).
6- location (
all regions and geographic positions get it).
7- diet (diet can
create explosions, but insufficient ones).
8- activities (it
happens whether one walks or sleeps).
9-Race (no evidence at
all).
10- accelerants (it is often looked for as part of murder
investigations and not found).
11- time requirements seem irrelevant, in that
SHC can happen in seconds or over days.
12- season.
13- indoors
or outdoors.
14- ball lightning (comparisons with witnessed BL
burns on people proves it).
15- lightning (similar evidence to BL
events)
16- Wick (Human candle) theory (never demonstrated to be a real
possibility. Using gasoline doesn't count).
All the above factors are essentially irrelevant.
These are the factors to consider in regards to the cause of
the energy exhibited by SHC:
1- No heat radiation from primary
energy supply (a temp. in excess of 3000.F).
2 -Some secondary
carbon burning and some heat radiation from the burning of hair,
fat, clothes, stomach contents and intestinal contents.
3 -
humans before SHC have water as 80% of mass and also sufficient metals for CF like nickel in their systems
4 - Once SHC occurs bodies are dehydrated.
5 - Oils and sweat smells are left in ash,
meaning (perhaps) that not much of the carbon burned off.
6 - Their are no external sources of energy.
What then, in the body, is an adequate fuel? In 1989,
Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann discovered that, in a simple
electro-chemical cell, energy in excess of the input of energy
could be extracted. Now, almost seven years later, there are
hundreds of scientists from India to the US reproducing the
basic idea. Toyota (with Pons and Fleischmann under contract) and
Fiat are working on prototype devices for cars.
The basic conclusion of this research is that these cells
produce heat, with no radiation, and in excess of the energy input:
from 10% to 7,000,000%.
So far the theory as to how
this energy occurs comes to something like this: (according to Dr. Randell Mills) "Excess energy is
released in a catalytic process whereby the electron of the
hydrogen atom is induced to undergo a transition to a lower
electronic energy level than the 'ground state' as defined by the
usual quantum-mechanical model of the atom. Thus, stored energy
is catalytically released".
Further, metal
lattices must be loaded with sufficient deuterium
m (which is in all water) according to the specific metal used, and
there must be the right trigger. I
f one examines the successful processes which have been
developed so far, there are nine proven circumstances where cold
fusion reactions can develop. For my purposes three processes
are relevant to SHC.
The Randell Mills Process uses
an ordinary water solution with potassium carbonate electrolyte.
Nickel cathodes and platinum or even nickel anodes are used. This
process shows that the possible fuel source for SHC is in any
human body.
In regards to the necessary trigger for CF (and possibly for
SHC): Ultrasonic Activation Process has shown that sound can
trigger the energy source within a human body. Two other possible
energy triggers are demonstrated by the process called, Magnetic
Field and Radio Frequency Stimulation. All these triggers are
capable of raising the energy level in Cold Fusion cells.
CF experiments have varied widely in power and duration. SHC
has happened over days and also in seconds. As I said earlier,
CF's excess output so far ranges from 10% to 7,000,000%. Duration
has gone from seconds to years, and energy has gone as high or
higher than 320 mega joules. Given that this field is not fully
explored, the energy potential is probably far greater than 320 MJ.
During a run of a CF experiment by a Dr. McKubre, an
electro chemist named Dr. Andrew Riley was killed when McKubre's
experiment exploded. This accident shows that the potential
energy release of CF is possibly very great and certainly has yet
to be determined. During CF experiments, the duration of the excess energy is
determined by the maintenance of the cell's electrolyte. The
experiment ends when the water boils away. Dr. Mills stated, "A
s team producing prototype has been successfully tested. . . "
Water has turned to steam under CF experimental
conditions, so CF processes are not just being run until a low
temperature evaporation takes place. Given that SHC energy, like
CF energy, dissipates when the water has evaporated (in less time
than low temperature evaporation can occur from the body) it
seems that the phenomenon of high temperature dehydration is a
correlation between SHC and CF.
No heat radiation or radiation of other kinds occurs in CF
as in SHC. Only direct contact with CF produced heat can
effectively transfer the heat to other materials. It's the same
as with SHC.
Evidence that CF is not a simple chemical reaction is
demonstrated by the apparent fusion of hydrogen isotopes together
to make helium isotopes, and by the fusion of hydrogen
(presumably it's the H and palladium together into silver
isotopes, where there was once no silver. This
evidence explains CF's power (as fusion) and gives an investigator
of SHC an opportunity to find the reason for SHC's power.
To test whether SHC is caused by an incidental triggering of
CF, an SHC investigator can call on scientific experts to test
human remains for evidence of helium isotopes and other elements
proven to be the result of CF.
This now brings me to the question of why SHC occurs in only
a few people when every human has the potential to have SHC occur
in themselves. The triggers are specific frequencies of sound, or
electromagnetism, and these type of waves go through people
constantly. But the CF experiments have shown that finding the
right frequency trigger is very difficult.
A second problem must be asked before the first one is
answered completely: if SHC occurs in people because of wave
triggered CF, then doesn't something like SHC occur in animals
and in inanimate objects? The answer is probably yes.
The rare occurrence of incidental cold fusion (ICF) outside
of the human body could easily be misinterpreted as a forest fire
or something "natural". It is much rarer than SHC only because
fewer people care to record it. However, Larry Arnold has at
least one possible case.
In 1955 in Tucson, Arizona a fire up to fifty feet high
burned on the ridge of a mountain for three hours. It was
witnessed by many people and reported in the local media. The
Arizona Daily Star reported February 8th, "There wasn't enough
timber to keep a fire going for an hour," An investigation of the
fire turned up no sign of arson and no cause. The incident offers
a glimpse toward the possibility that ICF (ICF is a more general
case of SHC) might be occurring parallel to SHC. What might have
happened is that a crack in the rock had water in it. While a hydrogen
cell was within a metal lattice in the water
electromagnetic or sound waves from the town or from space
triggered the cell and the volume of the electrolyte was
sufficient to maintain the fire for the three hours.
The best reason for the rarity of SHC must be the
requirement that a very specific frequency be focused for a
specific time on some hydrogen which is already within a metal
lattice. Given all these requirements, and possibly more, it may
be impossible to calculated the odds of SHC occurring in any one
human. Rough estimates could show ICF must be very rare.
In conclusion, with the normative, conclusive and
overwhelming evidence for both SHC and CF, it is possible to see
that ICF explains, in part, the phenomenon of SHC. If reason is
put before self-preservation, both can be seen as real and
incidental cold fusion might help explain both phenomenon.
Finally, the clues to look for, to prove whether ICF explains
SHC, are within the realm of empirical investigation and
scientific exploration.
Geoffrey R. Hamilton
Wikipedia SHC Information
